Rob
09-27-2006, 04:01 PM
The New Pornographers have just wrapped up their festival dates with a performance at the V Festival in Baltimore, and they have a Canadian tour scheduled for October, after which they will record their fourth album in November. Guitarist Todd Fancey spoke to Pitchfork yesterday about new albums from both the New Pornographers and his solo project, Fancey.
"[Carl is] working on [the New Pornographers album] now [in New York], and as a band we're going to rehearse the songs on tour in October at soundcheck. So we'll rehearse the songs, go over the tempos. Then [drummer/producer] Kurt [Dahle] will probably get the files in Vancouver and work his ass off again like he did on Twin Cinema and get the drums down. There will be file-sharing going back and forth between the coasts. And then it's [touring] Australia [and] Japan. It's busy times, and I guess we wouldn't have it any other way," said Fancey.
He also said that Dan Bejar and Neko Case will join the band in the studio, and Bejar will continue to contribute songs to appear on the new record. Realistically, he expects the record to come out in June. "There's still a lot of work to do. For the Pornographers, it's going to take months of preparatory work to set up this campaign. It seems like things have been ascending slowly record-to-record, and I guess if we're lucky, it will be the same thing. So it's such a huge campaign, whereas [with] Fancey it's like, just put it out whenever and do some touring and have fun with it."
Speaking of his solo project, Fancey is also busy readying the follow-up to his 2004 self-titled solo debut. Along with the soft rock of the first album, he's bringing a couple of other influences to the table. "There's a country rock song on it and a couple of Sabbath-y ones. That was the biggest thing for me growing up when I first got into music, so I come back to it sometimes, just the guitar style [and] a little bit of the vocal style," Fancey said.
There is still plenty of "that 70s AM kind of thing," however. "There's a lot of electric piano. That's kind of my favorite instrument." Fancey also made a conscious decision to write more songs like "Carry Me", which led off the last record. "A lot of people were like, 'Man, I wish there were more 'Carry Me's on the record.' So [this time] I tried to put more on. I love that sound when singers' throats sound like they're ripping open, so I put a lot of that on the record. I like that sound because it sounds like someone's really pushing it, but it's still melodic."
In the spirit of the New Pornographers, there are quite a few guests on the album. "I think there are 17 musicians on this album. Kurt Dahle is kind of the core of it, because he's the drummer for every song and sings all over it. And then Sara Lapsley plays piano and sings a lot on it, just like the first record. So that core is still there. And Kurt's brother, Ryan Dahle, has been producing it."
Though he is still shopping it to labels, Fancey has a couple of tentative titles for the record: Let the Breeze In, Witches Night, II, and-- my personal favorite-- Schmancey. There are twelve songs, and Fancey plans to have finished mixing them in November. A tentative tracklist can be found below. His hope is to be able to release the record in the spring, around the time he wants to tour, but he said, "If the new record isn't out yet, I'm going to tour anyway, because there's going to be downtime, probably." For now, Fancey has two live dates scheduled, one in Boston on Friday and one around CMJ in November.
Tentative Fancey tracklist:
01 Intranational
02 All the Years Lost in Twilight
03 Call Soon
04 I Don't Go Downtown
05 Karma's Out to Get Me
06 Feels Like Dawn
07 Fader
08 There's a Bridge
09 Bitter Bitter Life
10 Symbols in a Dream
11 Love On
12 Whoa
New Pornographers dates:
10-09 Ottawa, Ontario - The Capitol Music Hall *
10-10 Montreal, Quebec - Club Soda *
10-11 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus *
10-14 Winnipeg, Manitoba - The Marlborough *
10-15 Regina, Saskatchewan - The Distrikt *
10-16 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Odeon Event Centre *
10-17 Edmonton, Alberta - Red's *
10-18 Calgary, Alberta - MacEwan Hall Ballroom *
10-20 Victoria, British Columbia - Sugar *
10-21 Vancouver, British Columbia - Plaza Club *
10-22 Vancouver, British Columbia - Plaza Club
What a band, can't wait for this.
"[Carl is] working on [the New Pornographers album] now [in New York], and as a band we're going to rehearse the songs on tour in October at soundcheck. So we'll rehearse the songs, go over the tempos. Then [drummer/producer] Kurt [Dahle] will probably get the files in Vancouver and work his ass off again like he did on Twin Cinema and get the drums down. There will be file-sharing going back and forth between the coasts. And then it's [touring] Australia [and] Japan. It's busy times, and I guess we wouldn't have it any other way," said Fancey.
He also said that Dan Bejar and Neko Case will join the band in the studio, and Bejar will continue to contribute songs to appear on the new record. Realistically, he expects the record to come out in June. "There's still a lot of work to do. For the Pornographers, it's going to take months of preparatory work to set up this campaign. It seems like things have been ascending slowly record-to-record, and I guess if we're lucky, it will be the same thing. So it's such a huge campaign, whereas [with] Fancey it's like, just put it out whenever and do some touring and have fun with it."
Speaking of his solo project, Fancey is also busy readying the follow-up to his 2004 self-titled solo debut. Along with the soft rock of the first album, he's bringing a couple of other influences to the table. "There's a country rock song on it and a couple of Sabbath-y ones. That was the biggest thing for me growing up when I first got into music, so I come back to it sometimes, just the guitar style [and] a little bit of the vocal style," Fancey said.
There is still plenty of "that 70s AM kind of thing," however. "There's a lot of electric piano. That's kind of my favorite instrument." Fancey also made a conscious decision to write more songs like "Carry Me", which led off the last record. "A lot of people were like, 'Man, I wish there were more 'Carry Me's on the record.' So [this time] I tried to put more on. I love that sound when singers' throats sound like they're ripping open, so I put a lot of that on the record. I like that sound because it sounds like someone's really pushing it, but it's still melodic."
In the spirit of the New Pornographers, there are quite a few guests on the album. "I think there are 17 musicians on this album. Kurt Dahle is kind of the core of it, because he's the drummer for every song and sings all over it. And then Sara Lapsley plays piano and sings a lot on it, just like the first record. So that core is still there. And Kurt's brother, Ryan Dahle, has been producing it."
Though he is still shopping it to labels, Fancey has a couple of tentative titles for the record: Let the Breeze In, Witches Night, II, and-- my personal favorite-- Schmancey. There are twelve songs, and Fancey plans to have finished mixing them in November. A tentative tracklist can be found below. His hope is to be able to release the record in the spring, around the time he wants to tour, but he said, "If the new record isn't out yet, I'm going to tour anyway, because there's going to be downtime, probably." For now, Fancey has two live dates scheduled, one in Boston on Friday and one around CMJ in November.
Tentative Fancey tracklist:
01 Intranational
02 All the Years Lost in Twilight
03 Call Soon
04 I Don't Go Downtown
05 Karma's Out to Get Me
06 Feels Like Dawn
07 Fader
08 There's a Bridge
09 Bitter Bitter Life
10 Symbols in a Dream
11 Love On
12 Whoa
New Pornographers dates:
10-09 Ottawa, Ontario - The Capitol Music Hall *
10-10 Montreal, Quebec - Club Soda *
10-11 Toronto, Ontario - Kool Haus *
10-14 Winnipeg, Manitoba - The Marlborough *
10-15 Regina, Saskatchewan - The Distrikt *
10-16 Saskatoon, Saskatchewan - Odeon Event Centre *
10-17 Edmonton, Alberta - Red's *
10-18 Calgary, Alberta - MacEwan Hall Ballroom *
10-20 Victoria, British Columbia - Sugar *
10-21 Vancouver, British Columbia - Plaza Club *
10-22 Vancouver, British Columbia - Plaza Club
What a band, can't wait for this.