What a Singer-Songwriter Taught Me About Staying Out of the Way

A few days ago I told you about a Latin pop project I arranged years ago — bigger ensemble, fuller instrumentation — and the decisions I regret making.

This time the story is different. Same period, different project. Two guitars, bass, and drums — with a couple of guest instruments that showed up exactly where they needed to and nowhere else. And ten years later, I have zero regrets.

Here's what happened.

In 2014, I joined a project as an arranger and session guitarist for a Panamanian singer-songwriter named Karla Lamboglia — think Norah Jones, but with a Latin soul underneath.

It started with a few live rehearsals. No charts, no clear direction. The rehearsals were taking longer than they should, so I wrote a couple of charts to speed things up. That small decision changed the entire dynamic of the project.

A few weeks later, we went into the studio to record a four-song EP.

Karla plays acoustic guitar live, but for the recording I took on the acoustic parts to get a cleaner, more consistent result. The second guitar was electric — not to show off, but to build layers. Different textures. Space. The rhythm section was upright bass and brushed drums, which gave the whole thing a warm, almost cinematic feel.

What made this project different wasn't the gear or the budget. It was the question I kept asking before every decision: does this serve the song?

One of the songs had a slightly Latin feel, so I used a 12-string guitar to suggest the sound of a Puerto Rican cuatro or a Cuban tres. I have that resource available — it's part of my background. Think of it like paprika: it's a great spice, but you don't put it in everything just because it's sitting on the shelf. It goes where it belongs, and nowhere else.

That's the trap. When you have a lot of tools, the temptation is to use them in places where they don't belong — just to prove you have them.

The EP came out in 2015. I hadn't listened to it in years — until recently.

My honest reaction: I still like it. The arrangements hold up. The vocals sit well. The songs communicate what they were supposed to communicate. No regrets.

That's the test. Not whether people applauded at the time, but whether you can listen back ten years later and still feel like the decisions were right.

In this case, they were — because every decision was made for the song, not for me. 🎧 Listen to Karla's 2015 EP "Carpe Diem" on Spotify