These songs were recorded in the middle of 11 months of traveling, during which I also recorded my Spanish album, visited 19 countries, and played on the radio in Mexico and Lithuania, and played concerts in 9 countries (not counting busking in another 3). Reverse culture shock was draining me, and seeing my close friends made me feel guilty about not keeping in touch, and even more guilty when I left them. I tried to maintain a distance relationship, but the constant moving and trying to be present was too intense. It was also a period in which I had to revisit the places I thought were home. Some of the places I had felt secure in the past were no longer safe. Some of the things I once found comforting were more disturbing. But mostly this album is just about the road, the weariness of looking for rest, for home, in the midst of constant change.

The emotional intensity by the end of the trip left me drained for months afterwards. And I feel like that constant flashing by of people, places, ideas, conversations, emotions...this is what technology and modern society does to us as well, and it's quite easy to lose your sense of self or your sense of identity or belonging in all of that, whether it's just feeling hopeless that you can never keep up, or feeling that you're overstretched as 10 people message you at once.

So these are my simple songs of being lost in translation and not wanting to be...Katie's songs are of course brilliant. She's the best songwriter I know; I hope you like what we've made here. As you can see on youtube.com/lhpoetry, this is just us, a mic, a mac, and a guitar, sometimes a piano. And we only used tracked recording on the mac for 2 of the songs. So yeah, these are raw demos, rough takes...but I think they hold up to scrutiny and I think songs like Here (UNODIR) and Airships are among the best songs we've ever created.

--James


James and I have known each other for nearly 2 decades. Though we’ve spent most of that time in vastly different areas of the country and the globe, we’ve maintained a deep appreciation for the other’s musical talent.

In 2015, when James made an extended visit to the States, it seemed like the perfect opportunity to combine our skills in a collaborative album, one we could record together and even perform live to family and friends. With our experiences of international travel, long-distance friendships, moving and displacement, committing to a place and longing for a permanent home, the theme of “Journeys” was an easy choice for the album.

We wrote our songs separately, sharing rough recordings and lyrics from afar, and finally finessed and recorded them in a few short days in Pennsylvania. James composed and performed the piano and guitar parts to my songs, which was an enormous enhancement.

Although we’ve gone on to write more music (collaboratively and separately) and have both developed musically since the Journeys album was written, it retains a special vitality and timelessness. We hope you’ll enjoy these varied expressions of our life experiences, faith, and friendship.

--Katie Joy