with the amount of street cred that caleb has acquired in playing with people like paul mccartney and on things like saturday night live, you'd think he'd be one of those cocky buttface turds that lesser musicians too often find themselves at bars trying (and failing) to schmooze with. but he's not, he's totally the opposite. and i knew it immediately a bazillion years ago when we did music for 18 musicians and i was being a fan girl over the fact that i was playing right next to him and caroline and martha and mellissa and before i could muster up the gumption to just go and express my admiration for them, it was caleb that came up to me and said something to the effect of we have interacted on twitter before. and then he emailed me some pdfs of pretty marimba songs.
over the years, it has been so lovely to catch his concerts and hear his music and run into him around the city. he is one of the nicest human beans i know, he always has that wonderful midwestern friendly vibe, and eggboy has a big man crush on him.
and, and he has an album and a baby coming out on the same day!
it's a big deal. the album is called evensong and it's his first album of just his stuff. and it's beautiful, with unexpected turns, and rad instrumentation. and cool percussion bloopity bloops by our favorite chris.
so i had him over for coffee and interviewed him about it. look, here it is!
is this album more like an omelet or a taco?
definitely like an omelet. an omelet with avocado, mushrooms, onions, goat cheese, and maybe a little bacon.
using only onomatopoeia, can you please tell us about your process for writing the pieces on this album?
buzzing, murmur, flutter, gush.
how come you decided to wait this long to release an album of just your works?
the world wasn't
ready for my music until now. that's totally a joke. it wasn't so much
a matter of deciding but rather a need to wait for everything to fall
into the right place at the right time.
your daughter is due the same day as your album! did you plan it this way?
hell to the no.
are you going to let your daughter dye her hair blue just like you?
if she's feeling it, it'll probably happen.
what’s your most personal track on the album?
The
Things Left Unsaid. i've been in love with the cello octet as
an ensemble since i was a kid. that, and the piece itself is about
personal relationships and how they can either benefit or be hindered
from a lack of dialogue between two humans.
it appears that chris thompson is playing percussions on some of the tracks. are you aware that he makes a mean hot cross bun?
i'm aware of his love for spicy food and airport chili's but i didn't know about chris' mean hot cross buns. the more you know...
thanks, caleb!
preview caleb's track, oh ye of little faith... (do you know where your children are?), below. evensong will be out july 30th on cantaloupe music. catch caleb performing with fifth house ensemble in chicago on june 2nd and with alarm will sound in new york on june 15.