It's not a Bolivian polka album, but Secrets Of The New Explorers stands pretty far apart from the records Glen Phillips made with Toad The Wet Sprocket and those he's made as a solo artist. The non-commercial sounds of Abulum, the bare bone songs of Mr. Lemons, and even the pop sounds of Winter Pays For Summer are all pretty far removed from the sounds on this new EP.
"For basically zero budget, John (Askew) and I went in and started recording," he said, laughing. "I didn't know what we were going to do. John suggested the privatized space travel theme and I just read a bunch on that. As soon as he said it, I knew what the first four songs would be about."
Phillips had been making records based on the realities of his solo career. His current place in the music industry doesn't generate enough revenue to take a big band around the world. Those constraints had been forcing his hand when it came time to work in the studio.
"I'd been doing things that were very purposefully more compatible with live solo acoustic touring," he said. "After Winter Pays for Summer, which was such a huge production, I felt compelled on Mr. Lemons to make something that was extremely stripped down because I tour mostly by myself. It's easy to make an album that can expand to a bigger band, harder to make an album where people feel like it's the same thing if it's one guy and a guitar. I feel like I can do that well but I needed to make albums that were closer to that."
After making Mr. Lemons, Phillips made a record with Sean and Sara Watkins of Nickel Creek, Luke Bula, Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), Pete Thomas, Pete Thomas, David Faragher (Elvis Costello's Impostors), and Greg Leisz. That record was done live in the studio, with the only overdubs being harmony vocals. He had a lot of fun making that kind of record with such talented musicians, but was ready to make a new kind of record when he returned to working on his own.
"I'm a total tech head," he said. "I'm the son of geeks. I love recording technology. I love the studio and I love really elaborately produced albums."
Article comments