WINGTIP – All Your Friends Are Here

By starrymag | November 13, 2020

By: Robert Warren

 

 

Q) What led you to come up with the title to your new album All Your Friends Are Here, which reflects your evolving personality and shows off your craftsmanship?

A) It’s a title I’ve had for a long time. A few years ago, a friend of mine was trying to get me to come to a bar she was at and just texted me “all your friends are here!” There was something about it that just elicited this feeling of comfort and calm. I’ve realized in the last few years that those environments and moments are the ones that keep you going and I wanted to reflect some of that in an album title. But I also wanted it to be kind of sarcastic, given that I’m “alone” on the album and album cover.

 

Q) To work on this album you mention having to unlearn everything you learned, what was that like?

A) I’ve just spent so much time making pop-leaning stuff that I had these roadmaps and structures to songwriting in my head that I couldn’t shake. Sometimes those can help you express an idea, but they can also constrict you in a real way. This album was about deliberately trying to break those rules in places to see what happened.

 

Q) How did you reflect your personal storytelling into this album?

A) Honestly, some of the songs are purely fictional, some of them are purely autobiographical and some of them are a mix. Sometimes an idea comes out faster than a story about a thing that happened. To me, authenticity and personal storytelling is about being true to the process and honoring what the song needs.

 

In this album your songs are “Another Face,” “When You’re Lonely,” “Strangers,” “Talk Too Much,” “Demons,” “Try,” “Place Like This” and “Frayed Tape.” How do these tracks create an overarching idea in your album?

A) I think the main theme of this album is how things you can’t control can screw you over, whether it’s your friends, your city or yourself. I think we put a lot of stock in our ability to get out of a bad situation or to have control, but I’m skeptical of anybody’s real power in a lot of situations.

 

Q) One thing you mention you like to do when you record is free yourself. How has creating this album allowed you to free yourself?

A) I like to try and forget there’s an endgame or an audience for the music I’m writing and just let myself discover what the song is going to sound like or be about. Making “album tracks” made that easier, since they don’t have to be pop enough to be singles – it’s liberating to create stuff that is for people that are invested and interested in me as an artist, instead of those people who hear a song or two.

 

Q) How did you go about creating the order of the songs on this album?

A) I wanted the album to feel balanced as a listening process – I knew that “Frayed Tape” had to end it and built it out from there. I feel like it accidentally ended up being very poppy on the front half and very down on the back half, but that’s also reflective of the album writing process, which I think is cool.

 

Q) What was the hardest part about creating “Demons,” perhaps fighting any personal demons while singing about opening up?

A) The hardest part was actually just the singing! I needed the chorus to hit that sweet spot between falsetto and normal voice and it took months to get it just right!

 

Q) “Demons” fights your electronic style you worked on earlier. What made you decide to fray away from that for this song?

A) “Demons” actually started much more electronic and it wasn’t feeling right with the texture of my voice on the song. I decided eventually just to keep stripping things back until it felt better and ended up taking nearly everything out. While it was weird, once I had done it, it didn’t feel right to go back.

 

Q) What’s been your favorite part on this journey of creating this album?

A) I love the artwork process – working with Evan Tetreault, who’s a photographer whose work I adore, was such a fun and different perspective on the work.

 

Q) What do you hope people will take away from this album when they listen to it?

A) I always love when people tell me that a song of mine captured exactly what they were feeling in any given moment. It’s what I love listening to other people’s music and it means a lot to do that for anybody else.

 

Q) With concerts currently on hold, what do you miss most about being on stage?

A) Everything! Seeing people’s faces who know your music makes it all the way more real and it’s hard to visualize any of the impact of your music without that.

 

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

A) Mostly just thank you! Any nice message means the world and I’ll do my best to keep putting out work I think is honest and true to me.