Songwriters on Process

The circle is complete. I’ve had recent interviews with Anais Mitchell (together with Charlotte Cornfield) and with Eric D. Johnson, but now that we’ve added Josh Kaufman, this is a full-on Bonny Light Horseman episode. I enjoyed this conversation immensely because we dove into their collective process, not just their individual processes. And listening to them talk for even a few seconds makes one thing immediately clear: the songwriting is great because the chemistry among them is so powerful. 

Bonny Light Horseman’s new double album Keep Me on Your Mind/See You Free is out now on Jagjaguwar Records. 

All four members of DIIV (Zachary Cole Smith, Andrew Bailey, Colin Caulfield, Ben Newman) joined me to talk about their individual songwriting processes. This interview could've gone on forever because they are so passionate about creativity. What's interesting is that their individual songwriting processes don't have too much in common, but perhaps how those differences play off each other is why they make such good music.

DIIV's new album Frog in Boiling Water is out now on Fantasy Records. 

Does the mind of Eric Earley from Blitzen Trapper ever rest? I think not.  After all, he told me that he liked to solve math problems in college while he was making breakfast. Earley is a voracious reader who just finished his self-proclaimed "Time of the Tomes," in which he read nothing but, well, tomes. (The longer, the better. Infinite Jest? Please. Kid's stuff).

Earley has a family and his other occupation involves working with the homeless population in Portland, so he's not quite as active as he used to be. But that's only because he doesn't have as much time, although now he's quite invested in meditation and dream journals. And songwriting, of course. 

This is the second time I've interviewed Earley; the first was in 2018, when he told me that he'd written five unpublished novels "just for fun." Earley is also responsible for turning me on to the great short story writer Breece D'J Pancake.

Blitzen Trapper's latest album 100's of 1000's, Millions of Billions is out now on Yep Roc Records. 

Deerlady is Mali Obomsawin and Magdalena Abrego, and their debut album Greatest Hits  is my favorite album of the year, and this is also one of my favorite interviews because we had so much fun. 

I first heard Deerlady while listening to my old college radio station, WTHS at Hope College in Holland, Michigan. They played "Bounty," and it was one of those moments when you hear a song for the first time, stop whatever it is that you're doing, love it immediately, then listen to the entire album.

The backstory to Greatest Hits is fascinating. Obomsawin is a citizen of Odanak First Nation. She's a Berkelee-trained composer and bassist who leads the Mali Obomsawin Sextet, a jazz group. Abrego , a composer and guitarist, started at Berkelee before finishing at New England Conservatory, where she's on the faculty. 

These are not, as you can tell, rock gigs. And that's why Obomsawin and Abrego love Deerlady: it's an unveiling! Greatest Hits is full of incredible guitar work and stunning vocals. Obomsawin told Stereogum, "It feels great to be in a rock band, like that's my natural state," while Abrego says that the band "feels like an unmasking." I'm loathe to categorize music, but others have called their music shoegaze, goth, slowcore. Whatever. I just love this album.

Aaron Lee Tasjan has a pretty simple writing process: he gets up around 8am, has a glass of water, and pets his cat. Then he writes. But not every day. "I only write when my body tells me to, when I can go off yesterday's fumes," he told me. And in one of the best rituals I've ever heard, Tasjan always writes with a pencil--but never uses the eraser. "I hate erasers," he says.

Tasjan lives in Nashville, where the Frist Art Museum serves as a tremendous source of inspiration for his songs. His new album Stellar Evolution is out now on Blue Elan Records.

Jane Penny, co-founder of  TOPS,  makes her solo debut with her fantastic EP Surfacing, out now on Luminelle Recordings.  Penny stops by the podcast to talk about how Barry White has influenced her songwriting; why she has to write her lyrics in cursive; and why when you see her in the audience at a show and she's looking at her phone, she's actually deeply engaged in the creative process. She promises!

I'm a big fan of TOPS, so this was a lot of of fun. 

On this episode of the podcast, Grace Cummings talks about why her phone has been such a drain on her creativity and why she's making a conscious effort to stay away from it. But sometimes that phone can be pretty useful. For one, it allows Cummings to create her alter ego Cheryl. (You'll understand once you listen.) And it also allows her to create a fantastic filing system for her song ideas with labels like "excellent" and "very excellent" that we both agreed are pretty good mini pep-talks.  

Cummings's new album Ramona is out April 5 on ATO Records.

Will Taylor and Charlie Martin of Hovvdy take a deep dive into their songwriting processes on the podcast. We delve into, among other things, the nuts and bolts of the revision process and whether distance is important when writing about an event.

Hovvdy's new (double!) album Hovvdy is out April 26 on Arts & Crafts Records.

Evan Lewis and Tom McGreevy of Ducks Ltd seem to be at opposite ends of the creative  spectrum when it comes to organization. Lewis likes chaos: "The process should be a disaster," he says.

McGreevy, on the other hand, needs order. His writing process involves emailing lyrics to himself, editing them, then sending the edited version to himself. Over and over.  This allows McGreevy to see the version history of the lyrics in one giant email thread.

The new Ducks Ltd. album Harm's Way  is out now on Carpark Records.  I'm very proud that not once in this podcast will you hear the term "jangle pop."

Future Islands stops by today to talk about their individual and collective processes, which sometimes involves folding laundry and listening to trains. They've also earned the title of Most Well-Read Band I've Ever Interviewed: just listen to the dizzying number of favorite authors and literary influences they all have. That discussion alone could've been an entire episode. 

The new album by Future Islands is called People Who Aren't There Anymore, out now on 4AD Records.