FACEBOOK
GOOGLE
Interview: Department of Eagles (Pt. 2)
Interview: Department of Eagles (Pt. 2)
- Genre : More Music
- Type: News
- Author : Super Admin
- Date : Tue, 07 Oct 2008
That feels like one of the biggest differences between your bands. Grizzly Bear is four distinct voices coming together while Department of Eagles is only two. How was the song writing process different with only two people involved?
It's hard to explain. The song writing process in Grizzly Bear, for the most part, is very collaborative. I guess you're right, especially now, it has become much more collaborative. The funny thing with Yellow House is, I was much more of a tyrant and a pain in the ass on my songs [laughs]. Now it is a much more open process. I think we have all grown up a little bit more, and everyone has gotten comfortable working together. Fred and I have a real established way of passing sketches back and forth for months. That's what we have done since we were young, and even while I was in Grizzly Bear we were doing it. We have a long process—a trusted, tried and true way. Grizzly Bear happens in any possible way, there's no particular format. Sometimes someone will come with a song totally fleshed out. Sometimes someone will come with a melody, and it turns into something else. This record was nice for me because I could be a little more specific about arrangements. I feel like Grizzly Bear is a pretty unified sound, but I feel like this record has a little more focus in some ways. I don't mean that in a "talking down to Grizzly Bear" way at all. It's not like I'm trying to sound like an asshole, but because it is only two people, and it is only us doing the arrangements and nobody else, it adds a little more focus.
There are a lot of strong emotional undercurrents on the album. Even individual tracks really evolve emotionally, like "In Ear Park" moves from wistful reverie to nostalgic catharsis. On an emotional level, what was it like for you to create this album?
It was a really long process. By the time we really did it, it was actually really positive, for the most part. A lot of those songs are pretty dark. It is funny now listening to them because I don't really feel that way anymore, so I don't really feel like writing music that is that dark. "In Ear Park" was very cathartic; it was a very cathartic song. "Balmy Night" is a kind of cathartic song, and they are linked in my mind like bookends. "Balmy Night" is much older than "In Ear Park," but they feel like two chapters of the same story. I guess, especially at the time, I liked taking darker emotions and darker feelings and making them into cathartic, joyful song.
The main guitar melody on "Balmy Night" reminds me of "Lullaby" off Yellow House. Is there any connection between those songs?
[Laughs] Yeah, those are all from around the same time. The funny thing is, the album Fred and I were trying to put together when I joined Grizzly Bear was meant to have a few songs that had common themes that went between songs and reoccurred, which happens a little bit on the Grizzly Bear record with "Lullaby" and "Reprise." At the time, I really liked the idea of having specific themes and bringing them in and out of songs. There's another Department of Eagles song that hasn't been released that has the same theme that comes back in a different form too.
The album approaches the past in so many ways. "In Ear Park" embraces it while "Classical Records" pushes it away and tries to forget. Was there a specific way you were using the album to deal with the past?
"Classical Records" is one of Fred's songs, and I can't really speak for him. I don't know exactly what he said that lyric was in reference to. I think it was something that we came up with on the fly, while we were doing the record. For me—especially the song "In Ear Park," which is very nostalgic—is more of a re-imagining or a fictionalized version of the past. It's like taking something and turning it into a much more beautiful dream than it actually was. I think of it as preserving that past and romanticizing the past, which I enjoy.
That's definitely the
It's hard to explain. The song writing process in Grizzly Bear, for the most part, is very collaborative. I guess you're right, especially now, it has become much more collaborative. The funny thing with Yellow House is, I was much more of a tyrant and a pain in the ass on my songs [laughs]. Now it is a much more open process. I think we have all grown up a little bit more, and everyone has gotten comfortable working together. Fred and I have a real established way of passing sketches back and forth for months. That's what we have done since we were young, and even while I was in Grizzly Bear we were doing it. We have a long process—a trusted, tried and true way. Grizzly Bear happens in any possible way, there's no particular format. Sometimes someone will come with a song totally fleshed out. Sometimes someone will come with a melody, and it turns into something else. This record was nice for me because I could be a little more specific about arrangements. I feel like Grizzly Bear is a pretty unified sound, but I feel like this record has a little more focus in some ways. I don't mean that in a "talking down to Grizzly Bear" way at all. It's not like I'm trying to sound like an asshole, but because it is only two people, and it is only us doing the arrangements and nobody else, it adds a little more focus.
There are a lot of strong emotional undercurrents on the album. Even individual tracks really evolve emotionally, like "In Ear Park" moves from wistful reverie to nostalgic catharsis. On an emotional level, what was it like for you to create this album?
It was a really long process. By the time we really did it, it was actually really positive, for the most part. A lot of those songs are pretty dark. It is funny now listening to them because I don't really feel that way anymore, so I don't really feel like writing music that is that dark. "In Ear Park" was very cathartic; it was a very cathartic song. "Balmy Night" is a kind of cathartic song, and they are linked in my mind like bookends. "Balmy Night" is much older than "In Ear Park," but they feel like two chapters of the same story. I guess, especially at the time, I liked taking darker emotions and darker feelings and making them into cathartic, joyful song.
The main guitar melody on "Balmy Night" reminds me of "Lullaby" off Yellow House. Is there any connection between those songs?
[Laughs] Yeah, those are all from around the same time. The funny thing is, the album Fred and I were trying to put together when I joined Grizzly Bear was meant to have a few songs that had common themes that went between songs and reoccurred, which happens a little bit on the Grizzly Bear record with "Lullaby" and "Reprise." At the time, I really liked the idea of having specific themes and bringing them in and out of songs. There's another Department of Eagles song that hasn't been released that has the same theme that comes back in a different form too.
The album approaches the past in so many ways. "In Ear Park" embraces it while "Classical Records" pushes it away and tries to forget. Was there a specific way you were using the album to deal with the past?
"Classical Records" is one of Fred's songs, and I can't really speak for him. I don't know exactly what he said that lyric was in reference to. I think it was something that we came up with on the fly, while we were doing the record. For me—especially the song "In Ear Park," which is very nostalgic—is more of a re-imagining or a fictionalized version of the past. It's like taking something and turning it into a much more beautiful dream than it actually was. I think of it as preserving that past and romanticizing the past, which I enjoy.
That's definitely the
RELATED NEWS
Share
