Bryan Deister’s album Spines of the Heart is an eclectic mix of classically influenced, dreamy alt-rock. The album gathers influence from shoegaze to freeform jazz, over which Deister’s falsetto croons. We chatted with him to find out what went into crafting his expansive double album.Hey Bryan, thanks for taking the time to chat today. Your latest album Spines of the Heart is a sprawling 22 track double album. How long did it take to go from the initial conception to the final mastering?I started writing songs for this album three years ago. But really I had no conception of the album until January 2015.You are in charge of composing the entirety of your pieces. What do you typically begin with when creating a song? Is it usually a beat or a piano melody? Perhaps something else entirely?I’d really not know. Many times I’m playing piano, something interesting happens, and I follow it. Usually, in these cases, I write the melody and the harmony in counterpoint. The other kind of idea comes usually during a class and I hear the music and write it down and work on it later. But the sparks are always rhythmic in character.Can you talk a bit about your recording setup? Do you compose “in the box”, with hardware synths or both?I do everything in Logic but I don’t compose with a computer. I’d never touch one unless I finished composing.The album seems to have an oceanic feel. The sounds seem to emulate ocean waves and nautical themes pervade some of the lyrics. Do you feel a particular inspiration from the sea or is that all in the mind of this writer?Though I do enjoy the ocean, I don’t think that affected the music. The only nautical themes in the lyrics are the occasional sailor talk. Most of the album was recorded in Boston as well.Were there any albums in particular that inspired you while you were creating Spines of the Heart?I listened to a lot of folk music at the time especially from throughout South America. I can say that a lot of that music especially Joropo and Baião inspired some of the music. But no albums really inspired me, what generally inspires me is philosophy. At the time I was reading Freud, Derrida, Marx, and later Nietzsche. I also read Kant, but I got really nauseous.You have attended the prestigious Berklee College of Music. What was the biggest lesson you learned there in terms of rock/alternative songwriting?I never took any classes on songwriting at Berklee. Mostly I have learned about jazz. I have taken a couple of composition classes, but mostly performance classes and that’s what my major is in. I’d say my biggest takeaway for songwriting is don’t write anything. Or in other words, the less I am involved in the writing process the better.Most self-taught musicians will claim that classical training would hinder their ability to think differently so they avoid it, yet your music is definitely experimental and open minded. Did you have trouble reconciling the training with your modern influences or did you find that the training helped you to further understand alternative music?Well, most often classical training is mechanical, along with jazz training, and rock training. Teaching someone how to play music is like trying to teach someone how to beat their own heart, if they can’t do it themselves then they can’t learn it. Of course, I mean at a high level. I have for most of my life been a non-taught musician and only started learning classical music in high school and jazz in college and I don’t see how learning other kinds of music would make me any more close minded.The lead single ‘Into the Sky’ is a wonderfully composed song with complex vocal melodies. How did the writing process differ on that track in comparison to the others? When you finished it, did you feel like you had accomplished something special?I wrote the verse melodies in counterpoint first and then I thought, “hmm… this is boring, 4/4 is lame, let’s do a polyrhythm, how about over 3?” And then after I came up with that I came up with rhythm section parts and wrote the chorus and the interlude/solo. It’s unusual compared to the other tracks on the album in that the harmony doesn’t conflict with the melodies and in fact supports them adding no harmonic content. After I finished recording it I thought, “hmm… I don’t know if I like this.” I wasn’t going to put the song on the album, but at 4:00 am one night I was listening to it while considering what songs to put on the album and suddenly I felt the song in 12/8. After I figured out that it could be felt that way and how I suspected many people would feel it that way, I thought, “hmm… if I play this and people started clapping along in 12/8 and it’s in 3/4, it would be funny.”Did you consciously decide to create a double album? Do you feel that you can express ideas differently when you have a bigger canvas on which to paint?I try not to consciously, but yes. The songs are in general short because I don’t enjoy wasting people’s time. However the length of the album I think is justified by its diversity of character.What is up next for you?After graduating Berklee, I plan to do some touring. I also have a new album in the works.Thanks for taking the time to talk today!Bryan Deister’s Album Spines of the Heart is out now.
Source: Music News.com – Interviews
