In Session: Art LaFleur

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Music has the undeniable power to allow people, whether they are the performer or listener, to process tragedies of varying depths. This is certainly true for songwriter, Art LaFleur, who with his latest single, “I’ve Come To Realize,” has touched upon the devastating topic of loss, and done so in an incredibly powerful and relatable way.

I had a chance to sit down with LaFleur to discuss the new single, its video, and the process of moving through the tragedy that forged the song. What follows is our conversation.

LG: Art, thank you for taking time to sit down and talk about your new song, “I’ve Come To Realize.” Tell us about how that came to be.

Art LaFleur: I’ve been writing songs for quite some time, probably since 2004-2005. What brought this song about… this is actually a very personal song to me about dealing with the emotions of having lost my wife, Beth. I’m since remarried to my wife, Shawna. Back in 2017, Beth became very ill and needed an organ transplant. Unfortunately, she passed away when she was undergoing that surgery.

This song is really my way of dealing with the emotion of that loss, and struggling to find myself again after having experienced that.

LG: I’m sorry for your loss, man.

AF: Thank you. I appreciate that.

LG: Is it hard for you, as a songwriter and performer, to be that vulnerable?

AF: I would have to say, historically, it hasn’t been. I tend to write from very personal experiences. In this particular case, it was difficult. I wrote this song in the spring of 2018, which was not quite a year after she passed away. It took me until now to record it, produce it, and be comfortable doing that.

LG: Do you find it personally hard and emotionally confusing for you to sing such a profound song now that you are remarried?

AF: That’s actually a great question. My wife and I get asked that a lot. It’s not awkward, for me, because my wife now, Shawna, is incredibly supportive. I can’t even begin to express how great she’s been in terms with allowing me to deal with the loss of my wife before her. We sort of share an experience: she unexpectedly lost her mom seven years ago. She gets the idea of having to deal with grief and how it’s really not a linear thing: it comes in waves. She actually performs backing vocals on the song. When we do it live, acoustically, she performs backing vocals then, as well. It’s really not awkward at all. If anything, to be honest with you, it’s comforting knowing she’s there being as supportive as she is.

LG: You mention you’re doing the song out as a duo. With the studio version, right when I wanted more in there, you started cranking the guitar up.

AF: Hahaha. That was intentional. It’s funny how a song develops over time. When I wrote the song initially back in 2018, it was always just going to be an acoustic song. I never thought of it as a full arrangement.

LG: What made you go electric?

AF: Over time, as I was able to reflect on the song, I’d do acoustic versions of it. I really started to hear in my head what the full arrangement could be. I thought it’d be a lot more powerful with a full arrangement. That’s what I’m trying to as a songwriter: I want to connect with people and I want them to feel. I think the song really does that: I think it emotes well; people really connect to it. I think it became a much more powerful message with the full arrangement.

LG: Aside from the buildup that I really enjoyed, I liked how relatable the song is, even though it’s very personal. You wrote it in such a way that people, despite what loss they had, are able to understand it.

AF: I feel as a songwriter, I want to connect with my listener. I want people to feel something when they listen to my music. With this song in particular, one of the things that’s surprised me is the number of people that’ve reached out to me that have recently experienced a loss. They express gratitude to me, and are like, “Thank you for writing this song. You’re expressing exactly how it feels. No one’s been able to articulate it as well as you did.” That means so much to me as an artist. As a performer, that’s what you want.

LG: When you were making the video with all the imagery, how hard of a process was that for you?

AF: It’s interesting, because there were a couple times when it hit me a bit. There’s a lot of scenes with me walking through the streets by myself and I’ll randomly bump into someone on the street; completely obliviously. That was fine, but there (were) two scenes in particular that hit me. The first one is with the shot in the video of a woman walking out of a bar, and we bump into each other. She puts her hand on my chest. That’s my wife, Shawna. There’s a split-second where we make eye contact, and there’s a connection, then I’m brought back into my grief. That was pretty powerful for me, having her in that scene and having that moment.

The other scene is the guitar solo. We shot the guitar solo in a cemetery which is located near where I grew up. I have a couple people that are very important to me from my childhood that are buried there. We shot it in the evening, and the night was [magical]. The sky turned this purple-orange color, and it was a little emotional for me. That really hit me, as well.

LG: Did you ever feel like Beth was with you during all of this?

AF: There were a few moments when I could feel Beth’s presence. I know a lot of people don’t believe this sort of thing – it’s all good: people can believe what they want. I could feel her presence. There was one moment in particular when we were recording the song. The night we were recording the string parts, there was this massive thunderstorm that was really brutal, so much so, that we had to stop recording. The thunder was so loud that it was bleeding through the mics. Dave (Tyo) had this great idea to get some of it recorded, and we took a couple microphones outside the studio door. By the time we got it set up, the storm had already passed, and the thunder was getting faint.

But I could still feel her. I told Dave, “Don’t worry, there’s another one coming.” In ten seconds, there was another massive flash of lightning, with a super loud, super long, rolling thunder crack. That is what you hear in the beginning of the song! I felt her there that night.

LG: That’s pretty intense, Art.

AF: It was intense. Once we got that part down and we were recording the string parts, I had to stop listening. I had to take the headphones off, and handed them to my wife, Shawna. It was a powerful night.

LG: This is all very heartwarming and sad. All the great things about music.

AF: I agree.

LG: Are there plans to include this single on an album?

AF: There is! I’m in the process of recording an EP, and it’ll have six songs. This song will be on the album, and I’m hoping to have it out next year. The title is going to be called Because of Now, and that song will absolutely be on it.

LG: Art, thank you so much for sharing such vulnerable art with the world!

AF: I really appreciate you taking the time to sit down for this interview. I really just want people to enjoy the song, and share it. We’re close to 1,400 views on YouTube and it’s only been out a couple of weeks. I hope it connects with people. 

LG: Have a good day!

AF: You, too!