Ben Zaidi's electro pop came to life in the solitude of a cabin in the woods

Singer-songwriter Ben Zaidi wrote much of his new album in a friend's cabin deep in the woods of Vermont. His writer's solitude was interrupted one day when he woke to the boisterous sounds of his friend's family arriving to celebrate the Fourth of July.

"It was a big family with kids and they were all out on the lawn and starting to cook and listen to music," Zaidi recalls. "It's a day that tricks you into thinking it's about independence, but in reality, like all holidays, it's about togetherness. But I was the only one there without family.