Session Notes

• Lyrics and melody: (M. Carteret 2025)

• Vocals: Marcia Carteret

• Musical Arrangement and Guitar: Mike Sunjka

• Mixed/Mastered in Logic Pro by Mike Sunjka

• Inspired by reconnecting unexpectedly with an old “friend” and discovering that certain emotional currents never fully disappear.

Session Notes

• Lyrics and melody: (M. Carteret 2025)

• Vocals: Marcia Carteret

• Musical Arrangement and Guitar: Mike Sunjka
  Piano: Trip Ziegler

• Mixed/Mastered in Logic Pro by Mike Sunjka

• Inspired by the death of my uncle the week of Thanksgiving 2025. He made choices that will change my life forever. He broke my heart and almost my spirit. Music—and especially The Liminal Sessions is keeping me from listing towards depression. Music and my dog Dobro who was named after the dobro guitar. Hardly anyone knows what that instrument is. People have a hard time saying his name. Doesn’t matter. He’s a bull terrier and doesn’t listen to people anyway.

Session Notes

• Lyricist: M. Carteret 2005 (Originally released on the Album Stories in Song in 2018 under the same title.)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool

• Human (M. Carteret) and AI vocal layering as part of the final arrangement

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• Inspired by a turning point in my long friendship with my first jazz mentor, the marvelous Elynn Rucker, whose influence continues to echo through my music.

Session Notes

• Lyricist: M. Carteret 2005 (Originally released on the Album The Trouble with Wanting. in 2018 under the same title.)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool

• Human (M. Carteret) and AI vocal layering as part of the final arrangement

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• Inspired—let’s just leave it at that. I created a music video to go with the original release. It featured a man pinning and arranging butterflies for display. Sorta creeps me out now, but—it felt like the perfect metaphor at the time. Yeiks!

Session Notes

• Lyrics and melody: (M. Carteret 2018 originally released on album The Trouble With Wanting )

• Vocals: Marcia Carteret

• For this Liminal Sessions recording, the song was reinterpreted using AI-assisted composition tools, which generated a new melody, harmonic structure, and arrangement while retaining the original lyrics.

• Written sitting on a back porch swing during one of my last visits to a much loved family farm in Missouri. The old homestead was originally settled in 1881. Lost forever in 2025. It was my refuge from life’s storms. Where will I go now?

Session Notes

• Lyricist: (M. Carteret 2026)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool

• Human (M. Carteret) and AI vocal layering as part of the final arrangement

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• This song came out of nowhere. I wrote it in an hour. It pays homage to Billie Holiday—many people will assume I am referencing Billie Eilish. Jazz cats will get the Lady Day line, however. Billie Holiday was the first jazz singer I learned about, and I fell in love with her songs back in college—at the University of Edinburgh! Well, it was a dark lonely place in winter. I was homesick.

Session Notes

• Lyricist: (M. Carteret 2026)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool.

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• This song started out as something entirely different. It simply wasn’t working—which, as any songwriter knows, is often the case. Songs can be like truculent children, stubbornly refusing to become what you want them to be.

  Guitarist Mike Sunjka listened to an early version and sent me back to the drawing board. He was right. I reworked the song at least three times before it finally revealed what it wanted to be: a song about a spy. Why a spy? Probably because I spend most evenings falling asleep with a spy novel in my hands.

• Original lyrics by M. Carteret. Originally released on the album The Trouble With Wanting in 2018

• Back-up and duet vocals: (M. Carteret 2026).

• Human and AI vocal layering as part of the final arrangement.

• Final mix/master: Mixed in Garageband and Moises.ai Mastered via LANDR

• This song was originally written when I was working on a folk/country album—the only departure from jazz in my music career. Back in 2016, it was a chance to collaborate with musicians who introduced new instruments to my arrangements— i.e. harmonica, mandolin, fiddle.

• I first recorded myself as the lead vocal. I didn’t like the feel of the song after a lot of takes. The male voice took a while to “create” by manipulating Suno’s male voices. I kept getting pop country “guys” which I can’t abide. I finally hit upon this male singer and immediately loved the tune.

• Original lyrics by M. Carteret. First released on the album The Trouble With Wanting in 2018 as It Goes Without Saying.

• Human and AI vocal layering as part of the final arrangement.

• Final mix/master: Mixed in Garageband and Moises.ai Mastered via LANDR

• The female voice is my own. The male voice exists only in the liminal space between imagination and technology. This is a great example of how AI expands the choices an arranger can experiment with.

  Reimagining this tune, I wanted a Béla Fleck-style banjo to work. Not bluegrass banjo, but the more melodic, jazz-inflected approach.

  I chose to leave the AI vocal in place and sing alongside it. I wasn’t hearing a duet so much as two voices sharing the same porch swing. The song seemed to want the easy companionship of people who have spent a long time making music together.

  At first listen, it can almost sound anti-marriage. It speaks about wedding bands, vows, and the rituals of commitment with a certain suspicion. But the song is only questioning the idea that love can be secured by anything external to itself.

  I’ve always been drawn to Edna St. Vincent Millay’s line, “Oh, think not I am faithful to a vow! / Faithless am I save to love’s self alone.” The song lives somewhere near that sentiment. 

Session Notes

• Lyrics and melody: (M. Carteret 2018). Originally released as Charm In My Pocket

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool

• Human (M. Carteret) and AI vocal layering as part of the final arrangement

• Inspired by my one-and-only-ever husband, who now lives in Italy. He once said to me, “It’s OK to be fabulous.” I’ve carried those words with me ever since, and I suspect I always will.

• The original tune featured my good friend and fabulous guitarist Neil Haverstick. I was torn between versions for this project. I chose the song that involves AI, but the original version will always be my favorite.

• Lyrics (M. Carteret 2005)

• Vocals: Marcia Carteret

• Musical Arrangement
  Eric Gunnison *see below

• Mixed/Mastered Scott Griess and Jeff Jenkins of Greywood Studios

• I wrote this song with an entirely different set of lyrics. I asked Eric Gunnison to play on the tune. The piano solo made me see the whole song differently. I re-wrote the words and melody based on what Eric had played. I said to him later, “I don’t who wrote this song, me or you. I think it was you!”
  
  Knowing Eric had accompanied Carmen McRae early in his career was intimidating, but he wore that history lightly and focused entirely on the music at hand.

• Original lyrics by M. Carteret.

• Human (M. Carteret) and AI vocal layering as part of the final arrangement.

• Final mix/master: Mixed in Garageband/ Mastered via LANDR

• I wrote this tune a decade ago and never did anything with it.
  Luckily, I have boxes of saved song lyrics; I found the tattered piece of paper with these lyrics and— it was like finding a twenty dollar bill in the pocket of a coat you rarely wear.
  
  This is another tune that felt like it needed a male vocal. As I was shaping the song, I kept hearing Amos Lee in my mind. In particular, I kept picturing the cover of his self-titled debut album—the image seemed to accompany the song as it took shape. I’ve long admired his songwriting and the understated honesty of his lyrics.
  
  The voice on this track exists only in the liminal space between imagination and technology. Another good example of how AI expands the arranger’s choices.

• Lyricist: (M. Carteret 2026)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool for the music arrangement.

• AI vocals on the the final arrangement.

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• The cover art was inspired by a 1960s British Vogue cover. I can’t explain where this song came from. I knew I wanted a Marcus Miller-style bass line, and once it started driving the groove, the singing character emerged—confident, flirtatious, and just a little reckless. By the time I turned her earring into a handcuff, I was laughing out loud.

  The title reflects the realization that, sooner or later, it’s time to turn away from something built on deception. For all the excitement of playing outside the changes, eventually the music wants to resolve. He needs to return to the root—the home key.

• Original lyrics by M. Carteret. Originally released on the album The Trouble With Wanting in 2018

• Lead Vocals: (M. Carteret 2026).

• Human (M. Carteret) and AI vocal layering as part of the final arrangement.

• Final mix/master: Mixed in Garageband and Moises.ai Mastered via LANDR

• This song was originally written when I was working on a folk/country album—the only departure from jazz in my music career. Trying an entirely different sound was a challenge but so rewarding. I wanted the deep base line. I can’t remember how I finally achieved that. So many different iterations to get it right.

• I had to cut a garden full of tulips before a severe winter storm. It was heartbreaking to cut those beautiful red tulips. It reminded me of other hard choices we are forced to make in life.

Session Notes

• Lyricist: (M. Carteret 2026)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool

• Human (M. Carteret) and AI vocal layering as part of the final arrangement

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• I wrote this song for a little bird that flew into my window and died. I heard the bang and then went outside where I found it on the ground. I felt responsible. But then again… it made me think of how that’s part of life. Mistaking a hard reality (glass window) for blue sky. I wanted the human whistle to be a main feature of the arrangement because it was the closest thing to birdsong. Thank you AI. I could not have whistled like that to save my life.
  

Session Notes

• Lyrics: (M. Carteret 2026)

• Lead Vocals: Marcia Carteret

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool.

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• This song was inspired by the children’s book Emily Emerson’s Moon which was a favorite story of mine when I was a child. My mother, reading wonderful books to us at bedtime, gave me my love of language and story.

Session Notes

• Lyricist: (M. Carteret 2026)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool

• Human and AI vocal layering as part of the final arrangement

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• This song started as a bit of journal writing, drawn partly from my own experiences and partly from the experiences of others. As a college writing professor, I’ve had heartbreaking conversations with students about bullying, peer pressure, and the things they carried with them from high school.

  Social media has made it worse. High school, especially, can feel like a bullying arena where cruelty becomes almost a sport—and the consequences can last long after the moment itself has passed.

  I wanted to write something for young people who are caught in the middle of it: a reminder that what feels permanent now doesn’t have to be. There is a life beyond it.

Session Notes

• Lyricist: (M. Carteret 2026)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool

• Human (M. Carteret) and AI vocal layering as part of the final arrangement

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• I literally wrote this knowing I was going to rent a 718 Porsche Boxster for my birthday. It was the best birthday ever. Zoom zoom! I am really tempted to buy one of my very own. I won’t be able to live these lyrics forever. What a thrill!

Session Notes

• Lyricist: (M. Carteret 2026)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool

• Lead Vocals: Marcia Carteret

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• I have fallen in love with Montreal. My mother’s side of the family hails from this city. I started visiting for the jazz clubs. Oh my! I have had some marvelous evenings listening to jazz in this wonderful city. I have walked its old town streets for hours.
  
  To write this song, I imagined having met someone who could understand the idea of two solitudes. That exact lyric came from a podcast I listened to on an Air Canada flight. A book written in the 1940s (as I recall) has that title. It’s about the challenges of sharing this province and city between the peoples of two languages—French and English.

• Lyricist: (M. Carteret 2026)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool for the music arrangement.

• AI vocals on the final arrangement.

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• The cover art features a girl’s best friend—always a dog! In this case, a white bull terrier like the first one I ever had. She still owns my heart. Wiggy Garbo, I miss you.

  This song also began with a journal entry. I have stacks of journals, and sometimes a song is sitting there waiting to be found.

  I wrote this song for women who have been left by a partner, lover, husband—whatever. What matters is knowing you can land on your feet and begin again without giving yourself away in the process.

  Of course, men start over too. We all do. Lovers leave. Lives change. Hearts mend.

  Love yourself first!

Session:

• Lyricist: (M. Carteret 2026)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool for the music arrangement.

• AI vocals on the final arrangement.

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• This song started off with a need to break with a series of sessions that relied on a soulful funk beat. (Return to the Root/I Can Do Better). I wanted to do something entirely different. Goldfrapp came to mind out of nowhere. Electronic art-pop, electro-glam, downtempo electronica, cinematic pop, and ambient/folk-electronic. The early attempts were interesting. A bit too heavy on synth. I went back to jazz. Mixed it all again. Eventually, I got a kind of eclectic mix of sounds. It felt approriately wonky—just like the feelings you carry after being disappointed by a good friend. People change. Life changes them.

Session Notes:

• Lyricist: (M. Carteret 2026)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool for the music arrangement.

• AI vocals on the final arrangement.

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• This song opens with coffee shop background noise to set the scene and ends with a very short clip from an interview with Carmen McRae. “Woman Talk,” a song McRae was well known for singing, became a touchstone for this tune, which I wrote after two unrelated incidents involving young women talking trash about men—right in front of men. One happened in a coffee shop; the other happened in my college classroom. Both struck me as unnecessarily mean-spirited, and it bothered me enough that I wrote a song about it. I also liked tipping my hat to McRae—she was known as a singer’s singer.

Lyricist: (M. Carteret 2026)

• Created from original lyrics using Suno as an exploratory compositional tool for the music arrangement.

• AI vocals on the final arrangement.

• Final mix/master: Garageband & LANDR

• I can’t explain why I heard Irish funk for this tune. I wasn’t even sure it would work. But I think it DOES!

  And I can’t quite imagine walking into a studio and saying to a bunch of musicians, “I’m hearing Irish fiddles—with funk!” But with AI, I can actually try it and hear what happens.

  This is a great example of how working with AI has expanded my musical palette. I have this whole new range of sounds to work with now—a rainbow of possibilities I never had access to before.
  
  This song is based on an actual experience I had several years ago. And old boyfriend called me up one day full of profound apologies that I couldn’t even make sense of. He suggested that we try again. I could have laughed—but was polite. After I hung up, I knew I’d never hear from him again. I was irritated but somewhat amazed at his… balls.