For the past two weeks we have been highlighting the superb lyrics on Brass Camel (2026), giving the band commentary on each one of the album tracks.

Stay tuned for our own full album review. But for today, to conclude our cycle of insight into the album, here’s Daniel Sveinson of Brass Camel (electric guitar and vocals) on the recording process that the band went through for this epic release:

Through woodlands, through the valleys (thanks Gordon Lightfoot), across the plains and the Canadian shield, it took five short days for the Camel caravan to barrel from our “Camel” album release party in Vancouver on April 19th to sold out shows in Ottawa and Montreal. With bus problems including a tire blow-out along the way, there was no shortage of drama on the long drive out but we made it in one piece and had a fantastic weekend where we got to test-run some of the new material on the Friday and Saturday before driving to Uxbridge on Sunday where we set up at the Chalet. The studio, run by David Chester, is a unique and special place. Inspired by Le Studio — the legendary lake-front studio in Quebec’s Morin Heights where artists such as Rush, The Police, and David Bowie recorded — it is a residential studio; the band stays on site and that means more time to make music. In fact, Rush spent years using the Chalet as a home-base where they could hole up to write and rehearse. It’s rural, charming. and inspiring. 

            All set up on the Sunday evening, we began recording the album early on Monday morning. With Kevin at the helm as engineer, we laid down bed tracks of my guitar, Curtis’ bass, and Wyatt’s drums for ten songs in two days – we really wanted an album that felt ‘alive’ as we find so many modern art rock/prog rock/technical albums feel almost soulless in their quantising and editing and whatever else gets done in the name of chasing perfection. All those thousands of hours spent on stage together over the past three years helped us to play together in a different way than we had (in-studio) before. It was fun and it was also a different experience than we’d had before because, being on a farm and not in a noisy downtown corridor, the Chalet A-room has a massive plate glass window that looks out over a beautiful field and forest grove. We’ve all recorded in many studios with many different bands but this was the first time where we had natural light and lovely pastoral scenes to take in while playing. There were foxes and lightning storms (which you’ll hear on record) and gorgeous sunny days and frogs chirping and it all played into the great atmosphere that informed the recording process. Having Kevin onboard was fabulous — he is a wise sage in the control room and was able to offer buckets of great useful input and feedback as we were tracking. We’ve never worked with a producer before (Ben Kaplan is credited as co-producer on “Camel” but this was requested due to the post-production work he was keen on rather than pre-pro/in session advice that one might think of in the classical rock-production sense) and having someone whose vision clearly aligns with ours being there to assist in steering the ship towards the finish line was fantastic. He made some suggestions that had major positive impacts on the tracks.

            Once beds were done, we spent the rest of our time at Chalet tracking a multitude of keyboards and guitars. “Camel”’s 12 minute closer “Another Day” may have had a 3-minute Minimoog solo (sorry prog fans, this new album does not) but Brass Camel has far greater claim to being a keys-driven record, be it grand piano or Rhodes or Clarinet D6 —thanks Ben K!— or Oberheim bass bombs. Aubrey really came into his own on this record in terms of having his instrumental voice clearly defined and there is a chordal fullness to this album that, in my opinion, isn’t found on the first two. We had a blast choosing tones and instruments and even tracked the intro to “Everybody Loves a Scandal” on a real 17th-century-style dual manual French harpsichord handmade by luthier Craig Tomlinson — sure, we could have used a sample, but what’s the fun in that?

            After 8 days in the studio (with a weekend of shows in between) we were back on the road to complete the tour home. Kevin flew into Vancouver where were finished up the recording with vocals, guitar overdubs, and various other bits of foley and percussion. With a record ready to mix, we just had to find the right fit!

The mix was done by none other than Terry Brown! Read all about it.