\n<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s from the first gay club in Nashville,\u201d Howard said. \u201cI\u2019m just borrowing it because the person who owns it doesn\u2019t have tall enough ceilings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Howard bought the home from the singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton and her husband, John McCauley, of the band Deer Tick. Behind the house, between an old fishing boat Howard rebuilt and an archery target shaped like a deer head \u2014 \u201cI have strange hobbies,\u201d she noted, walking through the backyard \u2014 was a garage that had been converted into a home studio. Howard finished recording the \u201cWhat Now\u201d demos in this comfortably disheveled space with guitars adorning the walls, a movie screen hanging from the ceiling and a sauna beside the door.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to have a sauna in your studio,\u201d she said. \u201cTo sweat it out.\u201d<\/p>\n
A small control room was dominated by a large vintage mixing board once used to record Prince\u2019s debut album. Howard is a huge fan, and apparently the feeling was mutual. In 2015, he invited her and the Shakes to play at Paisley Park, and joined them on guitar for \u201cGimme All Your Love.\u201d<\/a> One of the new songs, the dynamic, tempo-shifting \u201cPower to Undo,\u201d feels animated by his spirit.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I was making it, I was like, \u2018Prince would\u2019ve liked this,\u2019\u201d Howard said. The song, she explained, is about trying to leave someone who keeps coming back. \u201cThere\u2019s a part of you that\u2019s like, \u2018I kind of do want to go back,\u2019 and then the older, wiser part that\u2019s like, \u2018Don\u2019t you dare.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWhat Now\u201d feels like a breakup album, albeit one tinged less with bitterness for her exes and more with a harsh lens turned on herself. \u201cOut there, there\u2019s a love waiting for me,\u201d Howard sings on the opener, \u201cEarth Sign,\u201d her voice floating over spare, ethereal piano chords. \u201cI can feel, I can\u2019t see\/But will I know when I feel it?\u201d<\/p>\n Howard produced the album alongside Shawn Everett, who engineered \u201cJaime\u201d and the second Shakes album, \u201cSound & Color.\u201d He recalled that \u201cEarth Sign\u201d was a spare 30-second demo when Howard brought it into the studio.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n