Sarah Michelle Magill started writing her newest record in a hotel shower in the fall of 2021. After taking several years off of music, Magill dreamt of returning to the studio and stage. With her newest work, ‘Regrets Only,’ Magill serves us her ethereal, vulnerable songwriting on a palette of intriguing and genre-defying sonic experimentation.

I’m waiting for an invitation / like some graveyard guard / sleeping in the rose bed / all the windows barred

Joined by musicians Sean Carey, Jeremy Boettcher, Ben Lester, and Tim Sullivan, ‘Regret Only’ was recorded in Eau Claire, WI with veteran producer Zach Hanson (S. Carey, Bon Iver, Gordi). Focusing on warm, natural folk sounds combined with studio wizardry, this group of talented musicians has brought us a record that feels human yet otherworldly.

For Magill, ‘Regrets Only’ is a rededication to craftsmanship and songwriting. After seeing her first live show since before the pandemic in the fall of 2021, Magill began furiously writing ‘Oxbow Shower’. With that song as a jumping point, an entire world began to unfold. With its electric piano backbone, ‘Purebred’ recalls the dulcet, smooth tones of Steely Dan but infused with a modern sensibility. ‘Meri Said’ is a slow-burning, synth-driven song that recalls galaxy-brained conversations with friends. Magill combines pop sensibility with spacey and ethereal production in a way that feels new and special. Magill’s voice is simultaneously comforting yet full of yearning – a juxtaposition that feels central to the record.

In an artistic and creative landscape influenced by AI and reboots, Quiet Takes offers something refreshingly human. The songs on ‘Regrets Only’ breathe and bleed just like we do. What more can we ask for from our artists than to reflect the human experience?

“I’m making very deliberate decisions about what goes into the songs”

How did you and the rest of the group go about crafting the textures for this record? Did you come to the studio with a specific set of instruments and tools, or was it a process of discovery?

Yes and yes! Producer Zach Hanson and I had a lot of notes about overall influences (warm synths from ‘80s Springsteen, Fleetwood Rhodes, early Feist lounge, pastoral beauty and sonic depth from albums he’d work on for S. Carey and Bon Iver, etc.). And then we got into the studio and figured out how to make that happen. The Hive (in Eau Claire, WI) has lots of little musical toys and surprises hidden everywhere, which helped problem-solve things like needing a unique sound for the hook on ‘Meri Said’. And then all the musicians came in and added their own special magic once we had the basics in place. It was a real gift to have such a strong, connected group of folks involved (Zach, Sean Carey, Ben Lester, Jeremy Boettcher, and Tim Sullivan). I’m in awe of them.

Does it ever feel alarming to be so vulnerable in your songs? Are there things that you keep for yourself?

I keep almost everything for myself! That’s the real gift art gives us: The boundaries of craft, storytelling, time and ritual make it safe to both share and receive vulnerability that could be uncomfortable — or even harmful — in “normal life.” I’m making very deliberate decisions about what goes into the songs and how I talk about them outside the performance/recording to aim for a permeability that is life-giving to both the audience and me. I’ll continue to navigate where those boundaries lie, but right now it feels balanced.

What excites you about music? What made you want to return after taking some time off?

Everything. Absolutely everything about it excites me. Like a lot of folks, I’m listening all day long, and have been since I was a kid. (I had to move out of my shared room with my twin sister into the attic because I couldn’t/wouldn’t shut the radio off.) But what really brought me back were the opportunities for human connection. So much of modern life is transaction, power plays, distraction, and, frankly, despair. Music gives us a shortcut to both transcendence and everyday oh-we’re-all-just-people-doing-mostly-our-best recognition. There was a moment at the first house show I played after years away: I looked up after playing a song I’d never performed in public before and saw a couple people crying. Oh. I thought. Oh. That’s why I’m doing this. I hadn’t really known why until that moment, and I’ve been trying to live up to it ever since.

Do you feel the landscape of Eau Claire, WI influenced how the record sounds? If so, how so?

What a great question! Quite a lot has already been written about the influence of confluence (rivers meeting) on the sound here. There is an openness to intersection — a natural inclination to welcome — here that feels unique. What struck me both when recording, and, more so, when coming back to try out living here (and now, too, as I type this with greasy pizza fingers from one of my regular downtown haunts) is the ease of pace. There is a patience here, maybe borne of long winters, deep soil, and uncontrollable rivers. It delights me to think some of that ease might have seeped into this album.

Can we expect to see Quiet Takes on the road this year?

Yes, but I’m still working out the hows. My travel trailer, which will function as a mobile studio and micro-venue with a fold-down stage, is supposed to be done this summer. I’m looking forward to putting on some forest-y shows with it, in addition to seeking out house shows, out-of-the-way venues and anywhere that human connection is on offer.

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