New York
Kaleidoscope Rock

While Margaret Glaspy was working on her debut album, she visited New York’s MoMA to explore the Henri Matisse cut-outs exhibit. Some of the pieces were versions of the same work in various stages of development—striking a chord with the Red Bluff, Calif., native. “I remember being frustrated with doing it at times,” she reflects of her own process, during which she recorded Emotions and Math three times all the way through—as raw demos, more developed home recordings and, finally, as a finished product at Sear Sound with a trio. (Glaspy played electric guitar with a bassist and drummer.) “When I saw that in that show—it just hit me so hard because I was like, ‘Wow. I was able to take the time and go through these [songs] in a way that other artists have, and it’s a real process—I’m not crazy.’” Glaspy, who cites Joni Mitchell and Weezer among her influences, self-produced the ATO Records release, describing it as “rock-centric” yet “dynamic.” “It’s not all just one color,” Glaspy, who spent a semester at Berklee College of Music and now lives in New York, says. “There’s a lot of different colors in terms of what the songs feel like and sound like. It feels like the first thing I’ve made that truly represents where I’m at… It’s been my baby for a little while and I’m really proud of it.”