“I've really enjoyed the people I've been working with, so on the creative side of it, it's been really wonderful,” said singer/songwriter Glen Phillips about his career as a solo musician.
Phillips, formerly of the group Toad the Wet Sprocket, released his new work “Mr. Lemons” in 2006, and recorded it in east Nashville with a group of local players and some dear friends.
“There is definitely a character to players in Nashville and that has, I think, a really big effect on things,” said Phillips. “It was a really great group of people to be around, and that part was exciting. In Nashville, people just want to play, they are all about just working, and know they will get a job today and get a job tomorrow, and it's great to have people who will come in (to the studio) and do whatever it takes to make things sound good.”
For many musicians, the idea of recording five albums in five years can seem daunting or, for some, insane. But for San Francisco-based artist John Vanderslice, it’s just one of those things.
“Yeah, I don’t know what I was thinking. I must have low self-esteem,” explained Vanderslice about this five-year effort.
In his latest work, “Pixel Revolt,” Vanderslice recorded songs that touch upon issues such as the war in Iraq from the perspective of a Western journalist and a soldier, a musical love letter to an ex and the fascination with the Golden Gate bridge as a well-known locale for suicidal jumpers.
“For me I kind of have to have an idea of what the song will be about before I write it,” said Vanderslice. “I’m not very good at sketching out ideas on my guitar. For better or for worse, I wish I didn’t necessarily have to do that.” Vanderslice began writing songs for the album last September and finished in March. So the first batch of songs were deemed as highly political, a way for Vanderslice to work out his feelings stemming from the 2004 election and beyond.
“The record started out really political. I wanted to write a whole war record, but other things happened to me that became more important than writing abstract narratives, so I steered away from writing songs about politics even though I’m very interested in American imperial involvement,” added Vanderslice. “It’s hard to ignore and it fascinates me on a lot of levels.”
The lyrical tides changed when Vanderslice experienced a rough year of touring and fell deeply in love that later dissolved into a break-up. He said he usually doesn’t put his personal life on record, as the thought of it is not all that exciting to him.
“I would much rather not write about my life,” he said. “I don’t think people are necessarily that fascinating. Marcel Proust is fascinating. Oscar Wilde is fascinating. I live in a one-bedroom apartment and I walk to get a burrito every day. I’m not some workhorse. I have a very mundane life, by choice.”
Vanderslice is a quirky experimental pop solo musician who has made fans out of indie-rockers like Bright Eyes and Death Cab for Cutie. He enlisted the talent of friend and longtime collaborator John Darnielle of the Mountain Goats who acted as a co-writer for “Pixel Revolt.”
For many people who leave their hometown to start anew, the nostalgia and appreciation for it only comes after they've been away for a time. Such an experience is what inspired a series of musical snapshots imprinted on folk singer and songwriter Tom Brosseau's new album, "What I Mean to Say is Goodbye."
Born and raised in North Dakota, Brosseau moved to California after college and first settled in San Diego before becoming a permanent Los Angeles resident.
"The long and short of it was that I had never seen the ocean, and it was such a thrill to come out here and live near it," remembered Brosseau as to the reason he migrated to California. "All my family, they all play music on both sides. I think everyone plays music back in North Dakota, it's such a tradition."
The instrumentation, stark and spare, is set under Brosseau's delicate and gentle voice, and makes every song richly beautiful, informing the listener about the kind of poignancy and emotion that is possible in simple music. In true Bob Dylan fashion, Brosseau's lyrics take center stage like a symphonic poem. It's American folk music at its best and every song is worth one's quiet and relaxing Sunday afternoon time.
"To me, people like Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen are first and foremost writers, they are observers, and so I think it's very important to read and sing other people's work, so I've always had great passion for reading," said Brosseau.
Brosseau's lyrics range from loneliness on the road to the poetic beauty of North Dakota in the winter and the thrill of new romance.
"The first song is like little anecdotes of North Dakota and one of the lines deals with the flood of 1997," said Brosseau in his soft-spoken and welcoming voice. "It can be hard sometimes because you want to make a song sound personal but at the same time you want other people to be able to identify with it,"
Sam Jones, who produced the Wilco documentary "I Am Trying to Break Your Heart," also produced Brosseau's album. Brosseau is also a regular guest artist at the local hot spot Largo. Several guest musicians sat in on the album with the 28-year-old Brosseau including Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, harmonium and piano; Sara Watkins and Gabe Witcher of Nickel Creek, violin; and Elvis Costello's drummer, Pete Thomas, accounts for the songs' percussion. L.A. musician Jon Brion accompanies Brosseau on the guitar for the song "St. Joe St."
"My friend John Doe calls my work prog-rock. I think the songwriter I am is that I concentrate on the story first and I'm not too concerned about structure, but more so about meter," said Brosseau. "So in the end I think it's kind of progressive, so, who knows, maybe I'm starting a new genre: prog-folk."
