Perhaps I’m getting a little soft or something. There is a kind of country/folk pop music that is coloring my early-morning soundtrack while I kick back in my untidy lair these days, effortlessly taking me to places where time passes slowly and where secret unknown pleasures can be found.
And no, this is no hippie communion trip I’m aspiring to here because oftentimes this music I refer to is way more precious and beautifully formed than some lazy, freaky-styley folk concoctions. Someone like Matt Ward has set a pretty nice precedence with his last few albums and that indescribably haunting songwriting mode of his, and I have also been consistently bowled over by the uniquely-American splendor of recent records by interesting bands with even more intriguing names like Port O’Brien, Page France and Peter And The Wolf.
And then there are the Finches, a duo from San Francisco whose lovely melodies and earnest songwriting have been steadily gaining attention among indie music circuits. Carolyn Pennypacker Riggs and Aaron Morgan’s first full-length LP Human Like A House is a collection of their carefully crafted pop songs with that rare, natural ability to make you feel at peace with their every concern. Especially those moments when the singer seems to be yearning ever so heartbreakingly over the shadows of someone she used to know intimately.
There are times when I listen to the Finches and my flushed mind starts to envisage the pages off road diaries that document my own travel experiences while Carolyn’s charmingly cadenced vocals patiently capture the fleeting feelings of wanderlust, and sometimes, homesickness. It was a real pleasant surprise that we eventually managed to get in touch with the two of them over several e-mails. Carolyn and Aaron discuss their songwriting inspirations and what went into the making of Human Like A House.
Maybe we can start off straight by talking a bit about how you and Aaron got around to forming the band and performing together?
Carolyn : We both worked in a pastry shop together during university. We already had mutual friends, but working a crumby job together really sealed the deal. Our other co-worker was completely nutso (and the best performer I've ever seen)! She would do after-hour dance-routines to Queen and spit on muffins for rude people. Aaron and I were paralyzed with fear and delight. After graduating, we both ended up in the San Francisco area. I had all these little songs knocking around in my noggin, so I made a two-track tape and gave it to Aaron before he left on tour with his other band, Roots of Orchids.
Aaron: I got really excited about working with Carolyn when I heard the tape. Even though we were close friends, I had no idea she wrote lyrics and melodies this captivating. Most of our first Six Songs EP were on that rough tape Carolyn gave me.
One of my favorite things about what I have heard of the Finches so far is this distinctive sense in the songwriting that sounds to me very grounded and comfortable yet without being overly precious at the same time. What would you say are some of the key inspirations behind the songwriting on Human Like a House?
Carolyn : Oh, thank you. My favorite songs usually form something like a string of musical snapshots. I guess I'm a visual kind of gal; if an audio stimulus can create a slide show in my brain, I get excited. I think Ray Davies is one of my favorite popular storytellers, along with Leonard Cohen and Paul Simon. And more recently, I've begun to appreciate mentions of modern amenities like cell-phones, CDs and tapes – not so much luxury items but objects that give the song a sense of timeliness.
It is very interesting that you mention Ray Davies, who can be quite the topical songwriter almost effortlessly, while at the same time mentioning the sense of timeliness you want to impart to your work, and I can also imagine how hard it can be sometimes to work in modern elements into the lyrics. But I also think the instrumentation on the album and how they are presented in a somewhat ‘traditional-sounding’ fashion gives you more room to frame your lyrics in a more surreal or dreamy mode. Do you agree?
Carolyn : Yes, I suppose that's true. It's easy to float from flowers to traffic to phone calls when you're not worrying about poly-rhythms.
Were there any events in your own personal life that might have affected or crept its way into the songwriting on the new album, if you don't mind me asking?
Carolyn : Well, all the stories are autobiographical on both Six Songs and Human Like A House. I've been living a kind of transient lifestyle for the last year-and-a-half; rarely staying in one place for more than a few weeks, but always returning to the San Francisco Area. Our title song is an ode to the Bay.
Aaron : We recorded both Six Songs and Human Like A House at my parents’ house with my dad as the engineer. He is a pedal steel guitarist and coming into his own with the recording equipment in the garage. He's been a major influence on the sound of these two albums. It’s exciting for me to have him in on the projects since he is a very experienced and gifted musician who relates to what we are trying to do – and he's my dad.
In terms of the instruments you use and how the album was engineered together with Aaron's dad, how did the two of you manage to achieve the warm and very intimate sound we hear on Human Like A House?
Aaron : My dad has a background in recording singer-songwriters and ‘traditional’ sounding music. Mostly because the space works best for this – it’s not a great place to record live rock drums or walls of Marshall amplifiers – but he’s got some great mics and can really create an intimate feeling for vocals and acoustic instruments.
Carolyn : I’d like to think that working with a family member added to the “warmth”. Aaron’s parents are totally awesome, we called our few sessions “recording retreats” – we’d get down to San Diego and record all day in the garage and then emerge to celebrate with vegetarian feasts. (Friday night is “Fiesta Night” at the Morgans’.) And then we dumped the files onto our dear friend Justin’s computer and all mixed it together in San Francisco over many a slice of pizza.
I am curious about whether when you guys were recording Human Like a House, was there any temptations on your part to try and really flesh out the song arrangements with more full-bodied instrumentations? Was there something about the record in its released form that the two of you thought could be improved or made to sound better?
Carolyn : We tried to find a happy medium between our live shows and our envisioned sound, and were simultaneously limited by time and resources. For this album, we enlisted friends with free-time; the occasional cello, recorder, drums and chorus makes it fuller than our current line-up of two but I definitely foresee more complex instrumentation next time around.
Aaron: To me, Human Like A House is an expansion on the ideas from our first EP Six Songs and it seemed out of place to add too much clutter. Future albums will definitely see wider instrumentation.
While I listen to and enjoy your work simply as pop music per se, I think most listeners would identify with the songs somewhat as folk compositions first – it doesn't help too that the Vashti Bunyan comparison has cropped up quite often! How do you feel about the folk music traditions yourself and also, how do you feel about the folk references that your music would be inevitably saddled with?
Carolyn : I’m a big fan of folk music but I probably get as much inspiration from Aaliyah and Brian Eno. Today I heard an old New Order song on the radio and my arms began literally aching for an instrument. I’m away from all my stuff right now on family business. Regarding the folk label, we kind of made our own bed by playing two acoustic guitars – I think it's hard for some people to look at us and not think, “Oh, duh, folk!” but I personally consider our songs of the pop persuasion.
Aaron: I love many kinds of music and am influenced by them all. Our first two albums contain a folk aesthetic but I don't believe that we are a ‘folk group’. Maybe we can prove that with future releases.
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