Search - Meiko :: Moving Day

It?'s been a busy two years for acclaimed singer-songwriter Meiko ? after months on the road touring in support of 2014?'s Dear You LP, she got married in the summer of 2015, and recorded and independently released her Live Songs From The Hotel Cafe EP which served as the timestamp for a personal Los Angeles sendoff. Meiko moved from the City of Angels to Music City this past fall, and in-between the tour dates, nuptials, a honeymoon, and packing for the one-way trek to Nashville, she wrote a new, career-defining album, appropriately titled Moving Day. ? ''Every song on the album is about moving in some way, shape, or form?,'' Meiko says. ?''Whether it?'s moving to a new place, moving into different relationships, or just growing up and moving on emotionally, I love the idea of constant growth and change. This album represents some key moments of personal ?moving days? I?'ve had in my life over the past 10 years.?'' Moving Day is closer sonically to Meiko?'s 2007 self-titled debut than to her two follow-up albums. ''I wanted to get back to my roots?,'' Meiko states. ?''(2012?'s) The Bright Side was a little more poppy, and Dear You was darker and more electronic. I wanted to keep it simpler and more intimate this time around, without depending on so many bells and whistles. Just like my first album, Moving Day is written entirely by me, with no A&R guy involved.?'' Meiko enlisted Nashville-based producer/musician Joshua Grange (Sheryl Crow, k.d. lang) to handle production responsibilities. ?''I met Josh at a breakfast place in Nashville about a month after I moved there from Los Angeles. We instantly got along, and he invited me to check out his studio. The next day we met up, totally nerded out over guitars and music, and wound up recording a song about an hour after I?'d arrived. I decided right then and there to make a full album with him.?'' Recording in Nashville proved to be the right choice for Meiko. ?''I found it easier and more fluid. Mostly because Nashville is smaller and you get to where you?'re going stress-free. I really love Nashville. Don?'t get me wrong, I loved my time in L.A. too, but I?'m gaining so many years of my life back by not being on the 101 Freeway trying to get from point A to point B!?'' Meiko's artistic ambitions date back to 2007, when she began landing shows at venerable Los Angeles venue The Hotel Cafe, an unofficial headquarters for young, up-and-coming songwriters on the West Coast. Things moved quickly from there. She signed with MySpace Records, reissued her self-titled debut record in 2008, and scored a hit on Triple A radio with ''Boys with Girlfriends?.'' Pop, folk, and rock fans loved her; so did music supervisors, who placed Meiko's songs in episodes of ?Grey's Anatomy?, ?One Tree Hill?, and over a dozen other prime-time TV shows. After signing with Concord Records in 2011, she released The Bright Side, which climbed to No. 1 on the iTunes Singer/Songwriter Albums chart. Meiko hit the road again, selling out concerts from Los Angeles to Tokyo, even landing a #1 single on Japanese radio with ?Stuck On You?. After the release of her 2014 Dear You album featuring the VH1 favorite ?Be Mine?, Meiko and Concord Records amicably parted ways. On recording Moving Day without a record label?'s involvement, Meiko says, ?''Music should be easy. It?'s about art, not egos. When a committee comes around to tell me I?'m not creating correctly, or that it could be better another way, self-doubt comes into play and poisons the well. Moving Day, thankfully, has none of that. I made this album with no weirdness around to make me feel inadequate. Josh Grange listened to all my ideas and helped me make them a reality. I couldn?'t be happier and more proud of how it came out!'' Moving on from the confine