Letting It Go! is out now.
This release is different for Folded Paper Hearts because none of the songs were written by us.
Haunted House, Speak Up, Wooden Spoons and Safety Net were all written by our good friend Joshua Arran and originally performed by his band, The Noisy Crows. Some of the songs go back as far as 2014.
Joshua wrote the lyrics and the original music.
We didnt want to change what he had written or make the songs sound like they belonged to us. We kept his lyrics, followed the same or similar chord structures and tried to hold onto what made the original recordings special.
Joshua was also part of the reimagining process ... but mostly as a listener.
His ears are golden.
He heard the new versions as they came together and was able to experience what his older songs sounded like after being placed inside a Folded Paper Hearts production.
We also brought our own interpretation to the music. Any meaning we hear inside the lyrics is only our perspective as listeners. The original stories and whatever inspired Joshua to write them belong to him.
For the production, we stayed close to The Noisy Crows versions wherever it made sense. Those parts already carried the history of the songs ... recording everything again just so we could call it new didnt feel right.
The new versions lean further into a pop-punk sound, which is a genre we have always enjoyed. We added louder guitars, faster energy and bigger choruses while trying not to remove the feeling of the original songs.
This was never about replacing The Noisy Crows recordings. It was about taking four songs we enjoyed, respecting Joshua’s writing and giving them another way to be heard.
We are grateful Joshua trusted us with his music and allowed us to bring these songs forward again.
Letting It Go! is out now. You can listen by following the first link below.
You can also hear more music from Joshua Arran on Spotify and find the original recordings from The Noisy Crows on SoundCloud through the additional links.