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We quizzed LANDRY CANTRELL to learn about his years of honing his studio craft.
Pastor's son and worship leader Landry Cantrell from Hanford, California, has since age 11 been singing, writing songs and recording them. But it's now, with the release by Dream Music of his 'Projections' album, that this Californian singer/songwriter has broken through to national music consciousness. Critical accolades have been heaped on Landry's blue-eyed soul voice, the startlingly clever pop production and just about everything else on one of 2017's outstanding albums.
RH: Was 'Projections' recorded over a long period of time?
Landry: You know what? It was and that was a little bit different for me. I have my own studio and in the past I'd usually just like to get in there and get things done. But with this album, me and the producer Sean Hill [best known for his work with Jamie Grace] kind of sat on it and took our time. I think that it worked to our benefit because we were able to craft each song together and make sure that each song came out the way we wanted it instead of having to stress about a release date and deadlines and all that kind of thing. So we took quite a bit of time, maybe like nine months to create this album.
RH: Tell me a bit about your background.
Landry: I was born in Hanford, California, where I currently live. I'm just a small town guy. I grew up in church singing in the kids choir. I was always interested in singing, music and all of that but it wasn't until my dad gave me some of his old recording equipment, because my dad ran a studio when I was growing up. He did a lot of Southern gospel music back in the day. My dad gave me some of his old gear whenever he upgraded his studio and I moved it into my bedroom. I was like 11 I think and I just started recording my voice, recording myself, listening to it back and critiquing it, kind of trying to fine tune the sound that I wanted my voice to sound like. Once that got boring I started trying to incorporate the music and kinda started writing.
RH: So what happened after that?
Landry: Well, I was getting a little adventurous. I went to London on a vacation with my family and we went to the West End and saw a musical I absolutely fell in love with it. I thought the music was amazing, I thought the storyline was so clever. So I thought, I want to do that, I want to write a musical. So I went home, got busy on my laptop and I wrote a script for a musical and then I went back and wrote I think 10 songs for this musical that I'd created. Luckily for me the church that I attend here in Hanford were extremely supportive of me and everything that I've done. So we put on a musical, The Rich And The Wretched. We toured with the musical up and down the state in 10 different churches and had a great time. It was just a really cool thing. We recorded that soundtrack, the 10 original songs, and sold it every night at the shows.
RH: Getting back to 'Projections', what are your particular favourite tracks?
Landry: There are a few songs on the album where I kind of express myself in a more vulnerable way, I guess, and they're not your typical Christian songs because they don't necessarily have a resolution. You know, how every Christian song you hear on the radio they have a problem and then the resolution. I just wanted to be honest with the songs and express a certain emotion that I was feeling and the songs that fit this category on the album. There's a track towards the end called "Underneath" and there's another track called "Fade Out" and they kind of are about similar things, but it's just me kind of crying out, speaking from my heart and wanting to be real in the hopes that someone could relate to what I was feeling and saying and realise that it's okay to feel like that and they're not alone in these kinds of fears. Then hopefully they listen to the rest of the album. Then on other tracks I kind of guide them to the process of Jesus, that he’s there and he's the comforter and all of that amazing stuff that we all know as Christians.
RH: Tell me a bit about the song "Before You".
Landry: That's actually the single and the one that radio has been picking up a bit. A friend of mine sent me a track and said, "Hey man, I'd really like you to write for this song." I put the track on and I started feeling completely defeated, completely discouraged, did not think I was gonna write anything for this track. I kind of went through the motions as a courtesy to this guy and I did the track, so I was inspired in that way. I put it on and just kinda started writing lyrics. If you listen to the verse - I thought, 'Well, this is a dark verse, kind of almost hopeless sounding.' That was my state of mind at the time when I was writing the song. But, as I began to write the song it kind of pulled me out of that hopelessness. By the time I got to the chorus my whole perspective had changed and I was feeling inspired, feeling that lift.
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