A little while back we reviewed we are beautiful, even when we are broken!, the new record from St Louis’ American Poetry Club. We described the record as a “balance between wistful reminiscence (if not sadness then at least nostalgia or regret) and shameless sincerity, an updated emo that doesn’t take itself too seriously, and believes that things are going to turn out okay.”
Jordan from the band (that’s him in the snazzy hat) was kind enough to speak with us about the record and american poetry club in general. Check out what he had to say below!
Hi Jordan, thanks for speaking to us! How is it to have your new album, we are beautiful, even when we are broken!, out in the wild?
Hey there! No problemo thanks fer taking the time to do this! It’s pretty wack I won’t lie haha. I’ve spent more time working on this album than any other musical project in my entire life, everything else I’ve ever done has been: write songs over 1 week period, record them in 1 take over the weekend, release it immediately after. So sitting down with each song for this long, and having friends like Jack and Felix (both of Frankie valet) and Evan (of Russel the Leaf) help me with recording and mixing and all that jazz and having my friends play all the instruments on em instead of like occasional parts and background vocals like the old stuff was something I really had to get used to. It was a good thing though! I’m so glad so many people I love got involved in this and helped me make something I couldn’t make on my own!
What can people expect from the new album? What does it sound like and what’s it about?
Emo! Kind of just discovered the genre this past January and went on a huge E!E! and JDV kick haha so it’s very clearly influenced by those vibes. Been a big fan of embracing my influences and cliches lately, not ashamed of where I’ve come from! It’s a lot about meeting and leaving people I guess! Just started my last year as an undergrad and have been thinking a lot about how small interactions and seemingly random relationships have defined my life over the past year and really trying hard to express my appreciation for how these actions and moments have shaped me.
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How has american poetry club evolved since you started the project? To me, the new album is the most fully realised thing you’ve ever made. Would you agree with that? And where do you see the project heading in the future?
Would definitely agree with that, this is the first time we’ve recorded full band and outside of my phone haha, the biggest change is probably the fact that apc has gone from purely a recording experiment to my main creative endeavor. When I began apc it was just a place to put some songs I felt I had to write that didn’t fit in with my other band at the time, The Chair Enthusiasts, but then we broke up and I still needed to play tunes, so I slowly recruited some pals and put together a little act, which 100% altered the way I thought about what I wanted apc to be. No idea where we are headed! We wanna go country on our next album for sure, but who knows where life will take me and apc after graduation ya know? Planning on moving to China post-senior year right now so I guess it all depends on logistics!
You also run It Takes Time Records, which has been putting out solid release after solid release since 2015. How do you select artists to work with, and do you have anything exciting in the pipeline?
It’s pretty simple, we work with people we like! If yer our friend, or you make music we admire, that’s kind of the only criteria haha, we’re putting out Frankie valet and Camp Counselor soon (NOTE: the Frankie valet one is out NOW!), and potentially have plans to work with a band Ellis from Trust Fund has been playing in but to be honest we try not to work too far in advance, we just take it one release at a time.
Finally, could you name a few artists that you’re really into lately? They can be new or old, local or from the other side of the world. Bonus points for bands our readers might not be familiar with.
Doug Firebaugh! He’s a crazy talented cosmic americana songwriter from the 70’s, has a beautiful album called Performance One, also been jamming out to The Amazing and Incredible Randy (who as far as I know only has live video clips, check out All Night Diner), as well as Rob Apollo and motherbear! two of my favorite STL acts right now, Rob is a wordsmith with immense power and motherbear plays literally the most beautiful and evocative guitar music I’ve ever heard.
we are beautiful, even when we are broken! is out now and you can get it form the american poetry club Bandcamp page.