Local quartet A Cautionary Tale is getting comfortable.
Though their genre-bending, classically backboned indie rock is anything but easy-going, their cohesiveness is, in large part, at the mercy of their ambition.
With one full-length album in the can, Let New Days Dawn, they are primed to release their second LP, Ballyhoo, just as they are settling into their skin.
The quartet has been together three and a half years and is filled with trained classical and jazz musicians with Chris Glaab on the bass and saxophone, Rich Boles on classical guitar and xylophone, Nick O’Donnell on lead guitar and bass and Kevin van Geem thumping the drums. Each member contributes to vocals but Boles tends to gravitate toward the mic more than any other.
If the instrument configuration seems odd, it is only because A Cautionary Tale enjoys mixing it up.
“A little ’80s punk, a little ’70s country, a little bossanova, a little flamenco,” comments Rich Boles on the various influences he brings to the table. This being only a fourth of the band one can see how varied and frenetic their tracks can get.
The Vanguard was able to get a hold of A Cautionary Tale this past week to talk about the new album:
Daily Vanguard: How did you approach the new album?
Rich Boles: We picked random tracks as per our current M.O., and did our best to make them gel.
Nick O’Donnell: We had a few recording sessions over the past couple years, and in this album we brought the best of those sessions. We did a bit more of the recording and engineering ourselves this time, and all of the mixing, and I think the final product reflects the band much more than the previous release, Let New Days Dawn.
DV: What was the process for recording?
Chris Glaab: Well, for Ballyhoo, it was definitely very different. We recorded most of the album ourselves without a cohesive goal in mind, so we got really lazy with it and took a really long time. I don’t want to do it that way again, and I think everyone else would agree.
However, we were able to experiment a lot more and be a lot pickier about things, without going broke. We definitely plan on doing a lot more pre-production so we can all figure out what should be included in a recording before we actually start recording, which will make the actual recording process go much faster. I try to visualize how a song should sound, how the recording should make the listener feel, how the parts will work together, etc., throughout the entire process.
DV: Do you see changes in the way this album was put together from earlier music?
RB: This album allowed us to really focus on the art of recording. The first record, Let New Days Dawn, was recorded and mixed out of our hands. This time, we got to dig in to the mix and really think about the finished product. It’s another evolution of the process. I think we’re getting better at it.
CG: We had more time to visualize what sounds would work best within a song, and to experiment with how to achieve those sounds in the best way.
DV: It does sound poppier, a bit more stripped down, is this you guys getting more comfortable with your music?
RB: Yes. Less stretching this time. We got to lay down more tone, less acrobatics.
NO: Well, I think our melodies are better, and our sense of song structure is stronger. When we started this band, we felt that we had to prove that we could play our instruments and compose challenging music, but now we are less concerned with any of that and more interested in teasing each song to life by whatever means necessary.
DV: Is it clearer to you with this release what kind of music you want to be playing?
RB: Absolutely. We’re comfortable with each other’s chemistry. The first record was cut with a different drummer under less accommodating circumstances.
NO: There are moments on this record that are indicative of the direction we are heading. The song “My Grandparents Lived Through the Depression” seemed to be a shift for us toward simpler underlying structures, with more room for creative development. Our most recent tunes seem to be in that vein. That’s not to say that we still don’t have a proggy moment or two, but we’re trying to be more aware of simplicity.
DV: You are quoted as saying you like the “unexpected things that happen live”? Do you take this approach to music/recording as well? How much of the album was done when you went in to record it?
RB: Seventy percent. We had the luxury of inserting new ideas into the mix, most of which ended up in our live set. Live music is why we play. It’s the orgasm. The recording process is more tedious, like a 10 hour first date and then another 10 hour first date and so on.
CG: Some musical ideas should be executed exactly how you intend them to be, but some need that extra bit of excitement that an unexpected twist gives. Playing a part for the first or second time ever is often more exciting than playing it for the 80th time, and usually that excitement is passed on to the listener as well, so experimentation is greatly encouraged. I just try to make sure that the technical side of things is in order before the recording starts.
NO: Generally we’d end up keeping the original live take, mistake and all, because it had that mojo, that energy. As for the compositions, the songs were mostly composed and arranged when we went in to the studio, but in the recording process the songs changed dramatically, such that we play some of them differently live now.