Fall Equinox 2024

 It is the day of the autumn equinox. The air is cool and gray and wet. Earlier this week I went to Walden Pond late at night with some old friends. The last dregs of summer were in the air and the pond was still warm. With the near-full harvest moon in the sky we walked along the train tracks to the pond. The water was high, up above the beach, so we left our clothes on the rocks and swam out into the warm water, clear as glass. We paddled and dunked our heads. The moon was so bright and the water so clear that even in the dark night I could see my toes digging into the sand at the bottom.

Moonlight on Walden Pond - 9/16/2024

Thoreau tells us we ought to "live each season as it passes; breathe the air, drink the drink, taste the fruit, and resign [ourselves] to the influence of the earth." The fuzzy boundaries of the seasons are reminders of the passage of time. As the equinox passes and we are plunged, whether we like it or not, into the fall season, I am trying to practice that. I packed up my shorts this morning, tucking them in the closet until next year, and I unpacked my sweaters.

Goldenrod in Rivergreen Park, Everett MA - 9/12/2024

This new season also provides a fitting bookend for Heron Lake. I released the first single, Beaver Brook Waltz, on the spring equinox six months ago. Earlier this month, Edward Glen released his half of the double LP - Solstice at Heron Lake. I've written here before about how our double concept came to fruition. It is exciting to have it all here now. The changing of the seasons was of course always a major theme of both projects. When we sat down to record the album, we arranged all of our songs in seasonal order, starting in the spring with my song, Benediction, and ending with Edward Glen's The Last Time that it Snows. Now that all of the songs are here, we can present them to you as we originally intended - in season order - on the Heron Lake playlist. (Speaking of playlists, this is the perfect time to add Falling Leaves to your fall playlists *wink wink*).

Let me take a moment to just offer some unadulterated praise for Solstice at Heron Lake. It warms my frosty New England heart to hear such a well-thought-out and brilliantly executed reflection on the place we both grew up. You'll hear new sides of Edward Glen on this record. There is, of course, the requisite energetic pop-punk fun that you'd expect on White Mountain Roads and Head Cold with the trademark Edward Glen twang on Flowed Meadow. But there's wistfulness and nostalgia on this record that feels fresh - at times it gets downright ghostly, like the music is rising straight up from an old New England graveyard, which is perfect for spooky season.

Great Blue Heron at Alewife Brook - 9/18/2024

To celebrate Edward Glen's release. I finally did something I have been meaning to do for a long time - I made real liner notes in the form of a downloadable digital booklet. You can check them out here!

You can find the booklet and everything else on my new website www.isaiahzjohnson.com. I have been wanting to make a home for my creative projects for a long time, and that time is finally here. On the site you'll find my music, my outdoor projects, and some photos, as well as links to this blog and to my socials, etc.

Finally, just for kicks here's a Noah Kahan cover on YouTube to enjoy as the weather gets colder!