Odawas

Interviews
All
Music
Cinema
TV
Comic Books

Relocation Nation

Apr 28, 2009 By Chris Drabick Web Exclusive

Isaac Edwards and Michael Tapscott, the principles and mainstays of Odawas, have succumbed to their wanderlust. Relocating to the West Coast, the band now makes the Bay Area their home base. It is from there that the duo discussed their latest record, the downright oceanic The Blue Depths, their third full-length for Bloomington, Indiana's Jagjaguwar Records (Bloomington was once also home to Odawas). Edwards and Tapscott touch on all their influences, from the obvious (Brian Eno), to the less obvious (Eric Serra) to the, err, completely unpredictable (Arrested Development).

This record seems a bit more focused than your previous. Would you agree? If yes, what led to the streamlining?

Isaac Edwards: Ultimately, I think that this is simply the result of Michael and I understanding more [about] how we work together and what we are trying to accomplish. Truthfully, this album was birthed in probably some of the most chaotic times of our personal lives, positive and negative. Streamlining wasn't necessarily a goal of intention, but a result of learning how to best see our vision through.

Michael Tapscott: I guess I've got to agree with that-it's most likely a product of getting better at what we do; we can't really do this stuff on purpose.

How do you feel about the designation "ambient?"

Isaac: "Ambient" was exactly the feel we were going for on this album, pulling from a lot of the early ambient electronica of the '70s through the synthesized majesty of '80s and early '90s soundtracks. So, we aren't any more offended by being called "ambient" than Eno would feel having Apollo designated "ambient." Call it like you hear it, folks.

Michael: It's mainly the music we listen to, so it ends up being the music we make. I prefer the term "New Age" though.

This appears to be a record about love ("Our Gentle Life Together," "Harmless Lover's Discourse"), but it is called The Blue Depths, which is an inherently, well, scary way to define it (Luc Besson reference aside). Please explain this juxtaposition.

Isaac: Luc Besson's film [The Deep Blue] and Eric Serra's score were very specific points of reference for this album. The idea of juxtaposition was certainly at hand in the making of this. That shortness of breath you feel when you first fall in love, that's the same shortness of breath you feel when you realize you are going to fall off the side of the mountain. As I mentioned, while this album was first being created, we were in the middle of a lot of change, and I think, almost on a subconscious level, it forced the idea of this juxtaposition. We knew the feel of the album we were trying to create, and as Michael began channeling the lyrics for the songs, it became clear we were dealing with two worlds and how those worlds coexist and are interdependent. So there's a lot of polarity in the relationships described (love and hate, life and death, secrets and truth) and we tried to situate that polarity in a common and ethereal sound, that was itself an attempt to juxtapose ambient music with traditional singer/songwriter structures.

Michael: I believe Robert Mitchum described it best in The Night of the Hunter (or maybe Isaac does, I don't have much to add, when talking to one of us, it seems to be like talking to the same person)-hate is always trying to kill love.

Tour dates are coming soon, although this has been a rare occurrence. Why do you tour so infrequently, and what is making you want to head out on the road at this time?

Isaac: Touring and shows in general have been something of a rare occurrence for us primarily because we have not been able to replicate what we do on an album exactly the way we would want to live. We often consider ourselves more of a studio band than a live performing band for this reason. However, our live show, especially with this album, seems to be coming more into its own as we figure out ways to translate between the two mediums that keep things interesting both for our audience and for our selves. All that being said, since we moved to the Bay Area, we got plugged in to an amazing booking agent, Annie Southworth of Panache Booking, and she has been doing an awesome job of opening up doors for us. So, we're looking forward to getting some more [shows] and seeing where that can take us.

Michael: We have to tour as an obligation to promote records. I won't say I don't like performing, because I do, but to do it the right way, with all the strings and all the parts and the voices, this is really ideal and the only right and natural way to present this material. Touring and live shows always seem a bit like an "unplugged" experience. Hopefully, someday we'll have the money and time to make it right.

Thinking of the release strategy of Raven and the White Night, you seem to be willing to follow different paths for the distribution of your music. Do you think this is something you'll continue to play around with?

Isaac: Yeah, I think it's something that any band operating today faces as a necessity to deal with. The music industry has yet to catch up with the possibilities of the Internet and digital distribution and what it means for all parties involved. We are lucky enough to have a label that is willing to try out some different approaches and they know that we're always one for experimentation. So, in the words of the illustrious Anal-rapist [and Arrested Development character], Tobias Fünke, "Let the Great Experiment begin!"

Michael: I don't know how anybody is going to make money making art rock records. The best we can do is try something new each time so Jagjaguwar will keep putting out new ones!

The aforementioned "Our Gentle Life Together" carries a lovely, but not overwhelming, string arrangement that I have been fairly obsessed with. Can you tell me about this song's writing and arranging?

Isaac: This song was written fairly long ago, in with some of the original demos for Raven and the White Night, but we had never really found a way to make it fit or sound that we wanted to use for it. I'll let Michael tell you about the writing, but as for the arranging, a lot of my ideas revolve very heavily around the visual imagery I associate with a song, whether lyrically intended or not. For this, the overarching idea was these two friends who go on a hot-air balloon ride that quickly becomes something much more surreal, and letting the overwhelming sense of fear give way to the magic of the journey and the calm of the inevitable. What if that balloon never stopped ascending? What if they realized it was going to take them much farther than the ends of the earth, floating into the night? I wanted to make sure the song had this very ethereal, minimalist blanket of mystery and a sense of buoyancy. But I wanted that buoyancy to be coming from something or somewhere that wouldn't immediately be associated with that, thus the cello line. As the song progresses and Michael sings about lifting off, you have that single flourish of strings, which was the moment of losing your breath, becoming fully aware of the present and not knowing where this was going to end. As the song draws to its conclusion, I wanted those strings to kind of wash away, the last remnants of being tied to this earth, to what you know, and to be left with this kind of innocent and pure drifting. I could think of nothing more beautiful than floating off into space, accompanied by Harold Budd, so that's what I tried to create.

Michael: I will just add that the writing of this song came from the feelings of a previous relationship that was full of content, but full of unhappy normalcy and dead feelings.

There have been several personnel changes for Odawas in addition to the geographical changes. Which do you see/hear as having the larger effect?

Isaac: I would say both have equally played an important part in getting us to where we are now, both in sound and our relationship musically. When this whole thing started, it was Michael and I just messing around with some ideas and we've come back full circle to that, but have had a lot of growth along the way. And I think it's shown us what we're willing to do and where we're willing to go to pursue our dreams.

Michael: I don't think the personnel changes really have much to do with it at all. It's always been Isaac and me, and I can't really see that ever changing. We've given up everything to stick together and pursue something, mainly because that is really the only option on the table for both of us. Changing scenery often is just another necessity.

If you could bring one thing with you from both Bloomington and Chicago, what would those be and why?

Isaac: Bloomington was an absolutely gorgeous place to live and I certainly miss being able to pay $650 on a three-bedroom house with three acres of land. Having bonfires the size of small explosions and drinking bottles of wine under the moon, it was like being one of Pan's Lost Boys. I certainly miss that. As for Chicago, I think I had the ideal working situation. I lived in Rogers Park, right above this great cafe called Charmer's, where I also worked. Next door was this amazing little Irish pub called the Poitin Stil that was seriously straight out of Cheers. The whole neighborhood was just incredible, full of more diversity and interesting people than you could dream of. That block in Chicago will always have its mark on my heart.

Michael: Ok, well Bloomington is a dreamland, there are many things I miss, that house Isaac mentioned, not something we can do easily in the most expensive town in America. I'd love to have brought the dudes from Resting Rooster, our brothers in arms, with us wherever we went. Chicago is my hometown; I grew up on the Southside, so being back there was a bit like going back to your high school reunion and it felt wrong. If I could bring anything with me, it would be our brothers from other mothers, the guys in Zelienople. Hey we're a band that's friends with other bands. Cool, right? It's always people though, always people....

www.odawas.net