Cindy Alexander is no stranger to overcoming the odds: A cancer survivor, mother of twin girls, and a successful touring independent artist for 15 years prior to signing with Blue Élan Records. Writing a record while her mother was dying from dementia, recording while navigating a world of pandemic and protests, and trying to finish anything while teaching her kids from home during a “Safer at Home” order were just a few more elements to add to her already colorful story of personal perseverance. Cindy tells it like it is – the Truth with a capital “T.” As Cindy says, “I can’t pretend that everything’s ok, because it’s not. But, I always see the light – in you, in me, in the world that was created from it. My journey in this body is about finding it, sharing it, becoming it. It’s a struggle. It’s painful. It’s delightful. It’s ecstatic.” While the Angels Sigh is at once a musical affirmation of personal power and grace and an acceptance of human weakness and fallibility. Cindy Alexander has written a songbook for the sandwich generation, with wisdom for millennials, and gratitude to the generations that came before her.
It took two years to curate the song list with executive producer and label co-founder, Kirk Pasich. “It was two years of me digging deep, during a dark time, to believe in myself and my musical mission, even if others did not,” Cindy explains. “I committed to sharing my truth and my passion, to work with people who could help me manifest my vision, and seized the opportunity to create without being edited, censored, or silenced. I am so very blessed that Blue Élan Records gave me that opportunity.”
By late 2019, Cindy Alexander sat in Sage & Sound Studio with a dream team of musicians, led by producer/bass player Sean Hurley and producer/drummer Victor Indrizzo. The first song they tackled was “Try Try Try,” a co-write with Cindy’s career-long collaborator, Grammy award-nominated producer, and songwriter, David Darling. The song is about trying to connect and reignite the passion when life gets in the way and distracts us from what really matters. While writing the song, a distracted Cindy had fallen and broken her elbow and wrist while running to make a meeting (“at least I feel alive…bleeding from a break”). It was Kirk’s idea to record a second “live” version of the song (all players in one room in one take) as an acoustic ballad, turning a sexy bar burner into a trippy, hypnotic siren song.
“Room at the Bottom,” a tongue in cheek ode to the down and out musician, as well as an answer to Tom Petty’s “Room at the Top,” was built around a signature guitar lick by David Levita (Alanis Morissette, Lana Del Rey, Sheryl Crow) and a scrappy, beat-up piano part by Michael Farrell (Alanis Morissette, Macy Gray), achieved by placing three No.2 pencils on the piano strings to create the distortion.
“Broken but Beloved,” a song about impermanence, was recorded with Grammy award-winning producer and engineer Ross Hogarth at Sunset Sound. It was the last in-person session before the Los Angeles lockdown order took effect in March 2020. Cindy’s dear friend and touring buddy, Michael Bacon (one-half of the Bacon Brothers and award-winning composer) contributed cello from his studio in New York. After recording his part, he sent Cindy a note, in which she found the title of her new record:
“When I write my ‘Remediation Practices for Enduring the Pandemic,’ chapter 2 will read 1. Get an amazing lifelong friend who’s got Beverly Hills chops but keeps it real. 2. Have her write a beautiful song. 3. Have her ask you to put 1,000,000 cell parts on it. 4. Do that. Title of the album: ‘While the Angels Sigh.’”
Tracks were transferred back and forth throughout the 2020 quarantine between home studios and finally finished up in Cindy’s bedroom at her new home in Big Sur.