Chayse Porter – Chay’s Palace LP Earth Libraries

Some people choose the pages of a diary to spill their innermost feelings and recount their trials and tribulations. Instead, Chayse Porter has a palace. “It’s this metaphorical place where I can go to express myself and feel safe,” he explains. “It’s this place where you can get all your secrets out in the open and feel at home.” But rather than luxuriate in his regal mental abode, Porter’s latest for Earth Libraries takes listeners on a grand tour, revealing the nooks and crannies of his heart and mind.

Recording on vintage gear and working with producer Brad Timko redoubles that sense of intimacy, imbuing every take with a bronzy finish. “I’ve always really appreciated records that opt for analog, so this one is all just raw performance, straight to tape,” Porter says. “It gives me time to sit with each part of the composition, to live more within the song.”

As the album rolls ever forward to its conclusion, the rough edges of the pain and suffering have softened, and Porter has come to a sense of hopefulness. “It was very tumultuous to put this album together and express myself openly in this way, but at the end of the album I’m reassuring myself that there’s an opportunity for growth both personally and interpersonally, having gone through this challenging time and coming out the other side,” Porter says. At the end of the long and fascinating tour of Chay’s Palace, Porter makes the listener feel the warmth at its core that he himself has found.