John Splithoff is ready for his next chapter. After years of working with the likes of David Foster, Sting, and Ben Folds, the multi-instrumentalist set out to record a new album of his own
Sonically diverse and vocally impressive, Far From Here clearly shows off Splithoff's jazz background and his musically diverse upbringing.
In an interview with American Songwriter, Splithoff said that people have compared him to everyone from Teddy Swims to John Mayer to Boz Scaggs. While those sonic similarities are certainly evident, Splithoff managed to make a record that's uniquely his own.
The LP includes the pop-leaning "Tangled" right alongside the more mellow and introspective "Glacier." Splithoff said he fears that the latter track may "go over a lot of people's heads."
"I think that song is one of the most pensive things I've written about the ebb and flow of relationships and how things change for people," Splithoff said of the track, which he wrote after a trip to Glacier National Park. "... I had an idea of where I wanted things to go harmonically and [how I wanted to] paint a picture of... looking out on the horizon and just thinking about the people in my life."
Chris Botti lends his trumpet talents to "City Days," leading Splithoff to deliver a jazzy, melancholy ode to New York City. He first visited the city as a child and later called it home for nine years.
"I feel like in New York, you're doing so much, but then there was a lot dead time where I'm like... 'I don't know what I'm doing... Why am I living here again?'" he explained. "The New York mentality is this like, 'Well, this is the place to be. What else am I gonna do?'... At the end of the song, it is just me coming to terms with the fact that I realize I can't be here forever."
Botti's addition "elevated the song," making it one Splithoff said he's "proud of as a love letter to New York."
Elsewhere, the title track features orchestral-sounding opening that ultimately gives way to Splithoff's soulful voice. Splithoff, along with Chris Soper and Jesse Singer of the producing duo LIKEMINDS, wrote the track within weeks of his move to Los Angeles.
"Once I got the words 'far from here,' I just felt like there's a concept in that," Splithoff explained of how the song inspired the album as a whole. "Having gone through all this change with with moving out here... I could see how there was a concept in the making of place and time and and how these places hold significant memories for me and inspiration."
The album takes on an otherworldly haze in "Kyoto Snow." Splithoff penned the a '70s-inspired track after visiting Japan with his wife.
"It was the first time in a long time I felt at peace. I wanted to just write a love song about the thoughts I was feeling," he said. "... I remember getting there very early in the morning and we went to a temple and the snow came down... It was just serene."
American Songwriter is exclusively premiering the music video that accompanies "Kyoto Snow." Featuring a purple-colored hue, the one-shot video was filmed in Brooklyn in just minutes, as the crew rushed to make it to a gig with their Uber waiting outside.
As a whole, Splithoff said Far From Here is "a step in the direction of making music that I love for me and not trying to really prove anything."
"A lot of the songs on this record just come from a place of searching for inner peace," he said. "... I think there's different chapters on this record and different colors. It kind of takes you to different places in 45 minutes. I hope it just brings peace to somebody."
People will have the chance to experience it in person when Splithoff sets off on his 25-stop tour.
"It's just gonna be a great time. There's so much versatility with the band and... where we go with it. From the songwriter vibe, the acoustic guitar on the stool, to just very live hype music," he said. "... I feel very grateful for the opportunity to play for five weeks with my friends in the band. [I get to] go to all these different places and and just hear people sing my words back to me. It's the best feeling in the world and I've missed that."