.png)
Celebrated visual artist and co-frontman of the seminal punk institute Parquet Courts, Andrew Savage broke out on his own last year with Several Songs About Fire, his first solo venture since 2017's debut Thawing Dawn. After more than a decade in Brooklyn, Savage left the city and the United States, marking his exit with an album that grapples with ripples of vanished cityscapes and piercing memories all presented in his unmistakable voice. Produced by John Parish in just ten days in Bristol, England, Savage was joined by the support of Jack Cooper and Cate Le Bon, as well as saxophonist Euan Hinshelwood (Cate Le Bon), drummer Dylan Hadley (Sharpie Smile, White Fence), and violinist Magdalena McLean (Caroline) to fill out the album's sprawling meditations, patient precision, and aching melodicism that's evocative of rock 'n' roll's greatest observers: Townes Van Zandt, Kevin Ayers, The Vulgar Boatmen, and Ed Kuepper. Ahead of his run of shows through Australia and New Zealand, I chatted with Savage about his latest solo album, what veered him in the direction to make another one, and the notable cast of musicians who backed him.
What is it like returning with new music after not putting out a full-length record under A. Savage in seven years? Why was now the right time?
Andrew Savage: Well, I don't know why now was a good time other than it just kind of made sense. In 2022, Parquet Courts had just finished a long major tour and I was presented with this opportunity to do it. You see because when the pandemic happened, our last album [Sympathy for Life] was done, but we had to push back releasing and touring it so when it finally came out, we hit the ground running playing shows. After those shows, it was safe to say we earned a bit of a break, so I pretty much immediately went on tour with Cate [Le Bon] that fall. She plays piano on Several Songs About Fire, as does her drummer Dylan [Hadley] and saxophonist Euan [Hinshelwood]. I had a lot of songs at that point that needed a bit more work so I'd work them out backstage while Cate and her band would sound check. Then it wasn't too much longer when we recorded the album the following November. It all happened pretty quick. I'm happy to be playing these songs live and giving people the chance to hear them. I play with a five-piece band and it's different than what I do with Parquet Courts. If it wasn't, I wouldn't be doing it.
How would you compare Several Songs About Fire to your first solo release Thawing Dawn?
Well, it's different because for Thawing Dawn, I had some of those songs for a long time—some of them for ten years. A lot of the songs just didn't really fit anywhere—some were attempted with Parquet Courts, but didn't work out for one reason or another. I needed to find a place for these so what's that became Thawing Dawn. I released it on my label Dull Tools and sold a lot of copies of it. I guess it has a bit of a cult following because certainly it's not as popular as anything I've done with Parquet Courts, but it reached an audience. People would then ask me between the time that record was released and now, "When are you going to release another album? You should do another one." And similarly, Jack [Cooper], a really close friend of mine for years, said to me, "I'd really love to do another record with you." Cate then said she wanted to do some music together so it was this bit of encouragement from people that got me to do another one. I probably started writing the earliest song for Several Songs About Fire beginning in early 2020. I'm very proud of the music I do with Parquet Courts, but not all the music I make sounds like that.
Which song from Several Songs About Fire means the most to you (and why)?
I think the song "Mountain Time" might be the one I listen to the most and the one I most enjoy playing and singing. I'm quite proud of the lyrics on that one as I kind of went to a new place with those. I think the way Dylan sings with me on the song is really nice too. But I can't always articulate why I'm drawn more to some songs that I write any more than I can articulate why I'm drawn to some songs that I just like by other artists.
The song "David's Dead" is a tribute to your late friend and neighbor David Lester.
That one was interesting because it was one of the last ones we recorded along with "My New Green Coat." We were just at the point of the recording process where we had wrapped up everything and had some extra time and John [Parrish], Dylan, Jack, really liked those two so we recorded them. "David's Dead" is a bit of a chronicle of my time spent living on the block that I lived on in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn for twelve years. When I moved in on that block, Parquet Courts wasn't a band that anybody outside of New York knew. So my life really changed living in that place. And, you know, most of the songs that people associate with me were written or partially written there. It was a place that was almost like a community space for some—a place I would cook food for people, have jams, bands would stay there when they'd come through on tour, and it was also where I'd have these late night talks with David. But that part of Brooklyn, and New York at a large really, changed between 2011 and 2023. I just watched that city change a lot and myself change a lot, so that song is a reflection of my life in those years.
"Le Grand Balloon" is one of my favorite intimate odysseys on the record. How did that one come together?
We started with the beat on that one. We had to make sure that there was just kind of a nice layer of Latin percussion happening underneath it or else the song wouldn't have the type of sway that it needed and so I remember spending a lot of time, maybe even a full day, on just finding that beat with the band. Odyssey is a good word for it because it is a song that's essentially about getting lost and finding your way home so it needed to have a certain meander to it to make it feel like a journey. We tried a lot of different things in order for it to have that sort of rhythm and I think what really sealed the deal was what sounds like an organ in the background, is actually Dylan and Jack doing vocal punches.
What did you cherish most within the ten days you had recorded the album?
It was an absolute joy. Everyone who played on the record, I chose for a specific reason and that is because they are really good at their instrument and great musical thinkers. There's a lot of people that are good at their instrument, but being an interesting musical thinker is another thing. I've played music a lot with Jack before, so he just kind of just gets me, He's very intuitive and we come from a similar musical place, so he gets what I'm after a lot of times without me having to articulate it that much. Cate is someone who I think is a total genius and has an extremely wildly creative approach to melody making. Some of the piano parts that she came up with on the record are so otherworldly that they were a bit startling at first, and I was just in awe of what she came up with. Same with Euan, who plays saxophone on the record and is just an amazing musical thinker. Some of the songs I had originally thought about Cate singing on the record, but she was like, "Dylan should sing these, they would be great for her voice." I had heard Dylan do a bit of singing with Cate with White Fence, but I mean, her voice is just gorgeous and I'm so proud to have it on the record. So to answer your question, these are people that put their personality into what they did and so therefore, it sounds like a band. There's a lot of records people make, especially nowadays, with access to laptop recording apps, so they're playing everything on their records. But that style of recording wouldn't make sense for these songs, especially when you're working with someone like John Parrish. He can really capture the four walls of a room and the people playing inside of it. This record needed to sound like a band and it needed every bit of their personality in it.
I really love Dylan's voice too, especially in Sharpie Smile [formerly Kamikaze Palm Tree]. I remember seeing a video online of you and Cate singing Bill Nelson's "Do You Dream In Colour" at Bowery Ballroom in February '22, which I thought was perfect.
That was the night that Cate said we should make some music together and it's the night that she gave me the green coat that inspired the song on the record.
I always find the covers to singer-songwriter albums charming in a simple way. How did you come up with the layout for Several Songs About Fire?
Whether it's with Parquet Courts or my solo work, I always want to make the cover art eye-catching and make people have a sense of curiosity as to what goes on in the record—just like the way I saw certain record covers when I was younger like Siamese Dream or the Blind Faith album with the young girl holding the airplane model, thinking what the hell could these sound like? Grateful Dead album covers are much better than their music in my opinion, but they do a very great job of giving the audience a sense of intrigue, which is what great cover art should do. I guess in some ways, I'm a bit of a traditionalist when it comes to the A. Savage records as I just like the classic solo cover art look, which isn't breaking any rules whatsoever, but it's very much a homage to the milieu of the singer-songwriter record.
Being a painter too, how does painting and making music go hand in hand? Is it a very similar experience for you personally?
It's similar insofar as you have a message that you want to communicate to an audience, but in an entirely different language because the way you observe a painting and the way that you listen to a song are different. You know, you don't really view a painting in the background. Sometimes paintings are there and you're in a room with them and maybe you're relating or paying attention to them, which I guess would be the equivalent. But really, to look at a painting, you kind of have to just sit there and look at it and ask yourself how it makes you feel. With a song, there's a beginning and end, and you can replay it, but for that reason it's very different. Both however are a blend of emotion and intellect that you're trying to communicate with somebody while giving them different sensations.
What were you most excited about to get this album out in the world?
I'm happy to have people see me perform these songs, which is a bit different than what I've done in Parquet Courts, and so different than I'm used to performing. I'm extremely proud of Parquet Courts and we'll make more albums and do more tours, but it's good to switch things up and put things in different contexts. I hope people say many nice things about this new record as they did Thawing Dawn.
What are some future plans for you and Parquet Courts?
Mostly just playing these songs to an audience. For Parquet Courts, I haven't started working on any new stuff, but I will probably soon. I've talked to those guys recently and we all talked about doing something again so I think that means things will start ramping up soon.
Several Songs About Fire is out now on Rough Trade Records.