Studio Wizardry Meets World-Class Songcraft in Joel Arnow’s Woken Up In Broken Places

Adhyâropa Records is thrilled to announce Woken Up In Broken Places (ÂR00110), the new album from super-producer and songwriter Joel Arnow. Following in the tradition of Blake Mills, Brian Eno, and Daniel Lanois, Arnow uses the magic of the studio to showcase his songwriting chops – and vice versa. Over 11 tracks, Arnow masterfully constructs a cohesive musical statement full of gorgeous organic textures and the spirit of rock ‘n roll. 

“This album was built a little at a time over many years whenever I had time in between producing projects,” Arnow says. “I don’t think of myself as primarily a singer-songwriter but I have that creative itch that needed to be scratched. These are songs that were inside me that needed to get out. But once they were written they became the structures I could use to explore my other real creative pursuit, which is producing, engineering, and mixing. And before I knew it I had something that was really satisfying to me – a collection of well-crafted songs that sounded good to me.”

“I always approach each song as its own universe, whether it’s for my own project or someone else’s. I try to match the vibe and timbre of the song to the instrumentation and production, and in that way each song is allowed to have its own personality,” Arnow says. “And it works in reverse too; when I write a song, sometimes I’m trying to capture how I felt when another artist’s sound hit me. For example, the drum sound on the track ‘Feels Like A Lonely Time’ was my attempt to recreate the sound of Sting’s song ‘I’m So Happy I Can’t Stop Crying.’ And ‘You And Me’ has a lot of Paul Simon in it. I never hit the mark, but what comes out is something different, a result of an ongoing conversation with the great artists I've been influenced by.”

Arnow played most of the instrumental tracks himself but also called in A-list talent to help fill in the sonic landscape, and the contributions of co-producer Bill Finizio were critical. “He’s an incredibly brilliant, insightful, and above all patient musician to work with, but for this project a lot of what he did was just to get me out of my own way. I could have endlessly tinkered with these songs but it was hugely beneficial to have Bill there to tell me when he thought it was as good as it could be and I could move on.”

From the jump, Arnow’s intent is clear. The opening track ‘Get Up And Shake’ picks up elements of Tom Petty’s Americana and Jeff Lynne’s playful virtuosity and reassembles them into something at once familiar and yet wholly contemporary. Jangly acoustic guitars and plaintive vocal harmonies blend with Baroque keyboard lines before being shoved aside by a searching electric guitar solo. Your ear knows all these sounds, but as in haute cuisine, you’ve never had them presented in quite this way.

“The connective tissue throughout is, of course, me – it’s all a part of my voice, these sounds we’re familiar with filtered through my own particular lens. I love to make recordings the way someone like Jason Isbell does where we get the whole band together in a room and play and play until we get the performance we like, but it just wasn’t possible. I wanted to build it up piece by piece, adding instruments as I went along, sometimes to be replaced by studio aces like Michael Bellar (keys) or Paul Orbell (guitars). But that allows for a different kind of spontaneity; for example, in the track ‘Just A Child’ which Alastair Ottesen does a guest vocal on. For the guitar solo, I just had a few moments to try something before I had to leave to pick up my kid at school, so I just hit record and played what I thought at the time were a totally random sequence of notes and didn’t revisit it until a week later. Paul Orbell came in to drop in the ‘real’ solo, but when he heard what I did he said, “Wait, that’s actually kinda interesting. You have to keep this the way it is!” And listening back now I’m glad we did. We never would have had a happy accident like that in a more commonplace studio environment.”

A mid-album highlight is the 3rd single, ‘Bend Down Your Heart,’ which beguiles with Finizio’s vintage keys and a lovely background vocal performance by New York scene staple Sophie Buskin before delivering the lyrical wallop; heartbreak served with honey. Another is the gently strummed ballad ‘We’re Gonna Get A Little Something Right,’ complete with campfire harmonica provided by the ever-useful Finizio and a Michael Bellar piano part Bruce Hornsby would be proud of.

The album’s closer ‘Everybody Wants The Same Thing’ wraps a bow on the proceedings perfectly. Arnow has a real gift for the surprising minor or diminished chord which reframes and elevates an otherwise standard progression. All of the piquant exploration of the Beatles at their most crafty, mixed with sounds that wouldn’t be out of place on a Dave Fridmann-produced project like MGMT or Mercury Rev, and served over the backbeat that drove the 70’s. It’s transporting, and as familiar as your hometown.

Artist: Joel Arnow

Album Title: Woken Up In Broken Places

Label: Adhyâropa Records

Release Date: June 23, 2025 (single: ‘Woken Up In Broken Places’); July 7, 2025 (single: ‘Get Up And Shake’); July 21, 2025 (single: ‘Bend Down Your Heart’); August 1, 2025 (album: Woken Up In Broken Places)

Purchase: https://joelarnow.bandcamp.com/album/woken-up-in-broken-places

Performers: Joel Arnow (guitar, bass, drums, keys, vocals)