Sometimes in life, the stars align. Every once and a while, things come together so nicely that all of the pieces fit perfectly together. When things do come together so easily, you have to just take it, and run with it. "Honestly, this is a thing I never dreamed of," said singer/songwriter Angela Isaacs.

She was playing guitar and casually writing songs before taking lessons with local folk/Americana singer/songwriter David Burchfield, when the lessons turned into so much more. "It was something I was just doing," Isaacs explained. "I had written a handful of songs before we started working together, so I brought him those handful of songs and we kind of started looking through them and getting used to each other. We kind of just got to a point where I had a bunch of songs with him, and we were kind of on a roll."

One moment that really cemented the working relationship was when Isaacs brought a few ideas to a lesson one day, and she and Burchfield hammered out the details until a whole song was completed. "We ended up co-writing that day, like a true co-write. We were in flow state, writing back and forth, and by the end of the hour, we had one of the songs that's on the album. We both were in love with it; we wrote all these songs basically with me as his student and him as my coach," Isaacs said.

That is how Missing Cat! was born—a truly collaborative collection of songs that take you on a journey of happiness, heartbreak and magic. Isaacs was already writing music on her own, but Burchfield and all of the other local talented musicians and producers who helped with the album truly helped bring her ideas to life. "It was kind of just a really happy and awesome accident that all of the cards kind of fell into place for me to be able to do this," she said.

Writing the songs was a smooth process, but when it came to actually recording it, it somehow went even smoother. Burchfield and the rest of his band, The Fire Guild, got together in the studio and just felt the music together, creating an enchanting experience for Isaacs. "As soon as they were given the go ahead, every single one of them brought the most amazing ideas, the most amazing edits," she said. "They really put themselves into the music."

Burchfield confirmed that the album truly came together with as much ease and charm as Isaacs has described. "She is one of my favorite people—so full of life and love, and that shows in her songs," he said.

"I knew that the biggest thing would be hiring the right people and then letting go of the reins and letting the horses run," he added. "Once we had the team put together and the dates scheduled, it all truly just came together so easily. The band (which was mostly composed of my own live band) brought great ideas and great playing."

Songs like "Earthquake" were co-written by the duo, with a lot of creative push from Burchfield. "It was a really emotionally hard song for me to write. And David just kept pushing it, and pushing it, and pushing it in the most frustratingly supportive way," Isaacs said.

The title track came as a late addition to the album, even though it's the first track you'll hear when you press play. Inspired by a missing cat poster in Liberty Park, Isaacs started singing in her head as she walked, and eventually brought it to Burchfield. "I thought at first it was just a funny little song," she explained. "We played around on it. It felt like it became more and more profound to me, and then as we kept playing it, it kept sort of rising to the top."

The song perfectly encapsulates the story of the album—a story of hope and dread. "Missing Cat!" ending up at the top of the song order was a "happy accident," as Isaacs put it. After this series of happy accidents, and stars aligning to create a perfect outcome, it's important to ask: What comes next?

"Angela and I are already writing her next album and thinking about what we'd like to do with it in terms of production. That's probably still at least a year out, but it's fun to start dreaming," Burchfield said. "We're super happy with this production, but it's fun to think about how we might do things differently—maybe a more stripped-down record? Or a bigger band? Or a lot of string arrangements? Anything is possible. That's part of the fun. I look forward to figuring it out along the way with her!"

Isaacs continues to express how on one hand, she can't believe she was able to create an album beyond her dreams, and on the other, that it came together in such a serene and beautiful way. "It would not be the music it is without the magical collaboration that it was," she said. "Whatever thing I may have come up with on my own would've been mine and would've been cool, but I can't imagine it could have been more magical than this."

angelaisaacs.bandcamp.com

@angjisaacs