– Can you tell us about your early musical influences and how they shaped your unique sound?
My very earliest influence is a particular piece of classical music that is still probably at the heart of everything I do, which is Bach’s Prelude in C Major. It’s practically genetic – my dad played it endlessly as a kid. My dog sings along to it even now. Seems like my family all love this song. But after that, Gene Wilder’s singing in Willy Wonka. So warm, fantastical but melancholy. Michael Jackson was next. I think I really gravitated toward his fantastical side, the huge clouds of vocals, and a musical intuition. My favorite song of MJ’s is ‘Who Is It?’ off of Dangerous because it’s truly deranged and sad. Metallica’s song ‘To Live is To Die’ from …And Justice For All cemented my desire to write music, because it has these heavy-as-balls moments that are juxtaposed with guitar parts of such holy beauty that my brain and heart simultaneously melted the first time I heard it. It was progressive and clearly didn’t give two shits about genre convention. I really saw that whole album as a challenge to make rock music on a super high level, even as someone with no formal training. I think in many ways, my music is an inversion of Metallica’s approach to clean sections – most of my songs are super pretty, but have these brief moments of heavy brutality. I don’t think most people who listen to my music would guess that Metallica’s heaviest record is my single greatest influence, but it is. The final piece to the puzzle is the theme song from the 90s film Gattaca, which is the most beautiful and melancholy song I’ve heard to this day.
– Brooklyn has a vibrant music scene. How has living there influenced your music and artistic vision?
If we’re talking about indie bands and not chamber music, I’m not sure I agree that Brooklyn’s scene is all that vibrant. There are several local acts I adore, but mostly I hear a lot of pretty low-effort stuff. To me, it feels like a lot of bands are using live music like a gym workout, except they show up to these venues to get their willies and expect to be paid, which is very weird to me because it’s not like you get paid by the gym to workout. For others, it’s an excuse to socialize, because everyone’s grown up with smartphones, and hey, that’s valid. For me, creative rock music is practically a religious calling, and it’s a bit depressing to find so little of that in the rock landscape at home. I find a lot of it in the UK, in other parts of the country, but I haven’t heard it taking root in Brooklyn for many years. I’m married to someone who will never leave New York, so to be totally honest, the local scene influenced my taking a pretty long hiatus a lot more than the music. This is probably the most jaded, Brooklyn hipster answer I’ve given to any question, and I’m pretty embarrassed to say all this, but I’m incapable of being dishonest in music related interviews.
– You’ve been described as having an unforgettable high-tenor voice. When did you first discover your singing talent, and how have you developed it over the years?
When people call it unforgettable, I really take that as a huge compliment. I came to singing late in life, around 18 years old, after my heart was broken by someone. Familiar story. But this voice came pouring out of me, and at me, and kind of pulled me out of a very dark place. I recognize that it sounds like self-adulation, but in many ways I consider my singing voice to belong to an entity other than myself, and my relentless making of new stuff is a way of staying in touch with that entity. On the flip side of this question though, I honestly haven’t done much to develop my vocal technique and I feel guilty about it. Over the years, the voice has grown even more laser-like, in that it’s not as full-frequency as it was when I was a little younger. I haven’t smoked anything in about 7 years, but ironically my relationship with breathing isn’t quite as intuitive as it was once upon a time. I have horrible ADHD and formal practice has always been difficult for me, but I hope I’ll carve the time out of my life at some point to get the technique better. I try to make up for it by writing and recording relentlessly, so I’m at least not letting the voice go unheard or unused.
– Your music has been compared to a diverse range of artists from Soundgarden to Michael Jackson. How would you personally describe your sound?
I call it hobbit-rock, which sounds a little self deprecating, but I want to put forward that it’s rock, and that it has the tinge of fantasy. And when I think of the figure I cut as a frontman, I’m definitely not a lean and tall icon. I’ve embraced thinking of myself as the Frodo Baggins of rock music, and I definitely have been known to have second breakfast.
Soundgarden is an outrageously great band, very close to my heart. The way they used alternate tunings, the approach Chris Cornell took to putting his voice forward, it’s all incredibly unique. The Michael Jackson thing is because I talk about the early influence a lot in interviews past and present, so I think folks pick that up. But my studio vocal approach is definitely very Michael Jackson in terms of trying to keep in all of my breathy count offs, playing with breath sounds, and having these huge clouds of harmonies.
– What inspired you to write your latest single “Leaky Ship” and what message do you hope listeners take away from it?
The spark for Leaky Ship came from my old bandmate Nick Byron Campbell. He and I had a habit of writing songs improvisationally in the studio. He came up with the raw DNA of the song; it was a really fragile trace of what you hear in this version of it. I fleshed it out, defined its energy, and wrote the really weird slow sections as well as the high energy stuff. The song was about people stranded on a sinking ship, about to die, and looking up to see the gorgeous starry sky and trying to savor that last vision. Sadly, our songwriting partnership collapsed like a sinking ship as well. Songwriters break up, and it’s nobody’s fault, just the way the path unfolds. But it was painful to watch that era of my life sink into the briny deep, so finishing and releasing this song really became an embodiment of the message of the song to focus on the beautiful moments of life, especially when it feels like you’re drowning.
– How did your collaboration with Lily Desmond come about and what was it like working together?
It’s impossible to overstate just how magical Lily’s appearance in my life was. Hilariously, we were initially introduced by Instagram’s algorithm because we had some esoteric connections in common. But we just both recognized that the other person as a genuine family-level kindred spirit when it came to making art. Our bond was forged very quickly. She ended up writing or re-recording something like 5 songs from my debut album Sincere Gifts (2023) about a two weeks before it was released, which was crazy. We finished it, went off to the UK for a tour, and came back as spiritual siblings.
The awesome thing about how Lily and I collaborate is that we’re not exactly a band. We’re more of a molecule; two solo artists who have formed a symbiotic entity that deepens our connection and elevates our career profiles while leaving a lot of breathing room for us to go off and do our own thing without losing momentum individually or collectively. It’s like we are both Paul Simon as well as Art Garfunkle, which means we’ll likely never feel jealous of the other person’s skillset, because we’re basically evenly matched. Maybe it’s more like Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, except we are both Neil Young?
– Can you tell us more about your upcoming collaborative EP “White Elephant”? What themes or stories does it explore?
Oh man, I’ve already talked too much. The term ‘White Elephant’ comes from the circus, and refers to someone who invests in an exotic beast they think will make them rich and famous, only to find that caring for that beast is so expensive that you end up giving your whole life to it. Lily came up with the name. In my creative relationship with Lily, I try to go with Lily’s instincts whenever I can. It’s really a reaction to the last album I put out, which was definitely a hungry beast that almost left me broke and broken. This EP was fast and easy, not a white elephant at all. But on the album cover, you can see a white elephant drowning in this deep murky sea. It’s a statement that I will never allow my art to turn me into a submissive wretch ever again!
– What are some of your goals for the future, both as a solo artist and in your collaborations?
Feeding off that last answer, I’d say the goal is to be a lot more fleetweight with how I make stuff, and not to let music become a heavy burden. I want to be more light hearted and fun, without losing the depth. My next record is already done, it was written and recorded in two weeks, and I play all the instruments except the drum set. It’s an absolute scorcher. My first album bleeds directly into the intro of White Elephant, which transitions into the opening of the next record. So this next one really finishes a triptych, and I have absolutely no idea what comes next, which is fantastic.
I want to do more co-writing with basically whoever wants to write with me, but with clearer agreements than I had in the past so no one fights over the rights to songs that only a few thousand people will ever hear. Thank God, Lily and I split everything 50/50 no matter who writes how much.
I really want to make some songs that are live to analog tape without a click track. I feel like I’ve done the overdubbed-to-death thing and am trying to embrace a less-is-more approach.
– What advice would you give to aspiring musicians who are just starting out in the indie music scene?
First, if you’re doing it because you want to goof around with your friends, please find another hobby or at least don’t clog up the space for people who are really trying for something. I think this is a kinder version of the answer Serj Tankian gave to this question, which you can look up on YouTube. It never ceases to make me laugh.
Assuming you have a real calling to make music, I strongly recommend having clear partnership agreements. If you’re in a band, and you’re the person with the clearest vision, don’t shy away from being the band leader even if it makes you feel awkward. Bands operate best with a hierarchy and as long as the leader listens to everyone, having a decider is a good thing.
And if you’re an aspiring musician who has made it this far into this article, you probably have something unique going on and should get in touch with me for any other advice I might be able to give you. I’m not hard to reach.
– Looking back on your journey so far, is there a particular moment or achievement that stands out as especially meaningful to you?
Writing and recording something like 4-5 songs with Lily in 3 days 2 weeks before my album came out. Making an EP with her in a month. Writing and recording my next album, alone, over the course of 2 weeks. Truly letting go of every single one of my resentments. Going to Finland in the dead of winter and making an orchestral recording with my friends in the Bowplus ensemble. And finally having a face-to-face meeting with my friend, the Finnish luthier Juha Ruokangas, who has been sending me Jedi energy since my journey started. Lastly, putting the sound of my daughter’s heartbeat at the end of Sincere Gifts.