Lately I've been spending way too much time in the real world, working and recording music and generally not being online very much. And as good as that may sound, I feel slightly bad because there are a lot better things I could be doing rather than stocking things in a cooler. However, one of the great luxuries I have is to be able to listen to music while I do meaningless repetitive tasks.
The artist I've been spinning the most lately is The Simple Carnival. Coming from Pennsylvania, the Simple Carnival is a one man band led by a genuine pop virtuoso, Jeff Boller.
The Simple Carnival can be compared to bands like the High Llamas and the Heavy Blinkers (or any other orchestral pop band), but Jeff Boller tends to be on the more experimental side of pop, trying out ambient interludes and using more instruments than most musicians have even heard of.
With 3 releases already out and another on the way later this year, I got a chance to talk to Jeff a little bit about his music.
Eric: I love your first EP, Menlo Park. I wanted to know what inspired you to take such an orchestral pop approach (like the heavy blinkers)?
Jeff: Thank you for the kind words about that EP. Menlo Park was an experiment. Whether that experiment was a success depends on who you ask!
Here's how it came together. I was tired with how long songs were taking to write and record, so I looked at alternative methods of creating music, like Album-a-Day (http://crapart.spacebar.org/aad/). I thought it might be interesting to see what happened if I recorded whatever I was feeling like for a month. So I worked as fast as I could, with the goal of recording an hour's worth of material that would later be edited down into... something. I wasn't sure what.
What I learned when working on this particular project was that it takes more time for me to write acceptable lyrics than to write acceptable music. So when it came time to piece everything together, I dropped just about all of the songs with lyrics and made the EP mostly instrumental... which baffled everyone who had heard my previous, more accessible songs. Menlo Park has a strange sort of mood and it captures exactly how I was feeling for those four weeks. But it's not the place to start if you've never listened to The Simple Carnival before.
Eric: Secondly, what kind of equipment did you use to record Menlo Park?
Jeff: There's a current gear list, which is pretty much the same thing I used on Menlo Park here:
http://www.simplecarnival.com/faq.php#instruments
For Menlo Park, I used Pro Tools as a giant 4-track, and mixed songs directly through a Mackie mixer immediately after I had recorded it. It's basically a set of very rough demos, where spontaneity was more important than getting a good sound.
On the Me and My Arrow EP (and the upcoming Girls Aliens Food album) spontaneity was still important, but I worked hard at writing the songs and making them sound good as I could make them.
Eric: For your second release, Sonic Rescue League 1, your sound changed a lot (even though I understand it was that way all along), so what made this release so different from the previous (or what made the first EP so different from this one), whichever is more applicable.
Jeff: A lot of the Sonic Rescue League Vol 1 tracks were recorded before Menlo Park, even though Sonic Rescue League came out after.
The reason is because, before I sold CDs/downloads/merchandise, I used to post individual tracks on my web site and get feedback. I wanted to make those old tracks available to anyone who was interested, but it didn't make sense to keep them online forever since I felt like I had moved on a bit. So those tracks became Sonic Rescue League. I'm not even sure what to call that release. Is it an EP? Is it an album? It's 45 minutes long, but it was never intended to be a cohesive album experience. It's basically a mix tape of four years of recordings.
Eric: You definitely can handle both orchestral pop and more simple Beatles styled pop songs, so which style do you like more, or get more satisfaction from?
Jeff: I like to listen to both. But as far as what I like to make, I currently like making music where the song is the focus, not just the production textures. I'm fascinated with the shapes of melodies, I'm fascinated by that intangible thing that happens when interesting music is combined with an interesting concept and well-crafted lyrics.
My goal is to provide something that makes other people's day a little more enjoyable. And it's easier to connect with people when the song is the focus of what you do. We as human beings seem to be hard wired to respond to hooks and melodies and things like that. A good number of us, anyway.
Eric: You made a video for the song Really Really Weird on your Me and My Arrow EP, what was it like making your own video?
Jeff: I could provide a long answer about this, but I already posted one on my blog:
http://songsandsonics.com/2008/05/03/if-all-you-have-is-a-hammer-everything-looks-like-a-cheap-music-video/
Long story short: I spent $7.25 in materials and put in an insane amount of work. If I ever do something like this again, I won't do it in the same way.
Eric: Finally, what kind of things can we expect from your upcoming full length, Girls, Aliens, Food?
Jeff: The Girls Aliens Food album (and the Me and My Arrow EP) is where I feel like I finally found my voice as an artist. Whereas on some of the earlier stuff I'm kind of throwing things against the wall to see what sticks, Girls Aliens Food has a definite idea of what it is and where it's going. It's a song-oriented album. The tracks flow in a specific sort of way. I'm singing quite a bit on it. There's a bunch of things to pick up with repeat listens.
I don't want to say too much else about the album, as people ought to form their own impressions when it comes out in October. But the response I've received so far from the handful of people who have heard it has been very exciting. I can't wait for everybody to hear it.
If you get a chance you should check out The Simple Carnival's website and myspace below.
Myspace | Website
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