TENILLE TOWNES RELEASES NEW EP “MASQUERADES” (AUDIO & VIDEO)
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“Sometimes I really do feel like two different people. There’s the side of me that is like holding on to hope with both hands and just taking in all the beautiful things around me. And then there’s also the side of me with this just like unrelenting feeling of not being enough. And this season of music is like figuring out how to hold both of those things. It’s, it’s the optimism and the realism. It’s literally figuring out how to set down the mask of bright and shiny you know, and like that sort of bright and sunny thing is something I’ve gotten kind of good at hiding behind in my life. And I think we all have different masks for different reasons. But I want this music to feel like people can be comforted to take that off and that we can really see each other because I think that’s a really important thing. Something I’m working on and walking through and I hope this music feels like an invitation of something that we can work through together. So this EP is the first collection of songs of representing that duality, and I’m excited to get to the next one too.“
Tenille Townes – Masquerades CUT X CUT
“I am such a huge fan of Wrabel’s music. I think his voice is so emotional and honest and raw. And I actually got to see him play the Ryman a few years ago and just completely became a fan of his music and his songwriting and was so excited when we got set up to write together and it’s really so fun to sing with him his whole sense of melody is very inspiring to me and it was really cool to get to record this song like through the distance, both of us in our respective I think rooms in our houses at the time and sending it in to come together on this track. I love hearing you know both styles I think like intertwined in a really cool way and I’ve really just loved the message of friendship in the song and so glad to know him and have him as a friend of my life.”
“When’s It Gonna Happen is a song that I wrote about this season of my life that feels very honest and true. Where a lot of my friends are getting married or have found their person. And I want to write something about how it feels to be on the other side of that sometimes. And to be looking at the stack of wedding invitations that I get in the mail and being the single one and I wanted the music for this message with some of these more terrifying kind of vulnerable lyrics to be paired with this uplifting kind of anthemic music vibe that could kind of unite everybody and be like, yeah, we can stand together in this, I know I’m not the only one. And I was reminded of that as we were writing it going in it really makes you feel like you’re the only one sometimes but it’s not true. And it’s been so encouraging seeing people send in messages about this song saying, This is my anthem. I feel this so greatly and seeing people singing along at shows is just is the coolest thing to me. I’m so glad we can stand together on this one.”
“The Sound Of Being Alone is a very accurate representation of how I feel being alone in my house. And, you know, it’s so crazy to think about the quiet because it’s necessary, I think as any kind of creative person to find ideas to really hear your inner voice on something like, requires that insane quiet. But it’s also just this like insanity breeding feeling that just can be so isolating and tormenting at the same time. And so all of these lines very much come from pacing through my house, and you hear the dishwasher and you hear the traffic going by and you hear the clock and it’s like, just this kind of lonely bubble. And there’s just so much emotion that needs to just bust out of that space I think. And I know I experienced that on such a greater level over the past couple years. And I’d bet to say that as an entire world, we’ve probably felt the loneliest we ever felt. So the song comes from the heart of that place, and you know, I got a dog. His name is Sam and he’s really helped with it all but the song’s called The Sound Of Being Alone.”
“Villain In Me is probably the most personal song that I think I have ever written. It definitely talks about sort of that darker side that I think exists in all of us. That you know, the cruel voices in our own heads that sometimes are the voices we hear the loudest. And, you know, writing the song was very therapeutic and terrifying. Like, as I was writing line after line, I was like, I can’t believe I’m saying this, this is really so honest. And the line that says, Sometimes I wear it like a mask, it’s easier that way, really became this thematic anchor for this entire EP of Masquerades. And because it’s true, sometimes I feel like two different people. And there’s a big part of me that’s gotten pretty good at hiding behind a mask of bright and sunny. Silver linings very much are my masquerade. And I’m kind of walking through the season of learning how to set that down. And this song was really instrumental in my process of figuring that out still very much figuring it out. But I’m really really grateful this song found its way. I posted a clip of it online and just really going I feel the song pulling at me and I just want to share it and hearing people respond to it and telling me they feel the same way. It’s like wow, okay, I’m glad we can kind of, I don’t know, not feel so alone in that together. And that really gave me the courage to put out the song and to sort of keep going on this chapter of sharing a lot more personal things.”
“Shared Walls is a song about neighbors. And I wrote this with my friends, Wrabel and Eric. And we were all in our respective apartments, sharing walls with the people around us in our lives. And just kind of talking about how that was feeling, you know, during the shutdown, where we were all home so much. And it also kind of came from thinking about how much closer I felt to neighbors around the whole world during that time. You know, it was like, You’re reading stories about people singing in the streets in Italy, you know, out their windows and feeling like there are neighbors to like, we’re all going through something similar and as hard and horrible and dark. As so much of the past couple years have been I think that there have been some exceptionally beautiful moments of humanity where we felt closer than we maybe ever have, going through this collectively as a whole world. So I wanted to capture the spirit of that in this song and working on it in the studio. I was like, man, I love this. How cool would it be to sing this song with a friend? And someone whose music I just admire, I thought, let’s just reach out to Breland and see. He has such a joyful spirit about him. And I think his perspective is so important in the scene of music right now. And I really just admire how much versatility he has to his music. I feel like his show is just going to be so incredible to watch through the years because he’s gonna have everybody in the crowd jumping and rocking and then he’ll be able to just like hold them in the palm of his hands and and sing in the most beautiful way. When I got his vocal back from, we sent out the stems and got it back with his verse on it. It just gave me goosebumps was like wow, this sort of sweeter side to his voice is something I hadn’t heard yet and it made me so happy to hear that on this song. So, so glad Breland was up for joining on Shared Walls.“
“Same Road Home. I love getting to sing this song. I love the energy in this production and the track and the sort of anthemic feeling that came out of the season of writing this. I sat down with two friends Brock Berryhill and Lori McKenna, who is my all time songwriting hero. And we were writing this song, talking about the sort of heavy division that I feel like, was very much just all around us going through the past couple of years. And we had this moment of going isn’t that the best part of music is that it can just kind of silence that in the most amazing way. That it doesn’t matter where in the world you’re from, or what color your skin might be, or what you’re going through. It’s like at the end of the day, we are all human. We all need love. We all have dreams. And, you know, I really do believe that we’re all on the same road home so I loved getting to think about that and just sort of pour the heart of like unity into this song as we were creating it.”
“So Light In Your Eyes. I just love the feeling of this song. There’s this nostalgic sort of driving, I don’t know, emotion that I wrote this song with my friend, Daniel Tashian. And he’s one of my favorite collaborators, because he just has this sense of freedom. It’s really fun to write songs in that space together. And we were literally sitting there starting to strum the guitar going, let’s ask the spirit of Don Henley and The Eagles to just come and visit us as we create this song. And my favorite line in the chorus says, I’m a little sad about it. And I couldn’t tell you why. And I think that’s so true of like, all of the happy moments that we maybe go through in our life. Because it’s like, if you can really acknowledge something going, I feel this, this is a moment and I’m so happy to be taking this in right now. Like, there’s always just a little level of sadness underneath it, that I think has to be there. That’s what makes it feel important and feel like I have to take this in. Because those are the moments that like, define us and they’ll never come the same way again. So I love that kind of happy and sad feeling at the same time that I feel when I sing this song.”