Jon Regen’s new single “Every Time You Walk Away” is out today, Friday, October 31.
The tune arrives as a standalone piece, a kind of bridge between his 2023 LP Satisfied Mind and whatever comes next. It’s the kind of song you want to put on after the bars have closed, a late-night burner that melds pop, R&B and classic singer/songwriter fare into a groove of its own.
“I think it was Randy Newman who said ‘I don’t like writing, but I like having written,’” Regen says. “It’s been on my mind to start writing again for my next project. And just as I started digging for ideas, this one fell from the sky. I had the drum beat and the bass line, and then I made an iPhone voice memo of a piano progression and I dropped it into the session as a placeholder. Before I knew it, I had a song.”
The veteran musician doesn’t shy away from the recording’s homespun sonics. “My pal Mike Lindup from Level 42 heard the track and called it ‘Hi but Lo-fi.’ And I think he nailed it. Sometimes when you try to make things more ‘perfect,’ they lose the spark of what you liked in the first place. So this time I thought, ‘It’s just going to be what is,’” he says.
Still, Regen knew the track needed something extra, so he turned to longtime friend Sam Barsh (Anderson .Paak, Kendrick Lamar), who added the song’s distinctively retro keyboard fills. “I grew-up listening to Ray Parker Jr. and Raydio, so when I heard Sam’s parts I knew we had found the missing ingredient.”
The song is the first time Regen is releasing music he mixed himself. “Everyone I typically work with was either on-tour or buried in other projects, so I rolled-up my sleeves and finished it on my own. It came together quickly and put a smile on my face,” he says. “So for me, that was the litmus test.”
And where did the track’s seemingly retro-sonics originate from? “My wife has Michael McDonald and various ‘Yacht Rock’ playlists on at all times in our house and car,” Regen explains. “So perhaps it’s the non-stop infusion of those syrupy sweet ‘70s harmonies," he jokes. “But I think as you move on as an artist, you have other stories you want to tell. With this one, I think the vibe felt so good that I didn’t want to change anything. It’s like I was on a ride that I didn’t want to end.”
