CHIRP: Chicago Independent Radio Project

Posted by Michael A. on April 14, 2008 around 12pm

Last week we introduced the spotlight section by highlighting one of our active members. Along with giving you an inside look at the people who are working hard within our organization, this section will also feature interviews with our favorite artists and industry folk. This week, we are proud to present David Brewis, the clever pop-rock songsmith behind School of Language and one-third of the acclaimed indie/art-rock trio Field Music. Supporting his debut album as School of Language – Sea from Shore released on Chicago’s Thrill Jockey Records in January – we had the opportunity to sit down with Brewis after his in-store performance at Reckless Records. Though exhausted from his rigorous touring schedule and still shaking slightly from the adrenaline induced by his just completed performance, Brewis took on the interview like a pro with poise, sincerity and eloquence. Or perhaps it was just the Sunderland lad’s English accent that disguised any kind of impatience. Either way, we discussed his infectious new album (which very well may be a dark horse contender on many critics’ 2008 year-end lists), striking out from beneath the Field Music shadow, and his future plans as a solo artist.

School of Language - “Rockist” - Sea from Shore (Thrill Jockey 2008)

CHIRP: How did the School of Language moniker originate?

David Brewis: I was about as tired as I am now on a plane drifting to sleep, and I thought, “oh school of language… dream.” That’s a good a name for a band; if I ever do a band, that’s what I’ll call it. It was as simple as that. And since then I’ve come up with loads of explanations of why it’s a good name. But as with so many things, it was just completely random.

C: After establishing yourself with the trio Field Music, why did you decide to go out on your own and start a new project?

DB: I’ve always done a lot of music on my own, and really Field Music was like an experiment to see whether me and my brother could do something collaborative. We found, well we can. But, because of how we both write music, which is usually with a lot of the arrangement and production ideas already in our minds before we even show the song to anyone else, it sometimes kind of liberating to do something on your own. After we finished recording the last Field Music album, we really couldn’t imagine us at any time soon after that going back into the studio to do another record. You just get to the point where you think: “ok, we’ve done that; and before as a trio we can do something else, we need to work out a whole load of other stuff.’” So, it felt pretty natural for me to start thinking, “well I’ve started to write these new songs and these aren’t like band songs at all… maybe I’ll do them on my own. And I’ll do a record that will be fun. And I’ll spend this year on my own,” which is something I really like doing. It’s something we did a lot with Field Music anyway; there are quite a lot of songs on both the Field Music records that are mostly just me or just Peter. So it’s not without precedent.

C: Were the other guys behind you in this endeavor?

DB: I was probably the person who first said, “I’m not sure I want to do… you know after we do this tour, I’m not sure I want to do any Field Music stuff.” And I think the initial thing was like, “WHAT!” and then it was like “oh yeah, that actually makes total sense.” I think Peter, my brother, has really enjoyed not doing the band and realizing a bunch of facets of his talent, which were constrained in doing a band. Andy’s had the opportunity to write a lot of songs and start recording them. I mean Field Music was always mine and Peter’s songs, so it’s been good for him to be like, “well I’ve got these 11 or 12 songs, I’m going to do a record as well and it’s going to be like my stuff and I’m going to tell you what to do.” So as much as initially it was quite jarring for all of us… it’s like having a relationship where you say, “I think I need my own space for a while.” And everyone is like, “AWW it’s really angry!” and then you think, “actually, wait a second, this is pretty good. I realize I still like you.” We are all very supportive of each other and we work together all the time. It’s come to pass that neither of them play on the School of Language record, but their influence is absolutely there, because they’re still the people who I go to and talk to and discuss musical things. It’s always the bouncing around of ideas, which lets you get on with stuff. But it doesn’t mean you have to be in a band together to do it.

C: Was this record completely self-produced?

DB: Yes.

C: Well the drum sound on the record is amazing.

DB: Thanks!

C: That in particular, I don’t know what it is, but the whole record feels very rhythmic to me. Even your guitar parts and vocals seem very much based in rhythm.

DB: I kind of find that a lot of records that maybe I would like, I’m automatically turned off because the thought and imagination that has gone into the guitar parts or the lyrics isn’t applied to rhythm. And actually usually isn’t applied to harmony either. It’s like “well I got this great song, C-G-F, do-do-dat-do-do-dat-dat,” and I’m just totally turned off by that. I don’t initially listen to lyrics, so there are loads of bands that I am missing out on because I don’t give them enough time to get into the lyrics.

C: When you are writing, do you come at it from a more rhythmic approach?

DB: Not particularly, but I suppose all these songs were written on guitar. Unlike Field Music, which tended to be half piano, half guitar both for me and Peter. This was kind of the record where I was like, “wait a minute, I love playing guitar.” In Field Music, guitar is something submerged very much. The first musical love of my life was Zeppelin. So I want to get back to the guitar thing. Yeah, I want to write some riffs, and I want to play the goddamn guitar and have a good time doing it. I don’t want to be scared if I do a part that, you know, is a little bit complicated. I shouldn’t be scared if I do a part if it’s a little bit complicated; I shouldn’t embarrassed to do a part which I am enjoying playing, just because someone is going to go to me after a gig and go [in a cheesy American voice] “hey man, nice guitar work.” I shouldn’t be embarrassed by that particularly, but I suppose that’s why the way I play the guitar is very rhythmic. The relationship between those parts and the drum parts tend to be very close, either because what the guitar part is doing implies the drum part exactly, or because I realize the guitar part needs to be counted by something and almost always that’s going to be the drums. I tend to use bass as a melodic thing; lots of the songs don’t have much base going on as a rhythmic instrument. These little tunes burst in now and again, which I suppose again is from things that I listened to when I was really little. That’s like a free thing to do. Like McCartney almost.

C: Well actually, what it reminded me a lot of was George Harrison’s solo work, especially the vibrancy of the sound.

DB: Yeah? [sarcastically] Did he do any solo work?

C: Ohhh no. [laughs]

DB: Well the thing about Harrison’s solo work with Spector on All Things Must Pass in particularly is that thickness. The intricacy is all to do with creating a big block of sound, and for me I like to use the intricacy to highlight the gaps. For me, All Things Must Pass doesn’t have any space in it. Other than maybe some of the drummy bits on the last side which basically aren’t very good… well to me.

C: Fair enough, but there is something to do with the brightness of the sound in your work that reflects the same sincere vibe of his in my opinion.

DB: Maybe… well actually I don’t know the record all that well. One of the things I can think of from that record is that you can really hear the room. And that is something with George he did a lot. When you get to something like “Imagine,” it’s all so tight; you can’t hear the room. But other than that, in Spector recordings you can hear the space they are recording in. And that is something reflective of how I record. We don’t have lots of gear, we don’t have a proper studio, we just have a practice room with five or six cheap microphones. So, we are really relying on the sound we get from the room. The drums are always miked with three or four microphones. If we want a different sound, we maybe move the drums or move the mics ever so slightly, mute the drums or just try and play it differently. There are a few things on there that I was like, “we really need to make the drums sound different. Let’s put them in the corridor under the practice room.” So some of the stuff was done there. Almost all of the guitar was recorded in a corridor with really hard ceilings and brick walls. So we get these really bright, pingy sounds, which you have to be kind of careful with while recording, but that’s what we got to play with. And that’s all we can do really; we don’t have enough equipment to do anything else.

C: Lyrically – just to switch gears – there are a lot of references to the element of time effecting relationships, at least that’s what I perceived. I found it very interesting that a lot of the statements you would make would almost turn back on themselves, and at first you would be talking to someone but eventually you would be self-reflecting. Was it a subject you wanted to approach, or was it something that appeared in the songwriting without being preconceived?

DB: I’m preoccupied by certain things, and they show up all the time. For me there is not much other than the relationships you have with the people around you in the place where you love and the places where you go. And how you deal with your time in those relationships and your time in those places… like…

C: Is it a very personal record for you?

DB: Yes it is, very. And….

C: Well we can leave it at that. How did you get hooked up with Thrill Jockey?

DB: Field Music had a gig at the Empty Bottle in March last year, and I was at the merch table in a bad mood because the gig was not great, okay but not great. And Bettina from Thrill Jockey kind of came up and said “oh, I really enjoyed the gig. This is Sam, he is in a band called the Sea & Cake. We really enjoyed it. Can I send you some records?” I was like [in a peeved voice] “who are you? Yeah, I guess you can. Yeah, there’s my address. Thanks. Hmmm Thrill Jockey.” And a few weeks later, a package of records came and I was like, “Whoa! This is exciting! Wow! Who is this Bettina Richards? I’ll send her this record I’ve been working on.” And she liked it, and asked if she could put it out, which seemed like a pretty good idea to me. That was it, pretty simple really.

C: Are you going to continue to develop the School of Language project for a little while?

DB: Definitely the next thing I’m going to do is write a bunch of stuff to do another School of Language record. Hopefully as quickly as I can, I want to get back into it. But since finishing the record in September I haven’t written much if anything at all. So, yeah, it’s definitely not my plan to be doing a Field Music thing next. I’ve got to write and do some recording for me and then I’ll probably have to do some touring for Peter’s record, which he’s just finished and which I am going to be in the band for. I don’t know what instrument I’m going to play yet, so I’m just going to have to do what I’m told. That’s the plan, another School of Language record next is the hope.

C: Are you enjoying touring as a solo artist?

DB: I’ve been enjoying this tour. It’s pretty hard work, and it’s really strange to be so detached from real life. I find that quite difficult. I’m a morning person who stays at home, and I have my little social sphere in the place where I have always lived. I go to the studio and work on stuff and talk about music. So touring is really alien for me. But I quite like the drives, I like the people I am playing with, and I’ve been enjoying playing. It’s a job, and I bloody well got to do it! I can’t avoid touring, but it’s not something for me that it’s the sole end. There are so many things about playing live that I find slightly dissatisfying. Nothing in particular for playing live for this or something for Field Music, there are just certain things about the interaction. I don’t go to gigs very often, I’m not really a gig-goer in a huge way. My best experiences of music are as a listener of records.