Diary Of A Songwriter: Nori

Nori: “It’s all about setting people up for success.”

Tracing its steps from haiku sketch to final version, the Austin-based alternative-jazz quintet reveal the collaborative writing process behind ‘Dawn’

We want to reflect on the idea of collaborating as songwriters, and focusing back on the creation of just one of our songs is probably the best way to go about it. Our process is fairly unique so far as it accounts for the fact that our band is comprised of musicians who can all learn songs by ear, improvise, and read music. Mostly, though, our process is very pragmatic due to life’s realities. We are all really busy freelance musicians playing in a bunch of bands in Austin, Texas. On top of that, we are at an age where life outside of music is very, very busy.

The music for our song Dawn was written by drummer Andy Beaudoin, the lyrics by singer Akina Adderley, and the string arrangement was penned by trumpeter Erik Telford. The entries below are written by all three of these musicians individually to reflect on how this song came to be. These entries span a number of years. Something to keep in mind, there is a bit of overlap with the COVID years, so there is a lot of downtime to account for. Broadly speaking, we’re covering a span of time from when the first note was written to the moment it was recorded for our album Walking Foot.

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17 JUNE 2021: EARLY WRITING STAGES by Andy Beaudoin

Looking back at my emails, I first contacted Akina about writing lyrics to the first draft of this song on this date. I attached a lead sheet with the melody and chord changes. In the body of the email, I wrote a simple prompt: “This one reads down as written form-wise. The feel might be an open ECM-ish, bossa-ish kind of thing. You’ll probably notice, but the melody on the ‘A’ section follows a haiku structure.”

I write music on the same upright piano I started playing music on when I first started taking lessons in the third grade. I am by no means a prolific songwriter. It takes time…like, a lot of time. I don’t write songs in the abstract; rather, I’m constantly considering my bandmates and what they bring to the table. Usually, the melody and harmony present themselves first. In the case of Dawn, I distinctly remember trying to break my melodic tendencies. So, to reach beyond my usual habits, I decided to write a more asymmetrical melody following the syllabic structure of a haiku. The working title of the song was born! – Haiku Song.

29 SEPTEMBER 2022: WRITING THE LYRICS by Akina Adderley

As I generally do when Andy shares a new song, for Dawn, I sat with the melody, the form, the chords, even the working title, and sort of listened for what in me was resonating with what was given. Honestly, the music sounded like sunrise to me right away. And then there was the working title, Haiku. I love poetry and I’ve always been drawn to the simple elegance of haiku. With the lyrics, I hoped to say a lot with little.

What I found myself thinking about during this month was my baby nephew, who had just turned one. I thought a lot about how he sort of completed our family, how my sister didn’t plan for him to come when he did, but somehow he was right on time. Love and gratitude for his birth were definitely on my heart, and musings busied my mind about how people can sometimes work and plan and try for things to no avail, then miracles show up when they’re good and ready. Andy’s composition was just the right place for me to express these thoughts and feelings. Singing the lyrics for the first time with the band felt a lot like the sentiment of the song: easy, light, right.

Nori: “With the lyrics, I hoped to say a lot with little.”

1 OCTOBER 2022: FIRST PERFORMANCE OF THE SONG by Andy Beaudoin

I keep all of my old set lists in a folder for reference. The Nori show at Radio Coffee & Beer in Austin, TX, on this date looks to be the very first time we performed Dawn. This show was two days after the one and only rehearsal we had to get the song performance ready as a band. This super-fast turnaround time is pretty typical with this group. I do think there’s something to be said about not over-rehearsing a band, and lucky for me, all of the musicians in the band are totally up to the task.

Luckily, Dawn came together rather quickly with very few edits needed in the rehearsal. The melody “sang” very naturally for Akina. Nick [Litterski] and Aaron [Allen], the keyboardist and bassist respectively, picked up on the vibe and free-floating nature of the song very quickly by just reading down the lead sheet. Lastly, Erik instinctively knew exactly how to manoeuvre his improvised trumpet solo through to the big climactic ending. 

After the performance, I very much remember thinking this song would fit in perfectly with the batch of other songs for a new album that was conceptually very much in its preliminary stages. Also, I remember thinking that adding strings (violin, viola, cello) could make for a wonderful final touch in the later production stages, and our trumpeter Erik also happens to be an amazing composer and arranger himself.

2 FEBRUARY 2024: ARRANGING FOR STRINGS by Erik Telford

When I set out to write string parts for one of our songs, I first think about what the song really needs. It’s easy to fall into using the string section as just another chordal instrument, essentially playing pads. Sometimes that is the right choice (and this arrangement definitely has some of that), but I also like to make sure each of our string arrangements includes at least one musical moment – something unexpected. I also try to write parts that the musicians themselves will enjoy playing.

Most of the time, Andy gives me carte blanche, so I can write pretty much whatever I want. He hasn’t fired me yet, so I must be doing okay. For Dawn, however, Andy gave me a prompt for the bridge. He texted me: “The idea is to have a sudden ‘scene change’ at letter B (just vocals and strings). We briefly talked about the possibility of having just cello. Let me know your thoughts. Also, I’m not married to the idea of having strings on this song…”

I really liked this direction and ran with it. I did consider how a solo cello with vocals might sound, but ultimately felt the violin and viola needed to be there for support. When you hear this section of Dawn, I think it creates a dramatic effect, which is exactly what we were going for. Two other moments in the arrangement I especially like are the clustered trills at the end of the piano solo and the rising syncopated accents at the re-intro that create a scene change that is supposed to feel majestic.

25 FEBRUARY 2024: RECORDING DAWN by Andy Beaudoin

We recorded the basic tracks (scratch vocals, trumpet, Fender Rhodes, upright bass, and drums) for this song live as a band without a click track back in December of 2023 at King Electric Recording here in Austin. After that, we had just two tracking sessions left: a string session on this date and one final session to complete all of the vocals.

Our long-time, amazing string trio, comprised of Leigh Wallenhaupt (violin), Leah Nelson (viola), and Rylie Harrod (cello), were all hired for this session. They are all classically trained and very excellent sight-readers. The string session was quite the whirlwind. The trio recorded six songs in roughly three hours. They had performed four out of the six before, but Dawn wasn’t one of them. Looking back at my session notes, we wound up using the second of the two takes.

And that’s that. Developing collaborative chemistry takes time. We’ve been a band for over ten years now, and our process has very much been honed in during that time. I feel strongly that it’s all about setting people up for success – leading the way, but giving people enough room to be themselves. Looking back, I feel really damn lucky to be surrounded by such amazing musicians and such amazing humans.

You can hear Dawn on Walking Foot, the new album by NORI – out now and available from nori.bandcamp.com/album/walking-foot-album

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