A bunch of months ago, at my messy desk at my old job, I had a teeny post-it note getting knocked around that said “Will Phalen.” This typically meant that I wanted to follow up on a musician, which I was generally too distracted to do. Another handful of months later, I got an email in my inbox from the fine folks at Grape Juice Records with a comp including one Will Phalen.
Since then, Will and I have been emailing and he was kind enough to share with me his new solo album, which I adore. But he’d pretty much already won me over with the line on his website: “Country music for people who live in the city.”
Will was kind enough to answer some questions I thought of while listening to his new solo album Holy Ghost / Gold Coast over and over again. A live version of the album and some more information are included below.
Is this your first solo effort? How did that come about? How was the process different, and how has it been received?
Well, my first Stereo Addicts album, Visions and Revisions, started out as a solo effort, but along the way I began working with my friend, Andy Gulotta, and then we brought in a bunch of friends to do the record, and later a band was born out of that. So this album is kind of like coming full circle. I’ve been working in the band situation with the Stereo Addicts for about four years and that has been great. But a couple of years ago I moved to Chicago and the rest of the band stayed back in Milwaukee. It’s not very far away, but even that short distance changes the dynamics within the group, and it also changed the way I wrote songs. I was alone much more than I was with the band, so naturally some of the music I was writing just worked better as a solo effort.
I’m still getting a feel for what people think, but so far it seems like most folks who’ve heard the new songs are enjoying the mellower vibe. I’m enjoying it, so that’s good.
“Candycane Mountain” sounds like such a classic to me, or maybe it just reminds me of Neil Young’s “Sugar Mountain”, which I’ve always loved for its overt sentimentality. Was that intentional? (There is some famous other mountain song I am forgetting, right?)
The allusion is definitely to Neil’s song, but also to the old-timey classic “Big Rock Candy Mountain”, both of which I’ve always loved for their child-like imagination, which is really just beautifully surreal and weird. When I wrote the lyrics for my song, I decided to go as far in that direction as I could, and that kind of set the tone for the whole record. I like to think of myself as a surrealist (at least as much as any Midwestern kid born in the 80s can be a surrealist) and that’s typically what I go for with my lyrics. Plus, I’m just completely inspired by Neil Young at all times. So those two loves just came together in this tune. In one of the verses I talk about “cinnamon girls” which is obviously another image I borrowed from Neil. I mean, what is a Cinnamon Girl?! I don’t know, but I’d like to meet one.
I love the track “Even Though”, but it’s so sad. (“Even though I know I can’t bring you back I’m gonna try to find a way…I’m gonna try just the same.”) What can you tell me about that song?
That is a sad song. I’m not exactly sure where it came from. I mean, the images in it are taken directly from the room I was sitting in the day I wrote it. It’s the same place where I wrote almost this entire album: a small, one-bedroom apartment in Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood. It’s like Chicago’s wealthiest hood: six-million-dollar brownstones line the streets. But I was staying in this tiny shack of an apartment so it was kind of an ironic juxtaposition — which is what inspired the song’s title track, by the way. Anyways, the images of dusty floors and all that just describe the room I was in while I was writing. But that’s not what the song is really about.
I’ve found that as I get older and as my life gets a little more stable (at least in terms of my relationships with the people I care about), I’m not always moved to write as much material from my own personal, autobiographical experience. I guess my life just isn’t that interesting anymore! Or at least, I find it more interesting to write about people and situations that aren’t necessarily my own life. So I observe what’s going on in the lives of my friends and the people I meet, and I use that for material. I’m also writing a lot more fiction than I ever have and that has been a bit of a breakthrough for me, personally, because I never thought of myself as a storyteller.
What was this question about? Oh yeah: “Even Though.” I guess the simple answer is that, aside from some of the imagery that sets the scene for the story, I don’t really know exactly what it’s about. And I think that’s okay sometimes. The seventies band Mountain has a song called “Theme From an Imaginary Western.” I guess “Even Though” could be a theme from an imaginary breakup or maybe something even sadder than that. The chorus says, “Even though I can’t bring you back I’m going to try to find a way.” I don’t really know where that person has gone, but it seems like where ever it is, it’s pretty far off.
How much of this album is a love song or a breakup song?
Gosh, I don’t know. I haven’t gone through a breakup in about ten years, so I don’t really think it’s a breakup song. Although it might be a breakup song about someone else. Yeah, let’s say that. It’s a breakup song about someone else.
When I look back at the songs I’ve written I can see that a lot of them aren’t necessarily about breaking up and they’re usually not your typical love song either. For some reason, I tend to write more about longing: longing to be with someone, longing for a new reality or at least a new way to live your life. If I had to pick a theme for this record, I’d say it’s about that.
This album to me is that of a less sad Damien Jurado. Does that make sense to you? Who are your influences at this point in your career?
I like that. I listened to Damien a bunch in college and I saw him play once in Madison. I think he’s great, but I wouldn’t call him an influence. Instead, I’d maybe say that guys like Damien and I share some of the same influences.
As I mentioned earlier, Neil Young is one of my primary influences in just about everything I do when it comes to making music. Not that I always want or try to sound like him. But I love his approach to making music and making art. And I love the fact that he seems to do what he wants whenever he’s moved to do something. That was something I thought about a lot when it came to releasing this album without the Stereo Addicts. I never set out to make a solo album, per se. But once these songs were recorded I realized I actually had something worth sharing with people — regardless of who played on the record.
In a similar way, Bruce Springsteen was an artist I thought about when I was putting this album together. He recorded his Nebraska album (which is his finest work, in my opinion) as a set of demos for a prospective album, but when he was done with them he decided that there was no point in redoing the songs: the demos became the album. That’s very much how this project worked for me.
But on a purely musical level, the songs on this album were greatly influenced by guitar players like Leo Kottke and Michael Hedges as I sought to explore a part of my guitar playing that I hadn’t recorded or performed yet. And then there’s other Wisconsin artists like Bon Iver and Corey Chisel who have been very inspiring as they’ve attained some real admirable successes with their art and their careers of late.
What’s going on in the Midwest that it’s churning out all this great music? I thought you were all supposed to be very polite and milquetoast.
Ha. We are very polite! I’m not sure about milquetoast, but maybe that’s how the rest of the country sees us. Your question brings up a good point: there’s a lot of very cool music coming out of this region right now, and I’m really excited about it. Without getting too pedantic, I think one thing that’s happening is the decentralization of the music business is making it possible for artists who aren’t in New York, Nashville or L.A. to make a name for themselves and the places they come from. But on another level, I think there’s a genuine movement going on here to define and shape a Midwestern aesthetic in music. I know it’s something I think about a lot, and as I listen to the songs by my fellow songwriters from Wisconsin and Illinois and Minnesota I hear it in their lyrics and in their sounds too. I think many Midwesterners would identify themselves as “real” or “down-to-earth”, and I think that’s one thing that comes out in this music. Not everyone can relate to Lady Gaga or Black Eyed Peas. That’s music that is definitely more about transformation, and extravagance and escaping the reality we’re given. Which is cool. That has its place. But that’s not for everyone all the time. So I think people relate to the “down-to-earth” sensibilities of Midwestern artists working right now. When so many aspects of our lives have become virtual and completely disconnected from tangible reality, sometimes it’s nice to listen to music that’s about real connections and real relationships and real emotions. I think some of the Midwestern artists you’re referring to do a good job of that.
What have you been listening to, and what artists would you recommend to people who like this album.
Well, for the past year, while I was in the midst of putting my album together, I was also producing an album for a songwriter from Chicago named Musikanto. Mike Musikanto is a guy I met around the time I was moving to Chicago and he’s become a good friend and collaborator. He asked me to work with him on his next record and we spent about nine months recording songs with his band and our friends from the Chicago folk rock scene. I’m a huge fan of the songs on his new record (and would be even if I wasn’t involved in it). The album is called Sky of Dresses and I think it’s going to turn some heads this summer and fall as he rolls it out.
Aside from that, I’ve been listening to a record by a guitar player from Niger named Bombino for the past couple of months. On the surface, you’d think this guy has little to do with the kind of music we’re making in the Midwest, but I think it shares a similar vibe. His music is very laid back and soothing, but there’s a grit and an edge to it that feels very real and very cool. I love his voice and I love the sounds he gets from his guitars. Also, the new Gillian Welch album. I was waiting for that for a long time (like 8 years or something ridiculous like that) but she’s one of my favorite artists ever and this new one is a great album.
What are your plans after the album is released in July?
My first plan after the album release is to get married in August! My lady and my muse, Anna, and I are finally tying the knot in a few weeks and then we’re going to run away and explore southeast Asia for a little bit. But when I get back from there, it’s going to be full-steam ahead as I try to share this new music with as many people as possible. I’ve got one more show in Milwaukee next week (Sunday July 31st for the WMSE Backyard BBQ) and then I’m out. But I definitely hope the Fall will bring some opportunities to travel with the new music and spread it around. I’ve enlisted the help of a couple friends from Chicago to play the record live. Russ Mallord, who is playing drums and shakers and all that stuff. And Chris Anderson is playing guitars. Chris is a really talented songwriter in his own right: his project is called Old Fashioned War, and he’s coming out with a new record later this summer that a bunch of us worked on. With those two guys playing, the songs sound even better than they do on the album, so I’m really excited for people to hear it all happen live.
You can listen to/see the live album here from Audiotree.
You can get all the info/music you want from Will at his website.
I, for one, hope to see Will on the west coast soon.
Will Phalen: Candycane Mountain
Will Phalen: Even Though
