An attempt to win back an ex-girlfriend

Vancouver-based singer-songwriter Ryan Fischer went into Little Red Sounds Recording Studio this past winter with a bunch of bare bones acoustic arrangements of his folk songs, and came out with the 10 track genre-sweeping album “Commercials For Heaven”.

Ryan initially approached producer Felix Fung and asked if he’d listen to demos of his “weird acoustic songs” to see if he might be interested in collaborating on fleshing out the tracks. Felix replied, “man weird is my jam”.

The following week Fischer went into Little Red to meet Fung and his partner Max Sample, and they formed a live-off-the-floor trio. Speaking about his first foray in the studio: “I had so much fun. And learnt a ton”, says Fischer. “I was really blown away by Felix and Max’s creative talent, their musicianship, and the way they put their hearts and souls into my songs. It was a wonderful collaboration. I couldn’t have asked for a better experience.”

Ryan Fischer recorded the track “I Forget” on his very first day in the studio. It is perhaps the one track he is most proud of because it features a single live vocal take accompanied by a fingerpicking arrangement on his beloved Gibson LG-2. He feels it’s probably the best he’s ever performed the song, and quite lucky to have it captured that way for the album. When Ryan emerged from the booth Felix immediately handed him a Nashville tuned Yamaha acoustic guitar and ordered him back inside.

Max Sample overdubbed a pulsing baseline on a Wurlitzer, then tapped away on a hi-hat and the track was done. Fischer remembers sitting down to write the song as an attempt to win back an ex-girlfriend. “I had the idea to write this song that started off recalling the first time I met her. But somehow, I went completely blank. I couldn’t remember how I met her. I do now. No problem. But way back then, at that moment, something inside me said ‘Oh no you don’t.’ So I wrote the first line ‘I forget the first time we met…’ and the rest wrote itself.” Starting with an impulse to grasp at something already gone, “I Forget” quickly transformed into a song about looking forward and moving on.

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