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Dec 10, 2020 By Caleb Campbell Kacy & Clayton

Canadian folk duo Kacy & Clayton and New Zealand troubadour Marlon Williams are releasing their debut collaborative record, Plastic Bouquet, premiering a day early with Under the Radar. Kacy & Clayton are coming off of their pair of critically acclaimed records, 2017’s The Siren’s Song and 2019’s Carrying On produced by Jeff Tweedy of Wilco. Williams has been similarly celebrated with his award-winning solo career, launched with 2015’s Marlon Williams and 2018’s Make Way For Love, in addition to a hand-picked role in A Star Is Born. Recorded last year in Saskatoon, Plastic Bouquet is a beautiful melding of Kacy & Clayton’s timeless folk revivalist style and Williams’ crooning tones.

Though they both come from similar folk worlds, their styles remain distinct enough that Plastic Bouquet stands out as something fresh and reinvigorating. The artists pay deference to enduring styles of country and folk, with sincerity and heart. The title track sounds like a lost Carter Family track, while “Light of Love” puts a lovely spin on 1960s folk pop. The songs themselves are similarly emotive, such as the tribute to a New Zealand river with “Arahura” or the plaintive laments of “I Wonder Why” and “Your Mind’s Walking Out.” With Plastic Bouquet, Kacy & Clayton and Marlon Williams put forth an excellent collaboration worthy of both accomplished artists.

Listen to an early stream of the record below and pre-save it ahead of its wide release on December 11 via New West Records.

Under the Radar also caught up with Kacy Lee Anderson and Marlon Williams over email to ask a few questions about Plastic Bouquet.

Under the Radar: How did this collaboration come about? What drew you both to each other’s styles?

Marlon Williams: Every musician’s best friend, Spotify! I heard those guys on my Discover Weekly playlist and was completely infatuated with what they were doing.

Kacy Lee Anderson: Marlon reached out to me over the internet. He had heard one of our songs on Spotify while listening to music in the van on tour. It was exciting to hear from him considering he’s still maybe my only verified follower on Instagram. We just really enjoyed each other’s music and wanted to sing together.

What was the recording process like? What was the experience of recording in Saskatoon like for Marlon?

Kacy Lee Anderson: It was a very cold stretch of December when Marlon came to record. We spent about 10 days in the studio basically holed up you could say. I’m sure it was very shocking for Marlon to be in those foreign temperatures.

Marlon Williams: It was super fun and enriching jumping in with those guys, into their world. Once I got over the shock of the cold and the funny accents I had a blast. There are a lot of similarities between there and here

Was the writing and recording dynamic different when collaborating together? What set these songs apart?

Marlon Williams: We did most of the writing individually then came together in the studio. I think the awareness of each other’s presence in the music has a lot of subtle influence in the way you compose and envisage space.

Kacy Lee Anderson: We’ve both done quite a lot of collaborating with others so it wasn’t uncomfortable. Our songs were written before we met up in person just sending them over email to each other. The collaborating was sparse on the songwriting side.

How would you all describe the differences in your two styles? How did you bridge that gap and meld your two hemispheres?

Kacy Lee Anderson: I think we are drawing from similar influences in a metaphysical sense.

Marlon Williams: I think what makes the collab interesting is the fact that we share such common ground musically, yet come from very different places and backgrounds. And I think you can hear it in the music. There’s this tension between foreignness and familiarity that runs throughout.

It seems that your style of rootsy country and folk has seen a bit of a resurgence in popularity these past few years. What do you think makes this music so enduring and meaningful?

Kacy Lee Anderson: It’s just basic and familiar. I think people find comfort in that.

Marlon Williams: It has this allure of “first principle-ness” to it. Like if you stripped everything away from humanity, they might still be able to sing kumbaya together and hold hands. It feels fundamental.

You described “Arahura” as “bringing the South to the North.” Can you explain a little further what that means and how you did that with this song?

Marlon Williams: It’s there in a literal sense in the lyrics; referring to specific places, people and events of New Zealand’s past. But it’s also in the singing. And the wailing and hooing, and the harmonic sense.

Kacy Lee Anderson: It was a chance for me to get some insight into Marlon’s homeland. Maybe it’s a genre you could call tropical dustbowl.

The video for “Your Mind’s Walking Out” is also brilliant. What was the inspiration behind telling the story through the eyes of dogs?

Kacy Lee Anderson: This is really is all Marlon’s beautiful work.

Marlon Williams: The ideas been sitting in my head for a while now and this felt like a good opportunity. This song’s my favourite on the record, with just the right amount of pathos for a doggy love story.

What are some of your favorite songs on the record and why did you connect with them?

Marlon Williams: Well, “Your Minds Walking Out,” for the aforementioned reasons. I love the title song for how straight and direct it is. “Light of Love” was a fun thing to make because of the characters.

Kacy Lee Anderson: My favourite song is “Isn’t It” because it feels unique to other songs we’ve recorded in the past. The vocal arrangement unfolded in a really interesting way.

Do you all have plans to tour (after the pandemic) or keep recording together?

Marlon Williams: I really hope so but it’s super hard making such plans at the moment, so we’ll just hold tight for the meantime…

Kacy Lee Anderson: Hopefully we can get out on tour together sometime. There have been no plans as of yet.