When Record Labels and Recording Studios Are One and the Same: Getting to Know Historic New Jersey

Song of the Day, 6.24.26: "Down on Love" by Sam & Louise Sullivan

I joked yesterday that the overwhelming majority of the music I’ve been listening to lately seems to be made by a small handful of different friend groups scattered around the country.

I’ve already covered the Lenderman-adjacent Dollbaum/Lily Seabird/Styrofoam Winos/Dear Life Records gang at length, so today we’re gonna check in on a second, slightly smaller contingent that keeps popping up in my feeds. But bear with me for a second, because it’s confusing.

Dear Life Records, which is ground zero for all those artists I listed above, is technically based in Philadelphia, though I’ve seen it said that it’s also based in NYC and Maine, even though none of the artists I most associate with that label are from any of those places. So I hope you’ll forgive me for thinking of this second contingent as more explicitly Philadelphia-based, even though, my god…the combination record label and recording studio that sits at its center is called Historic New Jersey Recordings. Despite being located in…Philly.

Before we go any further, can I just say: I love the idea of a record label having its own recording studio. It used to be a common practice, especially among the majors. Capitol is among the few that still exist (though technically Abbey Road is also owned by Universal Music Group), but there was also RCA, Columbia, and a bunch more. And it was true for the smaller, more regional labels back then, too. Sun Studios in Memphis, Motown in Detroit, etc.

In more modern times, there have been examples of label/studio relationships working this way, but never quite as officially. A ton of Elephant 6 records were made in Robert Schneider’s Pet Sounds Studio, which, come to think of it, was in retrospect a pretty on-the-nose name for an unofficial Elephant 6 recording studio. And then I always think of Inner Ear in D.C. as essentially being the studio arm of Dischord.

Anyway, back to Historic New Jersey . The most notable thing to have come from the label/studio of late is the new Star Moles record, Highway to Hell, which is among my favorites of the year, no question, and could bring the whole gang more attention than they’ve ever had before. It features the songwriting of Emily Moales—piano-forward ‘70s-style folk-pop with an edge that I and others have called “mildly psychedelic” but that I now hear as merely a little bit kooky—along with production work by Kevin Basko, who is the founder, beating heart and de facto in-house producer for the greater Historic New Jersey universe.

Photo by Betsey Carroll

In addition to all that, Basko has made countless records of his own as Rubber Band Gun, and I know from following him on Instagram that he just bought a new tape machine, which is very exciting for those of us who care about such things.** From where I sit, if it enables him to lean even further into traditional analog recording methods, it’ll be a boon for everyone involved—from the artists he works with to those of us on the receiving end who, maybe even without knowing it, are suckers for recorded music that eschews the all-too-common “we’ll fix it in post” cliché of more computer-based recording.

As you may have guessed, today’s Song of the Day is by another Historic New Jersey artist. Or, a pair of them: brother-and-sister duo Sam and Louise Sullivan, whose new album, Love & Devotion, was just announced, along with its first single, “Down on Love.”

Photo by Betsey Carroll

As the story goes, Sam and Louise Sullivan grew up in Oregon and came to love artists like the Roches and Richard and Linda Thompson. Then they moved to Philly, and Sam started writing songs that Louise would sing. Eventually, they became enamored with the idea that they could take their folk-rock background and use it to make honest-to-goodness pop music.

With Kevin Basko on board—and with Emily Moales singing backing vocals on this song in particular—they pull it off, but in a way that still sounds kinda old and weird in the best way. The vocal melody is killer, as are the harmonies, while the various keys and bass guitar have this wonderful vintage warmth to them, and the guitar does this minimal soulful accompaniment thing that I love.

Give it a listen:

Pre-order/pre-save Love & Devotion here.

To tie this whole thing together and unite the Historic New Jersey crew with the third of the three collectives that make up so much of my music listening these days, Sam & Louise Sullivan are playing Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival in North Adams, Massachussetts, this weekend, and Jeff Tweedy is quoted in the press release for Love & Devotion, saying of it, “It’s just really beautiful, well-crafted folk pop…just lovely. Lovely songwriting, lovely playing.”

I’ll be at Solid Sound from Friday through Sunday, so I definitely plan on catching them.

**Speaking of which, do you guys care about such things? Because I am always toying around with the idea of incorporating some sort of content about the gear/production side of things. Not like reviews of microphones or guitars or anything, but conversations with artists about the relationships they form with the tools they use to create their music. Please let me know!

I’ve created a Spotify playlist of all the songs I’ve been writing about here, which I update every weekday. Follow along and share if you’re so inclined.