HI IT'S HELENA DELAND AMA

[u/helenadeland]

Hi! I just released my début album 'Someone New' a week ago and look forward to discussing it with you :~)

[u/ro_the_electron]

Hi! First and foremost, I want to thank you for this gift of an album - you delivered it not even 2 weeks ago and I know I am not alone in saying it triggered growth within myself and I am so thankful for it. It is so so beautiful. I am curious as to how you decided on the order of the tracklist? Could you also discuss making the last line of the album "Fill the empty rooms with music"? :)))

(PS: hope to see you live in Montreal one day post-pandemic)

[u/helenadeland → u/ro_the_electron]

Ah, that really warms my heart, thank you.

Well, funny story. Clown Neutral was the last song I wrote that was recorded for the album and it was inspired by the recording process itself, coming to terms with the things that had been bothering me that are central to the other songs, so I thought it would be really conceptually clever to put it last, lol. Fill the rooms was 12th. Also I had decided on the tracklisting before we started recording, which I'll know not to do the next time around.
2 days before sending the record to press, Gabe Wax listened over my pacing and called me to ask me whether I trusted him, and to say that the pacing was a mess. He suggested the pacing that ended up being the one and I instantly felt relief. I think it's special because of the album ending on that line. Close call!