Case File No. 001 — Ongoing
Every Song Isa Case I Triedto Solve.
"—wait, what if the chorus starts on the five chord instead—"
humming, guitar scratch, ambient
"you left the window open / I left the light on / one of us was hoping / the other would come home"
← first draft, 3am
"Open Window" — Verse 1 + Chorus
I've been waiting by the door too on-the-nose
You left the window open, I left the light on
We both knew what we wanted but neither could say it
→ one of us was hoping the other would come home
CHORUS:
So call me when you're ready weak
So call me when the silence feels too loud gets too heavy
I'll be right here waiting for you where you left me
With the window open and the light on
The shift from "waiting for you" to "where you left me" changed the whole power dynamic. She's not passive anymore. That's the line that made the song.
"Open Window"
From Quiet Hours, 2024
Written in one sitting after a 3 a.m. voice memo. The bridge took three weeks. The verse took eleven minutes.
↑ the BigSky shimmer on the bridge was a mistake that became the song's signature
Stems available to Notebook subscribers. Includes isolated vocal, acoustic, and reverb bus.
Get stems →↑ Bridge is in red — that's where the Strymon shimmer lives
"Borrowed Light"
From Quiet Hours, 2024
Started as a piano chord I kept playing wrong. The "mistake" voicing — a Gsus2 with an added 9th — became the harmonic identity of the whole song.
"The wrong chord was righter than the right one."
"borrowed your light to find my way back / left it on the table when I didn't come back"
Piano + vocal only · no headphones · kitchen table
Mixed by Simone Okafor
Mastered by Lena Hartmann
Open the
Notebook.
A 24-page PDF of annotated lyrics, production notes, and the decisions I almost didn't make. Every page looks like the original draft — crossed-out lines and all.
No spam. One email when new notebooks drop.
Mara Delacroix · Nashville · 2026
Leave your name
and I'll send the rest.
All the open cases.
Songs at every stage. Some will never be finished. That's part of the record too.
"Ghost Frequency"
Dec 14, 2024The pre-chorus keeps collapsing. Might be a feature.
"Cartography"
Nov 02, 2024Recorded in one 6-hour session. Every take was the first take.
"The Weight of Quiet"
Sep 29, 2024Three months of rewrites. The original bridge is still better.
"Meridian"
Aug 11, 2024Only song I've written in 4/4 that doesn't feel like 4/4.
Unnamed (voice memo)
Feb 18, 2026"—I keep humming this and I don't know what it wants to be yet"
"Static Season"
Jan 07, 2025Started as a poem. Still not sure it should be a song.