Sat/Sun/Mon/Tues, February 17-20, 2018 The Park Record C-3 Robyn Cage unleashes her new album ‘Slow the Devil’ PHOTO BY CARLA BOECKLIN Park City-based singer and songwriter Robyn Cage’s new album “Slow the Devil” is a journey from light to dark. Cage will perform an album release party on Friday, Feb. 23, at Downstairs. Singer will present an album-release concert on Feb. 23 SCOTT IWASAKI The Park Record The title to Park City-based singer and songwriter Robyn Cage’s new album is “Slow the Devil,” and she said it fit the creative process, because she not only took her time to create the album, but she was able to face some of her emotional demons. “The songs are sequenced as a journey from darkness into light,” Cage said. The album even starts with a song called ‘Dark Days,’ before going into the second song, which is a single titled “Fallout,” which Cage created a video for a few months ago. “’Fallout’ is really the darkest song on the album,” she said. “I love it, but it is also probably one of the bleakest songs I’ve ever written.” As the album progresses from track to track, the listener will hear the transition from the dark and angsty emtions to the optimistic and uplifting moods, Cage said. “The last song, ‘Flying Machine,’ is a happy acoustic tune performed with a ukulele,” she said. Cage will celebrate the album’s release with a concert at 9 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23, at Downstairs, 625 Main St. “An album release concert is the most fun type of show because it’s a celebration, and I do try to make it like a party,” she said. In addition to the music, which will be performed by Cage and her band – drummer Zac Bryant and bassist Callie Crofts – the bandleader will give away free merchandise and host opportunity drawings. “We have canvas tote bags, T-shirts, tank tops – and my favorite – cocktail glasses that are made with the album logo,” she said. “We’ll give away copies of the album as well.” Another unique prize is a recipe card for the Slow the Devil Cocktail. “My friend Wade Williams, who is a bartender at High West Distillery, created the drink,” Cage said. She’ll also throw in some free food vouchers from her husband Alexander Schenck’s food truck, Komrades. “Why not?” Cage said about the food vouchers. “I’ll also see what else I can come up with Don’t get buried in news you don’t need. Call 435–649–9014 to get the news you care about between now and next Friday.” The singer said her approach to writing the songs on “Slow the Devil” was different than “Born in the Desert,” which was released in 2015. “”For my first album I decided to write about my major life experiences like when I had my heart broken 10 years ago,” Cage said. “The songs on the new album were more in the moment. Since I tackled those big life things on the first album, I wrote about stuff for the new album that was going on now or stuff that I felt too scared to write about for my first record.” Cage began the six-month process of writing the new songs a year and a half ago. “I didn’t want to let anyone down because they were invested in the project...” Robyn Cage, singer and songwriter For one in particular track, “There You Are In My Mind,” Cage wrote five different versions. “They all had different titles,” she said laughing. “I knew what I wanted to say, but I just didn’t know how to say it in a song. So that was the toughest emotionally to write, and I finally feel like it got it.” Cage thinks the songs on “Slow the Devil” are stronger than the ones on “Born in the Desert.” “I tried a bunch of different writing approaches for the first album, because I didn’t know what was going to work, and that was a huge learning experience,” she said. “I feel like the songwriting is more consistent for ‘Slow the Devil,’ because I have a better idea of who I am and who I want to be. I think I’m starting to hone in on my writing voice.” Cage’s musical style has also evolved. “The new album is more electronic than the last one, but there is still a lot of variety on the new album,” she said. After Cage finished writing the songs, her producer Caleb Loveless, who goes by the name COAV and is based out of Provo, started building the tracks. “Then we started recording and finished that at the end of the summer last year,” Cage said. The mixing and mastering was the most difficult steps, she said. “The mixing is the most tedious because you’re picking apart every single instrument to make sure everything is balanced,” Cage said. “You get really sick of your own songs by the time you finish that.” So the singer took a two month break starting at the end of October. “I could not listen to my own songs anymore,” she said. Cage received the CDs in January and played one. “I got excited again and now I’m really stoked about it,” she said. While Cage is an independent artist, she doesn’t buy into the “do-it-yourself” label. “That’s because there is a huge team of people – my band, the session musicians, co-writers, producer, engineers, photographer, makeup artist, videographer and my assistant – who made this record with me,” she said. The album also wouldn’t be what it is without the help of her fans, especially those who donated to her Kickstarter.com crowdsourcing campaign. “I did the Kickstarter when the album was halfway finished and I want to thank my backers, because the album is fan funded,” she said. “Because of the donations I had a budget for vinyl. Because of the donations I had a budget for a video and a budget for Spotify and Pandora promotion.” Cage also felt a huge amount of responsibility to her donors. “They have part ownership of the album, because we all did this together,” she said. “And that made me want to make sure the album is extra good. I didn’t want to let anyone down because they were invested in the project.” Cage’s next step is a tour in April. “We’ll head to Idaho, Oregon, Washington and California,” she said. “It will be awesome.” Robyn Cage will perform an album release concert for her new record “Slow the Devil” at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 23, at Downstairs, 625 Main St. For information, visit www.facebook.com/pg/robyncagemusic/ events/?ref=page_internal or http://www.robyncage.com/ tour.html. “Slow the Devil” is available now on CD, vinyl and digitally. People can listen to the album visiting bandcamp. com or robyncage.com. It can also be purchased digitally and streamed at Apple Music, Amazon, Google, Pandora and Spotify. SATURDAY, MARCH 3 | 5:30-7:00 PM MOUNTAIN LIFE CHURCH | 7375 SILVER CREEK RD, PARK CITY Do you ever find parenting to be your hardest job? Are you looking for tools that work? 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