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comes come without intervention or expectation?
Katie Herzig: The unique thing about this record is that I had only a couple songs headed into it that were maybe going on the record. So I pretty much wrote and recorded the record hand-in-hand, over the course of a year. The only master plan I had was to get back to writing songs that are from my guts. I have spent lots of time in the last several years writing and recording music for film and TV stuff that was more experimental and not very personal. So when it was time to write for my record, the way I learned to create music for film/TV spilled over into how I was making my solo music; but it was a more personal version of stuff that wasn’t written for something, but just my own outlet and enjoyment. Ultimately, you’re just doing the very best you can with the ideas that come to you at the time… while consciously and subconsciously being influenced by music you love.

VP: Stylistically, The Waking Sleep puts you more on par with pop/rock bands like Radiohead and Death Cab for Cutie rather than folk/rock artists like Indigo Girls or Brandi Carlile. Are you ready for the kind of commercial breakthrough this record could very well achieve?
KH: Stylistically, it definitely is a leap, but I have never fully fit into the folk thing either because of my love for production and layering. But the difference is I didn’t sit down and write these songs on an acoustic guitar for the most part. I just started writing the songs by building the tracks I’d write them in. I wrote on piano, I wrote on bass, ukulele, I wrote to different samples and loops… As a result, this record does feel more likened to the band realm you speak of. As far as being ready for a commercial breakthrough — bring it on — I’m flattered you’d think it’s worthy of such a thing.

VP: Like Apple Tree, you co-produced The Waking Sleep with the fantastically talented Cason Cooley. What do each of you bring to the process?

KH: For this project, I usually brought tracks that I’d started at my home studio that included lyrics, melody, and just a general bed of sound for it to sit in. He is so good at recognizing