Choir Boy’s latest, Gathering Swans, is an arch but deeply emotional album. It encompasses love’s blooming, its failure, and all that lays between. Below is a conversation with the band’s inimitable vocalist, Adam Klopp.
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Gathering Swans, despite a through-line of sarcasm, is disarmingly sincere. Is it surreal to turn such personal feelings into a performative act?
Somewhat! For me, it becomes most surreal when an audience is present to react/interact.
The album explores vulnerability using a nostalgic, 80s pop/new-wave shorthand. What do you think draws contemporary acts to this era of music? Was it a conscious decision for you?
I think people are generally inclined to create things in line with what they personally enjoy and identify with. That's definitely the case for us. We all have somewhat diverse tastes within the band, but the majority of the musicians we love and are inspired by (China Crisis, B-52s, Kate Bush, Cleaners From Venus, Cocteau Twins, etc) were in their prime during the 80s. So yes, the sonic nods are conscious.
What has been lost, gained, and developed in pop music since the 80s?
I've heard that a lot of pop writers lost their jobs in the 90s because grunge was so hot. All of a sudden, people preferred ugly men playing ugly chords to slick, overproduced synth-pop. The weak threw in their towels and became janitors while the strong moved to Nashville to write country songs. Jobs lost, jobs gained, and 30 years later Lil Nas X wrote ‘Old Town Road’. So that pretty much sums it up.
The lyrics on this album feel like a further maturation from previous—with a detachment and objectivity. What's been your biggest shift in outlook since Passive With Desire?
I was in a much different headspace while writing Passive With Desire. I was very depressed and didn't want to be alive. The new songs still deal with themes of sorrow and “existentialism”, but I'm much more focused on figuring out what makes living worthwhile. I think the new record is a lot more constructive in that way.
How has the process of writing/performing been changed since incorporating a permanent line-up?
I think we've become a more competent live band from lots of touring, but “writing process” remains a mystery to me. I don't really know what we're doing.
I saw you've played with Ceremony among many more punk acts. How do you balance your more mellow and contemplative sound with such high energy crowds?
We occasionally play punk shows, but Ceremony is really the only punk band we've toured with. I loved touring with them and seeing them play every night. Luckily the difference in sound/energy was never really something we thought about.
Choir Boy have been compared in the past to Talk Talk—beyond obvious aesthetic comparisons, you incorporate religious imagery in a similar way to Mark Hollis. Is religion just part of your lexicon?
Gathering Swans has the least religious imagery of any record we've made, but those experiences are hard to fully escape. I suppose everything I ever create will, on some level, be informed by my religious upbringing.
Mormonism is often distrusted or subject to ridicule from those with little familiarity. For those people: what's the most positive effect that being brought up as a Mormon had on your life?
I really have nothing good to say about being raised Mormon. There are some wonderful people active in the church, but the religion itself is as creepy and ridiculous as everyone thinks. The most vital thing I learned in my departure was to trust my own reality.
Gathering Swans is a project which stands in your words “against cynicism”. How do you avoid cynicism and paranoia in your own life?
Look at flowers, look at birds, walk the dog, drink beer, play Yahtzee.
The title track feels bittersweet due to its placement in the album—like mistakes are about to be blindly replicated. At what point in the writing process did this album's structure emerge?
‘Gathering Swans’ was actually one of the last songs I wrote for the album. As soon as I finished it, I knew it would be the title track and closer on the record. It seemed to tie together all of the themes in a tidy way. Otherwise, I don't think the full structure was realized until we were halfway into the recording process. It just sort of came together as we went.
What was the biggest risk you took in the studio for Gathering Swans?
We scrapped an almost finished version of ‘Happy to be Bad’, changed the key and tempo and rebuilt. By some peoples standards I suppose that's sort of a risky move.
Any artists (Salt Lake City or otherwise) you'd like to shout out?
Bobo; Fossil Arms, Sculpture Club (Chaz's other bands); Gamma World (Michael and Jeff's other band); Idi Et Amin, and No Sun.
Gathering Swans is available for purchase and streaming here.
Interview: Andrew O’Keefe