In this interview spotlight, we chat with members of Cloudmouth to discuss influences, their newest project, navigating the digitized music industry and more.
Q&A along with links and streams below.
Where are you from and what style of music do you create? (In your own words, not necessarily in marketing terms or by popular genre classifications.)
The humans that make up Cloudmouth are from the midwest and northern midwest originally, but we have both been living in Nashville for over a decade. Our music pulls from many influences. The songs are sometimes a dark-folk style, sometimes a little more humerous and satiristic, sometimes very earnest and almost secular hymns, I will write some songs just to explain parts of my humanity to myself. We nest these songs inside an arrangement of instrumental and sometimes noisey compositions, so that the set is more continuous, it carries you along. We’re trying to create a more connected experience.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to stay the course?
There is something unexplainable in a moving piece of music. The transitory and ephemeral nature of the medium is one of it’s challenges and also part of it’s appeal for me. I stay the course because the music keeps finding me, and I feel the need to get it out, and share it.
Who or what are your biggest influences when it comes to your creativity?
I like musicians that experiment within their styles, and craft their own universe of sound. Artists like Tom Waits and Radiohead, lesser known bands like Mount Eerie and Subtle, they all create a kind of world of their own. Lyrics are also big for me, I love to read poetry and I enjoy finding lyricists that can bring intriguing verses or concepts into song format. Tom Waits is a clear example here as well, and Bob Dylan, Kate Bush, and contemporary writers like Lambchop, Silver Jews, Neko Case, Destroyer… then there are the stylistic influences from older blues & jazz, like Skip James, the mood he can set with just a guitar and voice give me inspiration to stretch the boundaries of what a small group (Cloudmouth is currently a two-piece) can create.
How is your new release different than previous ones? Did you set out to accomplish anything specific?
We had a goal with the new Cloudmouth album – to capture the energy and immediacy of the live show that we had developed over the previous year. Before that all of my personal recordings (under the Kyle Numann name) had been kitchen sink recordings of the most indulgent variety. 20 tracks all edited into place… it is a fun way to experiment, but with Cloudmouth’s first recording I wanted to reflect our band dynamic, the way that Amoretta’s rythms rode and carried the songs, the interplay between guitar and drums, and the improvised noisy transitions. We set up in the studio in the same room, no isolation, and played the songs from start to finish. We tracked the whole thing in one day, and I’m really happy with the result. It reflects that energy we’d set out to capture.
We also made a music video for the first single, a very DIY effort using our friends self-built tiny cabin trailer as the set. The song is called ‘Little House’ and is about the balance between the Big Dreams of life and the small comforts of home, and the life in between.
Do you face any challenges as an indie musician in a digital age? On the flip side, how has technology helped you (if it has)?
If anything technology has helped us. We have been able to record and mix, film and edit videos, create the website and handle our own promotion through the help of technology. That puts a large burden of the work on our shoulders, but I think of the whole process as an extension of the creative impulse, and try to hold on to that perspective. Mixing a recording, for example. There are so many decisions in mixing that affect the mood of the recordings. How much open space? How dense? Is there a heavy low-end, or is it more floaty? How much of the vocals to add in, and how dry or how much reverb? It seems crazy to me that an artist would leave that process up to someone else, but it happens all the time. I think I’ve just got an obsession to understand as much of the creative process as possible.
How do you feel about streaming services? Any romantic attachments to the physical formats: vinyl, 8-track, cassettes, CDs?
I am happy to see the vinyl resurgence, I think it is the most romantic of physical mediums… the waves of sound that will eventually impress your eardrums are physically pressed in the record, in this miniature kind of engraving… it is one of those simple science accomplishments that feels like magic. At the same time, there is something incredibly romantic to hearing your favorite song while staring out a rainy bus window, or walking through the woods… or sending a playlist to a friend across the world, or discovering your new favorite band from an algorithm-generated personalized stream. Everyone is figuring out the ‘business’ end of the streaming revolution, but for the musicians I think it just creates new opportunities.
Where can we follow you online and hear more music?
You can learn all about the Cloudmouth at www.cloudmouthmusic.com, and keep up with us on all the other socials @cloudmouthmusic.
Anything else before we sign off?
Stay adventurous! Eat your veggies.
