TMN STAFF<\/p>\n
\u201cThe music that I\u2019m writing and releasing is really mirroring who I am and where I am at that time in my life. It\u2019s easy to perform songs when they\u2019re very true.\u201d So says JD Eicher, the Youngstown, OH-area born and bred musician who is set to release The Middle Distance<\/em>. \u201cI\u2019m really glad that my career has taken the longer, \u2018scenic\u2019 route because the music I\u2019m writing now has a certain truth to it that I\u2019m not sure I would have found otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n The Middle Distance<\/em> marks the first album Eicher will issue since sunsetting JD Eicher & the Goodnights, the moniker used on the trilogy of titles, The Shape of Things<\/em>, Shifting<\/em>, and Into Place<\/em>, released previously. So why put The Goodnights to bed? Eicher explains: \u201cThe truth of the matter is, not a whole lot has changed. There will still be a band. But the name shift felt natural with the very personal nature of this new music and the very strong desire to simplify.\u201d<\/p>\n Eicher has noted that the common themes running through his previous three releases are \u201clove, hope, and acceptance.\u201d Common sense would call for speculating whether there is a common thread that ties together the ten songs found on The Middle Distance. \u201cNot a premeditated one,\u201d he is quick to clarify. \u201cI really wanted to just sit down and write the best songs I could, saying what I needed to say at the time. It\u2019s more of a journal entry\/diary-type approach this time around.\u201d<\/p>\n With that as a forward, the first chapter of Eicher\u2019s aural journal begins with nearly one minute of U2-ish guitar that sets the sonic table for the album opener, \u201cThis Heart,\u201d in which he sings, \u201cAll my fears, all my worries, are alive and well inside this heart.\u201d Eicher expounds, \u201cThis whole record – and definitely that song \u2013 is moodier, and there\u2019s a lot of internal struggle, internal processing. When you hear the song title, \u2018This Heart,\u2019 it sounds like it\u2019s gonna be a love song, but it\u2019s really more about coping and figuring out how to get past whatever you\u2019re dealing with in that moment.\u201d<\/p>\n Far less ambiguous is how much Eicher\u2019s Rust Belt upbringing seeps into, or serves as, the foundation of his songwriting. \u201cI think it definitely affects the music,\u201d he affirms without hesitation, \u201ceven in the way I approach touring and my overall work ethic with songwriting and recording. There\u2019s a world-weariness that comes out of this area that gets into the songs. I think there\u2019s a realism that comes out of this part of the country, too, and I think that gets in there as well.\u201d It\u2019s no wonder that Pittsburgh, not far from his hometown of Youngstown, has embraced the performer and his music as their own.<\/p>\n Now facing a new morning with the added weight of offering up The Middle Distance<\/em> with just his name on the album cover, does Eicher like the way the shape of things have shifted into place (to borrow a phrase from past album titles), both personally and professionally?<\/p>\n \u201cYeah, definitely. I do feel a lot more firmly-rooted. I feel like there\u2019s a lot less doubt. I know who I am a lot better than I used to, and a lot of my life is starting to make more sense. I\u2019m married now. We\u2019ve got a house. The real world stuff has come together in a really meaningful way. And my musical life mirrors those sentiments as well. This was the first time I felt comfortable producing a record on my own. I knew how I wanted it to feel, start to finish.\u201d<\/p>\n For those reasons and more, it\u2019s fair to say The Middle Distance<\/em> is destined to take JD Eicher even farther than where he\u2019s at today. That prospect makes it a near certainty that his steady pace to the top will likely result in him experiencing the musician\u2019s equivalent of a long distance runner\u2019s high.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" TMN STAFF \u201cThe music that I\u2019m writing and releasing is really mirroring who I am and where I am at that time in my life.… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":142,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[56,1832,3402],"tags":[9807,106,9806,7293],"class_list":["post-26803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-kfhs-radio","category-area-music","tag-the-middle-distance","tag-fort-hays-state-university","tag-jd-eicher","tag-tmn-radio-new-artist"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/142"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26803"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26810,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26803\/revisions\/26810"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tigermedianet.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}