‘We Could Be High’ was written on a Zoom call during the recent global lockdown. Anna Krantz, like many writers, had her reservations about collaborating over the internet for the first time, yet when all other options become suddenly stripped away, creatives get creative.
She explains, “I couldn’t write about the experience of being separated from my family and friends, in a city I had only recently moved to and had barely begun to call home when the world shut down. I wasn’t ready to tap into those layered and conflicting emotions. I wanted… no, I needed to write a song which gave me hope. A song which lifted my spirits when I sang it.”
Simon Johnson, who also co-produced the song, was the perfect choice to collaborate with on this rootsy foot tapper. He recorded his guitar parts at his home studio in The New Forest, England.
Heavily influenced by her years spent in Nashville, Krantz was keen to capture elements of Americana. Though London born and bred she has a penchant for timeless American melodies and has been compared by old friends like Ed Sheeran as sounding as resplendent on record and live, as artists such as Sheryl Crow, Rickie Lee Jones, Carole King and Sara Bareilles.
Now based in Dublin, the gift of modern technology once again presented itself. Krantz contacted Nashville based drummer, Adam Box (Brothers Osborne) and Nashville based keys player, Dave Cohen (Carrie Underwood, Steven Tyler, Reba McEntire) knowing they both had their own private setups to record in. Keeping everything at an acceptable social distance!
She confides, “It felt fun to set ourselves the challenge of making this recording a global effort during a time when no one could be in the same room.”
Krantz recorded her vocals at her new home studio in Southern Ireland. She painted the artwork on a canvas delivered by Amazon and an easel hand crafted by her boyfriend out of scrap wood from the shed because, there was, of course, no way of going out for art supplies.
Mixed by one of Krantz’s go to sound wizards, Richie Biggs (The Civil Wars, The Lone Bellow) at his studio in LA, ‘We Could Be High’ is a song about taking a leap of faith in the hopes of finding the ultimate high. Be it love for another, love for oneself or simply inner calm and connection. Life favours the brave and this song is a reminder to be the bravest version of ourselves, no matter how high the risk.
