Album Notes

We are proud to present this first volume of Song Sessions, featuring new songs by students at Brown University. The songs were composed and recorded during the fall semester of 2008 as part of Music 450, a new course that sought to explore the nature of expression in song through criticism, analysis, and composition.

This double CD is a testament to the remarkable creativity and intelligence of the twenty-five students who made up the class. It also reveals the endless vitality of song itself, which as a musical form has the capacity to speak in so many different accents, and to say so much with so little. We hope you will be as inspired by this music as we have been by those who made it.

— Profs. Katherine Bergeron and Butch Rovan

Student songwriters featured on Song Sesssions Volume 1 include:
Anna Aufseeser
Doug Berman
J.G. Boccella
David Brown
Josh Garcia
Roman Gonzalez
Larry Hong
Jonathan Leibovic
Annie London
Eshan Mitra
Josh Morrison
Ben Nicholson
Jeremy Noah
Julie Osburne-Rothstein
Ethan Reed
Dan Rosenberg
Rosalind Schonwald
Rebecca Sigel
Parker Silzer
Ida Specker
Adam Taitano
Christian Tookes
VyVy Trinh
Jenna White

Song Sessions Volume 1 was recorded, mixed and mastered by Butch Rovan at MEME Studios, Brown University, between December 2008 and January 2009. Most of the songs were recorded during an intense week of sessions in early December 2008. Additional overdubs were completed during a second set of sessions as the snow fell on Providence in late December.

Our most heartfelt thanks go to the Music 450 "House Band" : Nate Sloan, piano; Dave Harrington, bass; Ian Sims, drums. They did a remarkable job of learning a wide array of new songs and laying down many takes, all under tight time constraints. Thanks also go to the other musicians who participated in the sessions (for a complete listing see the inside cover of the CD).

This project would not have been possible without the generosity of:
Jim Moses, Nate Sloan, and Doug Berman, who helped in the studio;
and Joan Rovan (designsbyjoan@yahoo.com) who designed the CD graphics.

ERRATA:
Bryant Yang plays guitar on "The Unvanquished" (CD #1, track 10)