The Crane Wives – Beyond Beyond Beyond

By starrymag | August 9, 2024

By: Jennifer Vintzileos

 

 

Q) How would you best describe your sound?

This might be the hardest question to answer. I’d say indie-rock with a folk foundation. We started out as an acoustic folk band, with Kate and I both playing acoustic guitar while our bass player Ben [Zito] traveled with an upright bass, but over time our sound just kind of naturally gravitated towards rock. The new songs have a foundation of storytelling that comes from the folk background, but we consider ourselves to be in our rock era currently. – Emilee Petersmark

I like to let people who are attached to genres listen to the music and decide for themselves. If I’m forced to answer, I’d say lyric-centered indie rock. – Kate Pillsbury

So much of my favorite music is the music that’s hardest to describe in genre-words. We never think about or talk about genre categories when we’re making the music. It’s freeing to let go of those labels and boxes while writing and arranging the songs together. A lot of the songwriting begins with an acoustic guitar and some big feelings, but we love to build out the songs from that raw place with energetic grooves and make them lush with creative tones. We love singing harmonies together. We’re an indie band that brings elements from folk and pop into what is traditionally a rock and roll instrumentation set up, and we love to keep it high-energy for maximum catharsis. – Dan Rickabus

 

Q) Who are your Top 3 musical influences?

 

Personally, it fluctuates with time and my mood, but right now I’d say Mitski, Hozier and Rainbow Kitten Surprise – Emilee

Adrianne Lenker and The War on Drugs and Hozier have impacted me the most in the last few years. – Kate Pillsbury

It’s so hard to narrow it down! Inspiration is everywhere. I’ll say for drumming, Nate Smith. For singing, Fleet Foxes. For production, creativity and sonic innovation, Radiohead. I’m a very deep Radiohead nerd. – Dan Rickabus

 

Q) Tell us the story behind your latest single “Arcturus Beaming.”

 

A) It feels unnatural to summarize a song. I’ve written and deleted about five different responses to this prompt because the song involves many stories and I hope each listener can make their own meaning. For me, “Arcturus Beaming” is the result of being trapped in survival mode for many years. Trauma had corrupted my relationship with myself, and I worked really hard over a long period of time to learn how to trust myself, and to make changes in my life that were right for me, even though those changes hurt people that I loved. I believed making these changes would result in a net good over the course of our lives, even if it hurt in the meantime. I had to zoom out and remember that, in the scale of the universe, I am less than a speck of dust. When I am dead, no one will remember me or what I did in the world. I only have eighty years if I’m lucky, and I’ve already lived thirty-five of them. I didn’t want to waste the rest running in the same circle and expecting a different result.

There is a playfulness in the song, where the point of view is of someone looking up at the stars and wondering if aliens are looking back at us. I love this part of the song because my imagination was an integral part in my healing journey. In my pain, I was armed with stories of suffering and devastation and they played into my limiting beliefs. It was only after I leaned into curiosity and more hopeful narratives that I was finally able to cultivate trust in myself and make the changes that I needed. The stories we tell ourselves are powerful. I hope “Arcturus Beaming” can be a song-spell for anyone who needs a boost in their self-trust. – Kate

Note: we have since released a new single called “Bitter Medicine” – it came out on July 10th.

 

Q) Since its release what has been the reaction to the new single from fans and listeners?

 

Our music has evolved a lot since we started performing as a group in 2010. The newest single is a bit of a departure from our previous records, and it’s been really wonderful to see the fans’ taste in music growing with us. I feel like particularly our younger fans resonate with the idea of venturing off into the unknown – it’s a kind of journey we all make in our lifetimes, but most often when we’re young. – Emilee

The fans seem to like it, as far as I can tell, but I try not to get too caught up in scrolling for reactions. What I have gleaned is that at least a handful of listeners are happy. Our fans are very kind to us, and if they didn’t like it, I don’t think they would say so. – Kate

The fans’ reaction has filled me with so much gratitude. After going so long without making a proper full-length studio record, it’s exhilarating and gratifying to see the fans devouring the debut single right after it dropped, witnessing them dissecting the lyrics and digging into the meaning of the song and then making their own art in response. – Dan Rickabus

 

Q) What message do you hope listeners will take away from listening to “Arcturus Beaming?”

 

“Nothing will change until I change” are good words to live by – Emilee

I think that young people have lived under the tyranny of having endless access to information while having too little power. Gen Z is wise enough to feel angry at being dealt a bad hand. I’d really like the message of “Arcturus Beaming” to be one of radical hope. There are too many defeatist stories of zombie apocalypses and nuclear holocausts. We can practice writing different endings. We can engage in collectivism and feel the impact that caring about other people has. If we heal ourselves, we can act like white blood cells protecting the body. We can have good lives while also doing good. We don’t have to invest in the narrative that everything is doomed. There are solutions that exist beyond what we can imagine for ourselves now. We don’t have to have all the answers to step forward. – Kate

I hope fans feel a sense of wonder and the fire of courage. Kate really dug into her authentic truth in writing “Arcturus Beaming” and shared it in such a poetic way. My hope is that the energy we captured in the wild instrumental performance helps blast out that beautiful message and empower the listener to be brave enough to dream. To that end, we tried to make brave choices in the way we played, and in the way we produced the song. – Dan Rickabus

 

Q) What is your songwriting process? Do you need music before you can craft lyrics?

 

It depends! Kate and I are the primary songwriters in the band, with Dan also writing a few tunes for the record and Ben helping craft the composition. I tend to work out the music first and then write lyrics afterwards with many, many stages of revision before it’s brought to the band, where everyone has input on composition – Emilee

I usually start with a feeling I’m trying to work through. I pick a few chords and strum, while singing whatever I wish I could say to someone. I use nonsense syllables wherever I can’t find words, until words form. I usually start with a chorus or a first verse that I develop too strong an attachment to, so that nothing is good enough to complete the song. I have to pick away at it over the course of weeks, months or years. I have to put it down and forget about it until it starts gnawing at me. I have to get fed up with something to get to the finishing place, whether I’m upset at someone else or myself. It’s not a process I’d choose, if I could have it any other way, but it takes a lot of self-trust (and self-indulgence) to write songs. The older I get, the harder it is to stay with a pure feeling without my brain kicking in to tell me I’m wrong for feeling that way.

I do need music before I can craft lyrics, though it mostly happens simultaneously. Otherwise, it becomes a different type of writing – a poem or an essay. The melody supports and guides the lyrics. – Kate

The foundation of our songwriting is Emilee or Kate (or occasionally me) writing a song from the heart on their own, then bringing it to the band to collaborate on building it, with everyone writing their own instrumental parts. With this album, we stayed true to that foundation while also experimenting and working to branch out from it. We really explored the unknown in terms of what is possible within our collaboration. There’s a song where Ben wrote a guitar part, a song that Kate wrote for me to sing, a song where Emilee wrote verses on something I had a chorus and a groove for and a song where the arrangement informed the lyric writing – all sorts of newness! It was such a blast to find new ways to make music with these dear humans I’ve been lucky enough to work with for so long. – Dan Rickabus

 

Q) “Arcturus Beaming” is the first single off your upcoming album Beyond Beyond Beyond, which is set for a September release. What are some themes you’ll be exploring on it?

 

Hope for a better future, the scariness of the unknown, the inevitable pull of time making us all different people than we were at the start – Emilee

Taking accountability in your life, facing your own bullshit, trusting yourself – Kate

Wonder, courage, imagination, grief, truth, change. – Dan Rickabus

 

Q) Which song was your favorite to write and record for the new album?

 

For me, “Scars” (which will be our third single, coming out in August) was my favorite to write and record. It is a deeply personal song that was intimidating to share, but The Crane Wives have always been my outlet for the scary parts of processing trauma. It was fun to experiment with organic and inorganic sounds to create a raw, murky atmosphere in the song and I really hope it comes through how much intention went into it from start to finish – Emilee

“Black Hole Fantasy” has a special place in my heart. It was my problem child. I got stuck while writing it and I had to change my life in order to finish it. It alternates between the mundane and magical realism and musically it is very playful and energetic, even cartoonish at times. It ends with a musical outro that we considered fading out, but we put the listener through so much lyrically that we figured they could use some space to process the song. – Kate

Each song had its own incredible process, but “River Rushing” came to life in such a fascinating way. It was like a big puzzle of little idea-pieces. It all started with a hook that came to me and became a call and response chorus between Kate on one part, Emilee and I on another. Then, I came up with a drum beat that Ben immediately elevated to a catchy pocket groove. The band had helped me flesh out a chord progression, but the rest of the pieces each needed their own time to emerge. At our writing retreat, Emilee came up with this big rhythmic stop that would start the verses and then began to write a verse melody. That really excited me, so I reached for a ukulele and came up with some new chords for the end of each verse. In the tension leading up to the chorus from the verse, Kate wrote a melody and two lines of lyrics for me to sing. The four of us arranged the song together and then Kate wrote this little guitar part in between Emilee’s melody lines. That guitar part later inspired me to write another call and response vocal for Kate and me to sing. Emilee wrote some poignant verse lyrics and suddenly we had this fully fleshed out, complex, multi-lead-singer jam that miraculously felt whole! To top it all off, while we were recording the song, Emilee improv-sang into a guitar pedal that Kate was manipulating in real-time. Then Ben, who recorded the album at his studio, edited the improv vocal based on an idea Kate had to turn it into a melody for the bridge. So, “River Rushing” was really one of the wildest group projects we’ve ever taken on and it’s a real marvel how everyone’s ideas came together to make a cohesive song. – Dan Rickabus

 

Q) In addition to an upcoming album, you are going on tour through Canada and North America this summer/fall. What can fans expect from a live The Crane Wives performance?

 

A more energetic and electrifying feeling than listening to the record, surrounded by some of the nicest people you’ll ever meet. Our fans are so kind and considerate, and it’s been such a joy to meet and perform for them – Emilee

We try to give everything we have on stage while we perform. We’re playing a mix of fan favorites, old songs and a few new songs this summer. In the fall we’ll be performing mostly the new album and crowd favorites. The concerts will be hot and sweaty, and the audience tends to collectively roar the lyrics to their favorite songs, so bring ear protection. – Kate

Our fans transform the experience of four human beings playing their instruments and singing their hearts out into a massive, shared, group catharsis where we can all let our big feelings fill the whole room. – Dan Rickabus

 

Q) Which song is your favorite to perform at live shows?

 

I really like performing “Arcturus Beaming” right now. Not only does it feel fresh and new compared to songs we’ve been performing for a decade, but it’s one of the first tunes where I get to rip an improvised guitar solo at the end of every performance, which is both terrifying and exhilarating – Emilee

I also love playing “Arcturus.” The song means a lot to me, and I get to bask in Emilee and Dan soaring off into outer space on guitar and drums while Zito and I hold it down on bass and rhythm guitar. – Kate

I’ll agree with my bandmates that “Arcturus Beaming” has been the most fun to perform, while also noting that there’s nothing quite like slamming the final chords of “Tongues and Teeth.”   – Dan Rickabus

 

Q) What would you like to say to your fans and supporters of your music?

 

We love you, and we owe you so much. Thank you for being the kindest people, thank you for feeling your feelings honestly with us. Your creativity is so inspiring, so please keep making things, even if it’s just for yourself – Emilee

When we were younger, we were often made to feel that we were “too sensitive” or that our emotions were “too much” for other people. And now our fandom is made up of young, deeply feeling people. I see how creative, kind and loving they are and it gives me hope for the future. I want to tell our fans: find the people who can celebrate you for all that you are; don’t shrink yourself for the people who think you’re too much. I also want to say thank you. You make us feel like the luckiest people on earth. – Kate

We’re so honored that you’ve made our songs part of the lore of your life. – Dan Rickabus