Side Saddle Biography: Forever and a Little While May 10th, 2024
Forever and a Little While is the follow up to the 2019 EP Waltermelon, which was favorably compared to Nada Surf and Death Cab for Cutie and dubbed “A rejuvenating indie-pop jewel” by Glide Magazine among other praise. A half decade can feel like an eternity, and the new music is the product of the intervening changes in life, geography, and McGuinness’ general approach to his craft. A marriage, a foray into the challenges and rewards of parenthood, and a move from the shores of Long Island to Dallas, TX have all played a part in McGuiness’ personal outlook and approach to songwriting and recording.
“I’ve never really wanted to stay in one place for too long,” shares Mcguinnes. “I think I’ve moved 7 or 8 times across 5 states in the last 15 years. I’ve always valued the perspective you gain when living somewhere new.” It was both his restless nature as a seeker, and also practical life and work issues that sent the young family on a 1500 mile move across the country, as Ian sought a change from his stressful day-job and he and his wife imagined a life in closer proximity to family help with the taxing early baby days of parenting. And McGuinness is also excited about living a few hours drive from several other major cities in Texas as a way to balance playing more gigs with life as a dad, a role he’d embraced at the expense of his musical endeavors. “The sheer amount of songs I’ve been writing each year is a lot less than it used to be,” he reveals. “I made a conscious decision to prioritize financial stability, and being a strong partner and good father, and music comes after that.”
Once settled in their new home, with a less taxing day job, and a child that was sleeping through the night, McGuinness finally found himself with the time he’d been missing when it came to writing songs. “What brought me back to the studio was the songs that I’d started writing. I felt like they were some of the strongest songs I had written and really wanted to see them come to life in a new way. And for me that meant working with a producer, to see if that process could get me over the hump I was trying to climb.” That producer was Katis, who Ian admired for his work on countless iconic albums.
“It was wild recording with Peter in the same place where he has worked on records that have made a massive impact on my songwriting,” shares Ian about the experience at Tarquin Studios. Needless to say, McGuinness is more than happy with Side Saddle’s first experience working with somebody else on the boards. “I think there’s a sparkle to the production of these tunes,” says McGuinness, “and it comes from Peter’s ear and his ability to push towards the interesting.” As an example, he explains how the band thought they’d hit the mark with “Wine & Spirits”, but Peter pushed them to continue working on the song, eventually adding in elements like the the soft percussive pulse that enters in verse two along with the arpeggiated synth, a background harmony on the last chorus to differentiate it, and audio recording from the family friend whom’s memory the song is dedicated to.
Beyond the step up in the studio, the songs on Forever and a Little While are emblematic of McGuinness’ ever improving ability to distill life’s broad spectrum of human experiences into transformative words and music. Whether he’s unabashedly singing about being head over heels in early days of meeting and dating his wife in “All My Days”, or honoring the memory of a beloved friend and the people who knew her with empathy and gentle reassurance as he does on “Wine & Spirits”, lyrically McGuinness finds novel ways to bring the big emotions and fleeting moments of life into cathartic focus. All the while, his crystalline vocals and an incredible ear for a resonant melody have never sounded better, combining to variously enliven or comfort the listener depending on the given mood and subject matter of the song. In listening to Forever and a Little While, it becomes clear that Side Saddle are only getting wiser and better at their craft with the passage of time.