“Gentle Spirit” is not simply the name of the debut solo album by songwriter/musician/producer, Jonathan Wilson, it represents the ethos of the artist himself. Warm, supple melodies etched in layers of stringed instruments and willowy organ motifs accompany his earnest, North Carolinian drawl as he tells tales of humane values lost and found. While writing and recording “Gentle Spirit”, “I was consciously trying to hit, ‘dreary day in the canyon,’ that was the original concept,” admits Wilson. “That was what it was supposed to be. I feel like I achieved that. But, you have to remember the album took a long time, the tracking was done a while ago, and there’s a distance there that I guess was supposed to happen. And it’s not hot off the tape machine. Things transpired. That, to me, is a good thing because there is a perspective on display. I can be detached; and whether this characteristic does this or that, it doesn’t affect me to the greater good of the album.” Wilson was crafting the album between tours, album producer jobs and the never-ending jam sessions that constituted canyon life. “I was never in conflict or had a self-imposed time table around this album,” offers Jonathan. “Maybe just in the last bit, and only because of scheduling considerations. Time went by and things were cool and I never felt anything was on a back burner because it was all sort of my process. “For me, I didn’t find I was best served to go into the studio with a batch of songs I’d just done in the last 30 or 60 days and put them down over 6 days. I was better served by having the material unfold over time,” Wilson reinforces. “Gentle Spirit” was mixed by Wilson and producer/engineer Thom Monahan, who has worked with many artists, including Vashti Bunyan, Devendra Banhart and Vetiver. “Having a mixer like Thom to help was great,” acknowledges Wilson. “I love his meticulousness. He’s like an M.I.T. cat who pays attention to things that I tend to let go. With him, the record got a little bigger. It’s the two heads are better than one kind of thing. We sat beside one another the whole time, bouncing ideas back and forth.” Given the popular culture’s preoccupation with all things digital, “Gentle Spirit” draws a line in the proverbial sand; the album was conceived for vinyl. “I would say vinyl is the only real tangible format that contains meaningful value and the only one you can sell to me that retains any value. And to me, that’s on both sides of the table, the consumer and the artist. Even as a record collector I’ve always been vinyl driven. With vinyl, this is when the record sounds the best and when it comes alive. To me, this project and the album represent many things tangible and even more things intangible, those that can only be felt.”
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