From recording vocals in a bedroom closet to spending hours writing CD covers by hand, the process to create Halfway Here’s debut album was a labor of love.
After over two months of recording and over a year since its formation, the alt-rock band released its first album, “As far as I can see,” Friday.
Halfway Here formed last Summer when Nesta Suvajdzic, a 22-year-old UF food and resource economics fifth-year, and Brooks Chandler, a 19-year-old UF computer engineering junior, decided to shift gears from their former band, the Palmettos.
The album was in the works longer than Halfway Here existed. Some songs or ideas spilled over from Suvajdzic and Chandler’s previous band.
Kaitlyn Caballero, Halfway Here’s second vocalist and bassist, joined the group shortly after its formation, initially just to play bass.
“[It’s] a funny story because when she came over to first kind of play, and she's like, ‘Oh, if y'all don't mind, can I sing a song, maybe?’” Suvajdzic, the band’s drummer, recalled. “We were like, ‘OK, let's see how she does, and we were like, ‘Holy crap! Oh my Jesus!’ So then she started sharing the vocal responsibilities.”
The majority of “As far as I can see” was produced by Suvajdzic, who said he had to learn to use the software on the fly.
Most of the album was recorded DIY-style. Only the drums were recorded between Black Bear Studio in northeast Gainesville and Gaucho Studios.
“For vocals, we just have Nesta's closet and then a big blanket to soundproof it,” said Caballero, a 21-year-old zoology junior.
The group was forced to battle computer failures and lost recordings as they worked on the album, Caballero said, but eventually it came together despite technical difficulties.
The album’s title began as a joke. The band tossed around ideas, looking for something to complement the name Halfway Here.
“So, we were thinking of a bunch of stuff, and literally as a joke, I was like, ‘The “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book, “The Long Haul,”’” Caballero said, “and they were all like, ‘Wait, I like “The Long Haul.”’”
After much persuasion from Caballero, the band decided against a “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” tribute title but stuck with the idea of a distance-related name. It eventually settled on “As far as I can see.”
The creation and management of the album has been a group effort for the band members and their friends, like Emma Justice, their social media manager, and Liam Purchon-Canteñs, a friend and unofficial roadie who helps with everything from carrying instruments to manning the merchandise table.
Purchon-Canteñs, a 20-year-old wildlife ecology junior, has known Caballero since third grade and watched each of the band's shows. He also created the band’s album cover, a collage of comic-style paintings of the band trio mixed with fabric patterns and a map of Gainesville.
“I'm just thinking of Scott Pilgrim, because I feel like it's very like college band era vibes,” Purchon-Canteñs said. “So, I guess that's a big art inspiration for me — Bryan Lee O'Malley — and kind of thinking of that when I draw their album covers.”
Leading up to the album’s release party, the band members and a few of their friends hand-made 50 CDs over nine hours, folding paper cases with each song title handwritten on the back and the cover design glued to the front.
One of the earliest songs the band remembers taking off when it started playing shows was “Limerence,” the last song on the album. Chandler, who does vocals and guitar for the band, wrote it.
“Limerence is not about anyone,” Chandler said. “The song is generally about a really toxic situation, such a semi-relationship, where the dynamic between the two people is really unclear … That's probably the song I'm most proud of lyrically.”
The album covers many topics between the two writers, Chandler and Suvajdzic. Both “Limerance” and “Super Hell,” written by Suvajdzic, address relationships and heartbreak, but they approach them from completely different angles.
The trio has big ambitions for the future and is planning to release new songs and potential EPs as the years go on. The band members also said they look forward to performing in venues and house shows throughout town, including a show at Vecino’s on Oct. 24.
Contact Brandy Sumner at bsumner@alligator.org.
Brandy Sumner is an anthropology and English junior at UF and the music and reporter for Fall 2026. This is their second semester on The Avenue. Brandy enjoys reading, going to shows with friends, and writing in their free time.
