Review Fix Exclusive: Stephen McKenzie Talks CommonUnion59’s ‘Heartbeat Serenade’

Review Fix chats with CommonUnion59 vocalist and guitarist Stephen McKenzie, who discusses the band’s new album, “Heartbeat Serenade.”

While CommonUnion59 doesn’t change the Americana-Folk recipe, they are able to deliver a hearty-helping of tunes that at times, feel like two different albums thanks to their different vocal styles, before ultimately lending themselves to a body of work that drives home a singular message- lyrics still matter.

Thanks to that emotional ballad writing, solid musicianship and superior vocal harmonizing, the San Francisco duo’s album works masterfully at times. The kind of album for the road, it’ll inspire recollection of your own travels, love and loss and most importantly, your own introspection.

Review Fix: How was the Band formed?

Stephen McKenzie: We had known each other for a pretty long time but hadn’t done any music together at all. Then, one night at a party, we were talking and listening to some music when Laura started singing along with a song. I immediately loved the way her voice sounded. I had been writing songs by myself and she had been playing piano and singing on her own so I asked if she would like to try writing something together. It took about six months for us to finally get together but when we did. it was amazing. We started emailing back and forth with lyrical ideas and melodies and pretty quickly we could tell we had something special. Our first song “This Could Be” was born from those emails and after that, we couldn’t stop. The synergy was awesome, one song followed another and before we know it, we had all these songs written and were in the studio recording our first album, Magnolia Waltz.

Review Fix: How would you describe your sound?

McKenzie: We call it folkacana as a joke, or street folk. It’s organic, straightforward, direct from the heart, and true to the inspiration of each song. We actually don’t have a particular genre we feel confined to and we don’t think about genre in our creative process. The genre idea only comes up after our music is released. There seems to be a need to separate and classify songs by genre, sub-genre, and so on, but our sound is our own unique blend that goes wherever it goes.

Review Fix: What’s the band’s creative process like?

McKenzie: We write everything together and each song is created differently. Some songs mysteriously come to life almost instantly and others take weeks, months, or even years to finish – if ever. We don’t have any time constraints on our writing and we’re as creatively free as we can be. There’s a certain vibe that tells us a song is ready to be shared. It’s how the song moves us emotionally that counts. On this album and on Magnolia Waltz, we carried the writing process right into the studio. We were literally finishing songs as we were recording them. We really like the intimacy, immediacy, and rawness that comes from that spontaneity.

Review Fix: What made you want to cover “Catch The Wind”?

McKenzie: We love Donovan’s music. We feel he is a kindred spirit in some ways. Lyrically, the sense of yearning stood out for us as well as the imagery he used. We had been doing the song in our live shows for a while and when we were recording, Laura suggested we try it. It was a last minute addition that ended up sounding a lot like the way we do it live.

Review Fix: How was “From Where We Are” written? Is there a story behind it?

McKenzie: It’s interesting because it started out as a piano ballad and eventually morphed into what it is on the album. It became a little less sad sounding and a little more aggressive in its delivery. There is a story to it, but that’s another story.

Review Fix: How do you want this album to be remembered?

McKenzie: We think it’s a reflection of our influences and experiences, like a journey we’re able to share. We hope that someone will be inspired by hearing it like we are when we discover the work of other artists.

Review Fix: What do you think is holding you back from where you want to be?

McKenzie: It’s not that we don’t encounter the same challenges that most indie artists face, but we’re happy with the way things are going. We started writing songs as an experiment together and it has turned into an endless passion. We are always open to the possibilities that come our way, but we keep it in perspective too. Our writing and performing always come first on a day to day real world basis. We just want our music to be heard and we enjoy what we do.

Review Fix: What’s next?

McKenzie: We continue to write, we’re playing live in support of the album and also planning to tour sometime soon. The rest we’ll have to see.