Highways

"Highways" by Yasu Cub was recorded in San Francisco, California in late 2019/early 2020. The album sits in historical tension, made shortly before the pandemic fundamentally altered society, when the last stages of normalcy were only recognized retrospectively. Various attempts were made to refine, or wholly redo, the songs-to improve recording conditions, re-record lapses of tempo/precision-however judgements were made to release the album as it is, representative of the time in which it was created.

Three years later, in late 2022, it's hard to accurately recall what I was experiencing at the time of recording "Highways." I had just dropped out of theology school and was working at a local non-profit making a little more than minimum wage. I was searching for a sense of direction, but I also felt an immutable sense of purpose to record these 9 songs. I remember the fog and eternal autumn of the city as I sat in my room every evening in the Richmond district, with the window open and microphone on the table.

Some albums are a collection of defined and independently articulated ideas. Others blend in and flow as one interrelated body. This album is the latter. There is a lyric in "Waiting (for change)": "You fade into me/Out of line." Just as human beings are strangely capable of experiencing a lack of distinction between self/other, this album embodies a similar lack of distinction between songs.

Often, I am of the mentality to let the music speak for itself as I view it as another form of communication. However, special consideration is made to the last portion of the album, starting with the track "Anxiety." At the time I hit record, the microphone picked up the sirens outside. Moments later, a forgotten phone alarm goes off designed to inject the user with a sense of urgency. The addition of these sounds were accidental. The urgent and blaring sound of the environment contrasts with the spacious, effect-heavy chords of the acoustic guitar, until the song gives way to a higher tempo reflecting a rising heart beat. "Waiting (for change)" was made with the intention to heal, with the quietude of 3:18 allowing the listener to let go of all guard and defenses. "Fire" is characteristic of the emotions the word in the title can often resemble, and "Sanction" is a river cooling the passions without forgetting the lessons the emotions brought: "It's simple advice/It's worth saying twice/But it takes time to get it right."

I wrote/recorded this album as a solo project (before Yasu Cub transitioned from a solo project to a band). However, I want to express my gratitude to Rory Hoffmeister, who recorded the drums for "Found in You," Dennis Sullivan, who recorded the drums for "Saturday Forever," Igor Sidash, who recorded the piano for "Highways," Carolina Teruel, who recorded the cello for "Found in You," "Gasoline," "Saturday Forever," and "Clouds," and Andrew Young and Rory Hoffmeister for production.

-Jacob Oki Ahearn, singer-songwriter of Yasu Cub