June 25th, 2021 release date

Once the reality of COVID 19 hit us on March 12, 2020, nobody knew what was going to happen and for how long our normal routines would be disrupted.  Since I was homebound for the duration – I decided that I should get my home recording studio up and running again.  After weeks of technical frustration– I was finally able to get my home setup cobbled together with a Universal Audio Apollo interface and my MacBook, using Protools recording software. 

 I called my friend and producer Eric “Roscoe” Ambel and consulted with him about how to set myself up with the various levels and microphone positioning, etc.   On Friday, May 15, just as I was attempting to self-record the first take of the first song, an electrical storm blew through Bovina and knocked all the power out in the whole valley.  I sat there in complete darkness staring at my laptop with Protools open, waiting for the power to come back on so I could start on the first song of this new endeavor, I couldn’t help but hope that this wasn’t A Sign From God.

 Not to be denied, I hooked up my recording rig to my solar-powered battery backup system and proceeded to record the scratch tracks on acoustic guitar with the vocals.  I had accumulated a batch of new tunes since our last album – Canis Majoris, recorded in 2015. 

 Over the next several weeks and months, I recorded new tunes and sent them along to Roscoe. He, in turn, would get them out to each musician in the band, who would work with him from their discrete home recording setups.  Mike Ricciardi on drums; Keith Christopher on bass, Brian Shafer on guitar, Becca Frame on vocals and Matt Woodin on guitars and mandolin.  Each of them played their parts remotely in an order that shaped the songs.  A 70’s style overdub album – all done remotely, 2020 style. 

 Roscoe produced the tracks from his home studio, Evie’s Terrace in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, playing guitar and singing killer harmonies, while his wife Mary Lee joined us on key backing vocals.  

 We started recording the tracks on May 15. By the time everyone had pitched in and recorded their parts for Roscoe to wrangle, he and Mario Viele were doing the final mix (with the band sitting in on the session remotely in real time) the day before Thanksgiving – at Cowboy Technical Services.  After we tweaked our sequence, Mario Viele mastered the album.

 We saw each other once for an afternoon “pre-production” get-together on July 3.  After that day, we never saw each other face-to-face.  Everything was done remotely.  And yet, Esquela has recorded its best album to date.  A true Sign from God.

 John “Chico” Finn – January 2021 | Bovina Center, NY

Sample: A Sign From God