Chasing the Light (Single, 2024)
My Grandad was the only person in his family to leave South Carolina. Since our family first arrived in the 1700s, nobody ever left. But Grandad was restless and the Air Force gave him the chance to fly. He raised his children all around Europe and eventually retired in New Haven, where my parents met and I was born.
He died of brain cancer when I was 16, which was my first real encounter with grief and deep loss. I never got the chance to ask him how it felt to leave, or why, or if he missed it, or what he left behind. In January 2023, on what would've been his 84th birthday, I finished this song, "Chasing the Light", as a way to imagine what his answers to those questions might've been. (Ash L’Esperance)
Recorded in Worcester, MA at Harvest Roots Recording.
The Where We’ve Been EP (2023)
In 2014, we named our band "The Promise is Hope" and released our first singles at our wedding. We recorded 2 full-length albums and traveled the country as TPIH until 2020. We don't have to tell you what happened next. COVID made all of us rethink almost everything.
In 2021, after a year of writing, recording, and sitting at home, we decided our music could be better represented. Our goal has always been to be as true to ourselves as possible. So, it was a natural choice to rename our band, simply, "Ash & Eric".
While we were recording our first A&E album, "Sure", we warmed our voices up each morning by practicing our older tunes. As we sang those songs, we realized the loss we (and our fans) might feel after changing our name.
To help ease ourselves through that transition, we decided to re-record a few of our personal favorite TPIH songs. We brought our distinct 2021 sound to 5 songs initially recorded between 2013-2017. These songs are some of our fans' personal favorites. They've now been carried forward with us as "Ash & Eric", re-created in a way that feels truer to our sound today while honoring where we've been.
