Songwriters on Process

Paul Sprangers, Free Energy (redux)

When I interviewed Paul Sprangers of Free Energy in 2010, he mentioned his affinity for psychologist Carl Jung.  It's the only time I've ever heard a songwriter namecheck the father of the collective unconscious. Knowing this, then, you can read some context into our discussion about his creative process when you see words like subconscious, urge, tension, and ego. According to Sprangers, lyrics come from a place unknown even to him; his body is just a conduit for the words and ideas.  "It's all my subconscious barfing lines onto the page," he told me.

Free Energy is touring now in support of their second album Love Sign.  I've seen them a couple of times, and they put on one hell of a show. Read my interview with Paul Sprangers after the video for "Girls Want Rock."

 

Hamilton Leithauser, The Walkmen

It wasn't easy to talk at first with Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen about his creative process. There was something else on our minds: we spoke on the phone the same day that RGIII, the quarterback of the Washington Redskins, had his reconstructive knee surgery.  And since Leithauser and I are both Washington DC natives (I still live here while he now lives in New York), we are Redskins fans.  So what you won't read here are the first ten minutes of our interview, which reads like an ESPN amateur hour.

Much has been made of the growing maturity of the the members of The Walkmen, friends since childhood who now have families and who are settling into a bit of domesticity. Leithauser has a 21 month old daughter, whom he had just put down for a nap before we talked.  He gets his best writing done early in the morning. Early, as in after he gets up at 6am, not early as in 1am or 2am before many songwriters go to bed.

And reflected in Leithauser's wisdom and maturity is knowing what works and what doesn't in his songwriting process.  So what you will read here are the words of a man who can look back at his career and recognize, for example, that the best songs come through days, even weeks, of toiling at his craft.  I'd be willing to guess that he calls what he does - Gasp - work, a word anathema to many songwriters; after all, Leithauser refers in our interview to the "man hours" it takes to make an album.

Read my interview with Hamilton Leithauser of The Walkmen after the video for "Heaven."

 

Jesse Cohen and Eric Emm, Tanlines

 "We like to say that Jesse [Cohen] brings the light and I bring the dark," Eric Emm of Tanlines told me, referring to the yin and yang of their creative output. What he means is that while the music sounds upbeat, the lyrics are dark.  That's because in their songwriting process, Cohen writes the music and Emm the lyrics. The dark sensibility of Emm's words are ironic given that, while by his own admission he can be a moody person, he gets his best writing done when he's in a good mood.

This creative disparity is about the only difference between them, though, because the irresistible melodies in their music are the product of a strong spirit of collaboration and an envious working relationship.  What impressed me most in our conversation was not just how much both Cohen and Emm could reflect on their own creative process, but how much each knows about the other's as well.  

I spoke to Cohen and Emm in a brew pub in Calgary.  I live in Washington, DC and they live in Brooklyn, but I happened to be in Calgary on business the same day they were there to play a show. So over beer and pretzels, we discussed songwriting. Tanlines' debut album Mixed Emotions ended up on many critics' year-end "best of" lists, and for good reason.  Read my interview with Jesse Cohen and Eric Emm of Tanlines after the video for "All of Me." 

 

Tim Kasher, Cursive

Tim Kasher of Cursive is a multidisciplinary writer:  he writes songs, but he also writes screenplays and short stories.  It's no surprise that the process of songwriting and the process of writing long form pieces influence each other.  What does surprise me, though, is that the process of the former has made him more disciplined when it comes to the latter: Kasher has long been able to sit for long stretches and write songs, something that's more common to fiction writers.  Then again, Kasher's songwriting process is somewhat unconventional: this a guy whose ideas come best in the morning after a good night's sleep. That's rare among the 120+ songwriters I've interviewed, most of whom say they work best in the late hours of the night. The phrase "in the morning after a good night's sleep" is not often associated with indie songwriters.

Cursive's new album is called I Am Gemini (Saddle Creek Records).  Read my interview with Tim Kasher after the video for "This House Alive," a track off the album.

 

Derek Miller, Sleigh Bells

"You asked me how I was doing at the beginning of the interview and I said I was good, so can I retract that and say that I'm well?" asked Derek Miller of Sleigh Bells when I told him that I used to be an English professor. He explained that his 7th grade English teacher told his class that if anyone said, "I did good," he'd make them write "I did well" hundreds of times.  On one hand, that's a horrible teaching technique. But let's look on the bright side: it was good practice for Miller, who creates all the time, everywhere, wherever he can.

My interest in interviewing Miller was piqued after reading the recent Sleigh Bells cover story in Spin magazine.  He touched on his creative process a bit there, but I was taken by the intensity with which he approaches it.  And when he told me that he's an enormous Henry Miller fan, I was not surprised; Derek's music and Henry's writing are both intense sensory experiences.  

Sleigh Bells--Miller along with Alexis Krauss--are on an arena tour now, opening for the Red Hot Chili Peppers.  Read my interview with Derek Miller about his creative process after the video.

  

Catherine Pierce, The Pierces

The sisters Catherine and Allison Pierce make up The Pierces.  With a musician for a father and a painter for a mother, they've been around some form of art all their lives, so it's no surprise that Catherine has always been creative.  She writes songs, she loves to paint, she's an accomplished ballerina, and she's even a creative writer.  When it comes to inspiration, she takes the active route; in her words, she's "always looking for the muse." As a result, the initial inspiration for a song doesn't come from a melody; instead, it usually comes from a random line that pops into her head. The inspiration for their song "Secrets," for example, came from a Ben Franklin quote that she saw on a t-shirt in a restaurant.

The Pierces are on tour now, supporting Coldplay.  Their latest album is called You & I. Read my interview with Catherine Pierce after the video for "You'll Be Mine."

 

Ben Kweller

Ben Kweller is a busy man.  When we talked, he'd just gotten off the road; like the good husband and father that he is, Kweller was cleaning his closets when the phone rang.  Since Kweller has two young kids, he's usually up early, which was why our interview was at the ungodly-for-touring-musicians hour of 10am. But this is Kweller's personality, and it's this limitless energy that makes him such a great songwriter. He finds creative inspiration in everything from hiking to taking his kids to the park to visiting art galleries. (Although, as you'll read, he writes best in Australian hotel rooms.)

Ben Kweller's new album is called Go Fly a Kite, and he's hitting the road again next week.  Read my interview with Kweller after the video.

 

Kurt Wagner, Lambchop

Salon magazine recently called Kurt Wagner of Lambchop the "greatest working American songwriter." But Wagner is not only a terrific songwriter, he's also one hell of a painter who has received considerable notice for his talents as a visual artist. In fact, Wagner was a painter before he was ever a songwriter (he has both an undergraduate degree and a graduate degree in sculpture). And these two creative endeavors constantly inform the other: not only do their processes overlap, but a visit to an art gallery might inspire Wagner to write a song. In that sense, then, this is not just an interview with songwriter. It's an interview with an artist. 

Lambchop's latest release on Merge Records, Mr. M, has been hailed by critics everywhere with acclaim. Having listened to this album constantly for about a month, I can agree with these critics. Lambchop are touring now, so check them out when they come to town.  And read my interview with Kurt Wagner of Lambchop after the fantastic video for "Gone Tomorrow," off Mr. M. 

  

Adam Thompson, We Were Promised Jetpacks

We Were Promised Jetpacks' second album In the Pit of the Stomach represented a bit of a departure for the band's songwriter, Adam Thompson.  He wrote their first album These Four Walls in a rather spontaneous fashion: not paying too much attention to the lyrics, just playing the music and, in his words, sometimes "mumbling anything to get the song done." The lyrics were almost an afterthought.

But that changed with Pit, because with this second album came expectations from the music world that were absent from their debut. After all, you don't get that "it's time to make another album" feeling before you've ever done anything. So Thompson's lyrical process, and in turn its content, became more deliberate: though he still never sits down with the express idea of writing a song, on Pit Thompson tried to string together themes across the songs while spending more time on his laptop crafting the words (and drinking some good rum, I might add).

WWPJ toured the US late in 2011 and embarks on a European tour in a few days.  They'll be back in the US to play Coachella in April. Read my interview with Thompson about his songwriting process after the video.

 

Adam Granduciel, The War on Drugs

After talking to Adam Granduciel from The War on Drugs, I want to thank his utility company for still sending him a paper bill each month.  You see, Granduciel eschews the traditional notebook favored by most songwriters as the place to write his lyrics.  Instead, he uses scraps of any paper lying around, which oftens happens to be the back of retail receipts, parking tickets, and electric bills.  He piles these scraps into a heap on the table in his studio (and warns his girlfriend that it isn't trash), where they form the basis for his songwriting.  

What I found most interesting about Granduciel's process is that he favors imperfection.  As a teenager, he was immersed in photography and painting, and just as he does in those creative endeavors, he finds that the "unintentional little mistakes" that emerge from the creative process of songwriting often produce the best work.  Those scraps of paper I mentioned above only contain lyrical ideas, because Granduciel tends to hold lyrics in his head and "write" them in that space until he's ready to sing them.  He doesn't do much revising: much of what you hear in his recordings is a first take improvisation after the lyrics have stewed in his head.  With "Brothers," for example, eighty percent of the lyrics were improvised; it went, in his words, "from nothing to something in six minutes."

Slave Ambient is the latest release from The War on Drugs. They'll continue to tour in support of the album in 2012, and this is a show you don't want to miss.  I've seen them twice in the past couple of months, and without a touch of hyperbole I can tell you it's one of the best live shows I saw in 2012.  Read my interview with Adam Granduciel after the video.