[Cover photo credit to Mitch LaGrow]

Making Room for the Light, is Mae Powell’s debut for Karma Chief Records. Writing the album over a transitional period in her life, Powell’s sophomore album “presents the singer/songwriter as both healer and healed, grounded by her connection to nature and sound.”

The sketches that compose Making Room for the Light’s eleven-song cycle began while Mae was living on her mother’s farm, two hours north of San Francisco. 

Produced by Loving’s multi-instrumentalist David Parry, the album was recorded at Risque Disque studio off the coast of Vancouver Island. 

The single “Contact High” is out now, and was inspired by Powell’s dear friend Dylan Mulvaney.

Powell says:

The world was trying to tell her that she didn’t exist, and there were so many evil vibes pointed at her. I wanted to cheer her up.

In the process, Powell created “a song that is a celebration of friendship and solidarity.” 

She elaborates:

The idea for ‘Contact High’ came when my stoner elderly neighbor Phil suggested I write a song called contact high, but about good vibes instead of about weed. We laughed at this concept together but it stuck in my mind, and when one of my best friends was going through a tough time I used the idea to write her a song that might help her see what it feels like to be around her radiant energy. With her in mind, the song came easily. We referenced old ’60s and ’70s recordings for this one, specifically channeling the sonic vibes of Chris Montez’s album Watch What Happens.

We listened to songs from it between takes to really try to capture the energy. What ensues is the most upbeat song on the album, with the craziest drums ever by Sam Jones (we really told him to just go wild and he understood the assignment), Garrett Barley on a 12-string electric guitar and ace tone organ, David Parry on the piano, Mayya Feygina on bass, and yours truly on vocals and acoustic guitar. This song was probably the most fun to make and we were all dancing around the studio the whole day.