Coltin on “It’s Time For Me To Leave” and Following His Gut

What was happening in your life when you wrote "It's Time For Me To Leave," and what does leaving mean in this song?

Coltin: I didn't start with a plan to tell one particular story. That's not really how I write. The word "leaving" is up for interpretation. It could mean leaving a person, a place, or a version of yourself. I've had a lot of change in my life this year, but I don't want to pin the song to one event and take away what somebody else hears in it.

Walk us through how the track came together, from the first idea to the finished recording. Who else was in the room, and what changed along the way?

Coltin: My writing process is almost completely intuition. I think art lives in the subconscious, so I don't sit down with a list of ideas or try to think my way into a song. I freestyle and follow my gut. I wrote, played, recorded, and produced this track myself. One example of how it came together is the vocal sound. I wanted more texture, so I ran the vocal recording through my guitar amp and recorded the sound coming out twice, using different amp settings. I panned one recording hard left and the other hard right so the main vocal could sit in the middle. That created phasing problems, so I moved one take slightly forward and the other slightly back, then blended everything with reverb. It turned into this chorus, distortion, delay, and reverb sound that I had no intention of creating beforehand. I don't plan to do it exactly that way again. That's basically my whole process: nothing written down or overthought, just following my gut and making noises until something feels right.

Why did you release this song with a visualizer rather than a full music video, and what did you want people to see while they listen?

Coltin: Honestly, I made a visualizer because I'm poor. A full music video wasn't in the budget. I still wanted the song to have an image people could sit with while they listened, without spelling out what they're supposed to feel or what "leaving" has to mean.

Where did you grow up, and how did that place and the music around you shape the artist you are now?

Coltin: I grew up in Salt Lake City. Listening to music and discovering new songs were some of my biggest hobbies. When I picked up a guitar, something clicked. I didn't know how to play and I'd never had lessons, but I could pluck random notes and hear pieces of songs I loved. I started figuring out how to make sounds like those for myself. My passion for listening became guitar playing, then songwriting, playing other instruments, and eventually producing music.

When did you first realize music was something you had to do rather than just something you enjoyed?

Coltin: It started when I picked up the guitar, but this spring made it impossible to ignore. I had a serious ski accident and had to be flown off the mountain. I broke a leg and an arm, dislocated my shoulder, broke my jaw in two places, and injured my face. I spent months in a wheelchair and casts with my jaw wired shut. I lost my job and dealt with legal issues too. As rough as it was, I realized I would regret spending my whole life in the rat race and never pursuing music. In a strange way, that realization was a blessing.

What keeps you writing and releasing music when it gets hard, and what do you hope listeners take away from your songs?

Coltin: Music is what I've got, and making it gives me somewhere to put what I'm feeling. I keep going because I know what it would feel like to look back and realize I never really tried. I hope people hear something honest in the songs and can find their own meaning in them. They don't have to hear exactly what I hear.

What are you working on now, and where do you want to take your music over the next year?

Coltin: My next single is "Why," scheduled for October 30, and I have more songs coming. I'm planning to keep releasing singles rather than wait to put everything into one big release. I'm aiming for a new song about every week, which is easier said than done, but I want to keep making music and getting it out to people.