In this interview spotlight, I chat with Seth Reeves of Siberian Traps about their music, challenges, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music 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.)
We’re from Fort Worth, Texas and we make melodic music that often get classified as psych pop or psych rock. As a songwriter, I’m always looking for that melody that reminds me of hearing The Beach Boys’ “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” for the first time when I was four years old. The sublime beauty, the underlying melancholy, the sui generis immanence that seems to proceed from within the music itself. I don’t always get there, but that’s the aim.
What led you down this path of music and what motivates you to keep going?
We’re always driven by the sense of possibility in music, that just over that horizon there is another world of melody, harmony, rhythm, ecstasy to be explored. Music is the perpetually undiscovered country.
How is this new release different than previous ones? Were you trying to accomplish anything specific?
Infinite Jest is the first Siberian Traps record to dispense with personal lyricism and focus instead on writing songs from the perspective of characters. By day, I teach AP English Literature in high school. Each song on this record is sung from the perspective of a character in a literary work, all books that have resonated with me in some important way as I’ve taught them the past several years. There are five books represented, each featuring songs from two different characters in that book. Not only did I find a great deal of freedom in abandoning my personal perspective, I also loved inhabiting these songs theatrically and exploring different viewpoints on the same story. To me, this album feels more performance driven than any of the previous ones in the sense that I felt like an actor taking different roles. The process was a hell of a lot of fun.
Name one or two challenges you face as an indie musician in this oversaturated, digital music age? How has technology helped you (since we know it does help)?
It’s very difficult to stand out in such a saturated environment, obviously. Essentially, if you have a certain amount of financial means, you can buy publicity for yourself and generate “buzz.” This is, of course, far from organic, though I suppose music marketing has always had some element of the artificial and the manufactured to it. The difference is that now moneyed interests are making a killing from offering streaming services to artists for a mere pittance. Access has increased, but exposure is all the more difficult.
Still, it’s nice to be able to create content, have complete control over the creative process, and release it on your own terms. If you’re not looking to hit it big, it’s quite liberating.
What was the last song you listened to?
“Star 69” by R.E.M from the new Monster 25th Anniversary Re-Release. What a banger that one is.
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? CDs? MP3s?
Vinyl is obviously the best for having a tangible product, and I prefer that. Cassettes are actually wonderful in that way, too. Until a year ago, I had a car with a cassette player in it and I love the way that format encourages you to listen to whole albums probably more than any other medium. They sound fantastic, too. We were sold a bill of goods in the 80s that CDs sounded better than tapes.
How about this one…. Do you prefer Spotify? Apple Music? Bandcamp? Or something else? Why?
Spotify is the most widely used, so probably that one, even though their payout is a rip-off. I like that Bandcamp pays the best, but not many use it, so I hesitate to direct people to it if they’re asking how to listen to our music online.
Where is the best place to connect with you online and discover more music?
https://siberiantraps.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/SiberianTraps/
Anything else before we sign off?
Thank you for listening!
