I have completely fallen for Wes Tirey’s EP I Stood Among Trees, as you can tell from my review. With its tales of a dusty America that could be the Wild West or today, the EP captures a desolate beauty that give the songs an epic feel, a signifcance that is strange and unsettling with an almost Biblical imagery. It’s the sort of music that demands further thought, and luckily Wes was happy to answer a few of my questions to dig deeper into the meaning and influences of the songs.
Hi Wes, I hope all is well with you? How is life in North Carolina this time of year?
Hey Jon! Thank you for inviting me for a Q&A. All is pretty well here in North Carolina. Summer’s coming to a close, and I’m getting ready for my final semester. I’m going camping with my best friend next weekend for a booze filled last hurrah –– then I’ll have my nose stuck in a book for 4 months.
You self-released your new EP, I Stood Among Trees, last February. How exactly did it come about?
Before going into the studio to record I Stood Among Trees I had a couple of years where I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with my music. I wasn’t playing out much, and I was struggling with writing lyrics (though I was writing a lot of instrumental pieces, most of which will be on an upcoming release with Orange Milk Records). Finally I realized that it was taking a huge toll on me and forced myself to get one new song I was satisfied with –– so I wrote “The Time Leaves So Soon” over a couple of days. Not too long after that I wrote “Wild Beasts.” I talked to a buddy of mine who worked at Echo Mountain Recording in Asheville about getting in for a couple of sessions and he hooked me up with a deal. We busted out the EP in two marathon sessions. (In fact, I went in to record two EP’s, but ended up scrapping everything but “When Your Eyes See The Valley,” which eventually ended up on I Stood Among Trees.) Being in the studio is always stressful, mostly because of money, but Echo Mountain is an incredible studio, so it was definitely worth it. I was also writing my thesis at the time. (I should mention that the EP will be re-released in the near future on the German label Dying for Bad Music. It’ll contain some bonus home demo tracks, as well.)
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In my review of the EP I mentioned a fantastic piece on Hearth Music, where you write about a few of the songs (and answered a lot of the questions I would have otherwise asked). For ‘Final Resting Place’ you explained that you half-wrote a song while driving home and that news of the market crashing upon your return caused you to sit down and finish it off with this new event in mind. This may be an internal, unexplainable feeling, but how do you decide to change a song rather than write a new one? Can a song that was drastically altered due to some mood or occurrence ever revert to its original form when you play live?
Well, until a song is actually finished it’s always a work in progress. I had the apocalyptic motif in mind as I was writing “Final Resting Place” in my head, and the market crash of 08 was just a continuation of that. For me, songs either come really fast –– done in 20, 30 minutes –– or over the course of a couple days, sometimes a week or two if I’m really patient with it.
The song will be done in that the lyrics and the chords are complete, but a song always changes a bit every time you play it. I’ve never tried revising a song before. I’ve thought about trying it, though, just to see what would happen.
But when a song comes, I always recognize where it’s coming from. Sometimes a new song will pop up in the midst of writing one song, but I never think about mixing them –– even if they’re from a similar place, they’re still not from the exact same place.
You also mentioned in that Hearth Music piece that the track ‘Wild Beasts’ was inspired partly by Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian. I hadn’t really heard the song in that way, but now going back and listening with a context (if that makes sense), the imagery seems obvious. Does literature have a great influence on your writing in general, or just on certain songs?
and…
What else influences your music? I guess other songwriters play a big part? Is there anything else you would cite as a big part of your sound?
Literature’s certainly a big influence. Sometime’s a particular text informs part of a song, sometimes all of it. Sometimes I seek out a text just because I think it’ll inspire a song. I’ll be releasing a new EP soon titled “False Idols” that has a couple songs that I wrote after reading biblical texts: The Book of Ezekiel and The Gospel of Judas. I just thought I’d like to write about them –– so I read them for the sole purpose of writing about them. But almost every text I read I try to keep in mind how I can appropriate something for a song.
The songs I’m writing currently for a future full-length are literary in that they have a bit of a consistent fictional narrative, though it’s all completely real and factual.
The philosophy influence comes out a little differently. I tend to have an environmental bent to my lyrics, and that comes from really thinking about radical perception and awareness. Even the most minute perception can spark a song. I try to develop every song in it’s only locale or geography, it’s own place, so that I can step into it. I know some songwriters like to keep themselves outside of their own songs; I can’t do that. I have to be in it entirely, otherwise I don’t see the point.
Certain painters or paintings aren’t a huge influence, but they’re influential, as well. I love Jackson Pollock and Andrew Wyeth. Most people would deem them radically different painters, but I think they wade in the same waters. Sometimes I think “how do I write a song like ‘Christina’s World?’” and try to figure it out.
One line of the Hearth Music piece which really stood out was that ‘Finally Resting Place’ (which is probably my favourite, for what it’s worth) nearly missed the cut for the EP as you weren’t convinced with your vocal performance. Is the vocal side of things the part you find most difficult? You study philosophy, read fiction, work at a writing centre on campus and the instrumental pieces show that you can obviously play. Is your voice where you suffer a lack of confidence? Does singing come naturally to you? Or is it a forced, necessary evil to bind together your music and your writing? And I don’t mean this in terms of vocal talent (I don’t think there are people who can or cannot sing), but rather do you feel a compulsion to sing in the way you do to play and write?
I first started out as a guitar player, and then when I started writing songs, singing just became part of the job. I had never really sang before, but I had the words, so I had to sing them. (Listening to some of those old songs is torture, though.) I don’t think it’s a matter of confidence for me (though I by no means have much of a range) –– whenever I perform live I settle into everything pretty comfortably. Plus I like to sing.
In the tradition I come out of, though, none of the greats are much of a singer anyways –– it’s more of an emotive quality, which is what I’m after, anyways. I heard an interview with Leonard Cohen where he said that he told his manager before going on stage for his first show that he had no clue what he was doing. His manager told him that they were all terrible singers. That made me happy to hear that.
The vocal performance is always in service of the lyrics. The lyrics are the most important part of the song, so I just want the vocals to fit with them. But I’m not really bothered at all that my songs aren’t that melodious. I write songs not melodies.
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You put up the lyrics for the EP on your Bandcamp page. This is something that I like as I feel it lets me look closer at a song and find deeper meanings (be they intentional on your part or not). However I recently saw another musician (I can’t find the quote now) say that he didn’t really like sharing the lyrics as he felt they prevented the listener from developing their own ideas about the song, which is pretty much the flipside of my opinion to reach the same end. Do you make a considered decision to let us listeners read your words as well as hear them? Do you want the songs to be writing too? Or is it more a case of the option is there so you copy them in without much deliberation?
I don’t understand why a songwriter wouldn’t want to share their lyrics. That’s odd –– but to each their own. The lyrics are so essential to the song, and there is indeed a definite meaning or story behind each song, otherwise I wouldn’t write them (even if the listener walks away with a different meaning), so I feel like I have to present the lyrics. Again, that’s where the most thought goes into the songwriting process. Of course I think about the guitar and vocals, but it’s all in service of the lyrics. In the end, the complete song is a mixture of all these different things that form a whole, but it’s all born out of a line or two of lyrics.
With the help of your fans (via an Indiegogo campaign), you hope to tour Italy next winter. Can you elaborate on your plans? What do you plan to do there? Why exactly Italy?
April Wolfe of Common Folk Music does my PR, and she got the EP a review on the blog The Mad Mackerel soon after it was released. Giuseppe Marmina, who does a hundred different things in the music scene in Italy read the review, bought the EP, and offered to do some PR help in Italy. Next thing I know, I’m getting radio play and the EP’s getting reviewed on some popular blogs and webzines. The response was so well that I thought it’d be smart to go over and play some shows. I got in touch with some folks and eventually Alessio Pomponi of Unplugged in Monti put together a weeklong tour for January 2014. Alessio and the venues have been so incredibly kind with helping put the tour together –– it’s really something else.
Philosophy student/writing center tutor/songwriter doesn’t exactly equal financial stability, so I’m seeking some help for the airfare. People can check out the campaign to see what perks they get for contributing. I’m beyond grateful and thankful for any and all contributions.
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Finally, could you name 4-5 artists that you are enjoying at the moment?
I’ve been listening to Michael Hurley, Bill Callahan, and Mickey Newbury religiously the last few weeks. Mickey Newbury is especially blowing my mind –- his songs are so heartbreaking. Other than that, I’ve been listening to a lot of Roscoe Holcomb and Elizabeth Cotten; some sacred harp here and there, plus an Orange Milk Records release called “Engines of Joy” by Maharadja Sweets –– good lord will that blow your mind. There’s also a song on a Dust-to-Digital collection I listen to over and over called “I’m Dying, Mother” than just kills me every time I listen to it. It damn near brings me to tears.
Jon: Make sure you check out the EP and keep an eye out on Dying For Bad Music for the re-release. If you have a bit of spare change then why not help Wes go to Italy in exchange for nice gifts? Also, you may be interested in this DIYtrotter session from HI54LOFI.