Catching Up With... Anathallo

Since releasing its full-length Floating World in 2006, Anathallo has played a slew of festivals, toured extensively and relocated from the band's hometown of Mount Pleasant, Mich. to Chicago, where members have taken up residence among a community of artists near Uptown. This change of scenery set the stage for their new album, Canopy Glow, out now on Anticon. Paste recently caught up with trombonist/percussionist/vocalist Bret Wallin, who filled us in on life in the Windy City, the new album and more, just before the band set off on its winter tour.

Paste: Fill me in a little bit on the last two years since Floating World. Tell me about how your experiences have shaped this new album.
Wallin: Just the experiences of last two years?
 
Paste: Or beyond, we won’t limit it to the last two years...
Wallin: Well, when I was five... (Laughs) I would say, I finally got the physical copy in my hands, I think about a week ago, and it was a pretty strange feeling because we moved to Chicago at the very beginning of 2007, and the move for the seven of us was to write this record. I grew up in a town of 15,000-- Mt. Pleasant, Mich.-- and to move to Chicago and kind of learn the city went directly with writing the record. I think as we were getting settled into new ways of living and meeting new people, learning transit even, I think—I couldn’t explain how you can hear that on our record, but I do think that experience more than anything else [influenced it]. When you hold this CD in your hands you are like this CD is my life. I would say far and away that’s been the biggest influence on the album.

Paste: What part of the city are you all living in?
Wallin: Most of us live in Uptown, and I moved to West Bucktown, close to Logan Square.

Paste: So, what are the surroundings like that prompted inspiration for this album?
Wallin: It’s probably different for all seven of us. For me it’s probably the relationships, you know, for sure. We’ve met a lot of really great people, and I think that keeps your spirits up. It’s hard to pinpoint your influence, especially as far as your surroundings. Where we wrote the record is a pretty neat community, Berry United Methodist church, and they gave us a room rent-free a place we could jump in whenever we wanted, practice there. And they have really welcomed us. It is a great community of artists, too. That’s been really nice.

Paste: What was the transition like to Anticon, because I guess while you were moving to this new place you were signed to this new label?
Wallin: The previous record, Floating World, we released on our own imprint, so we just thought for Canopy Glow we would try something else. We have a friend in Yoni Wolf. He really pushed for us. I think we signed up in June or July that they would put the record out for us.

Paste: Has the transition to Anticon altered the experience much? What are some things that are different?
Wallin: Personally, I would say people are a lot more receptive to hear this record, I think. Anticon, at least to me, as well as a lot of folks, that’s a pretty respected label, and it at least got us a double take of, "Oh, if Anticon would put a record out for Anathallo, maybe I ought to give it a listen." It earned us a second chance with folks who maybe didn’t like Floating World as much.

Paste: Looking at your schedule, you have some really exciting dates coming up, not just stateside but abroad. I hear you’re getting to go to Europe and Japan for the first time?
Wallin: (Laughs) Yeah, I can’t wait.

Paste: It’s noticeable that Japanese folklore seems to play a big role in Floating World. Has playing Japan always been on your to do list?
Wallin: I think it is probably at the top of what we set out to do in this band is to travel and try to get to new places. We finally made our way to Europe this past February. I have never been to Switzerland, Belgium, Poland, the Netherlands, Czech Republic—it's going to be amazing. As far as Japan, our bass player grew up in Tokyo. It’s a big home for him, and that’s probably where the folklore probably got injected into Floating World and it’s one place where we’ve always [wanted to go], definitely for Seth—for all of us. I’ve never been. So I think it will be pretty neat. It will be a neat homecoming for him and it will definitely be an adventure for us.

Paste: How was sharing the stage with Martin Dosh for a few shows this summer?
Wallin: It was great. And I just saw Martin and his saxophone player, Mike Lewis, I saw them a couple nights ago playing up here in Chicago, playing with the Notwist, which was awesome.
 
Paste: Oh, nice.
Wallin: Yeah, I know. And I jumped up for songs with them, and that was pretty neat. But they're great guys, first of all. They're incredible musicians. Great labelmates, definitely. It was just really fun, genuinely laid-back really good music, and that's all you can ask for on tour, really.
 
Paste: What are some favorite moments from being on tour, since that is something that you all have done so extensively? I mean, how many vans have you gone through now?
Wallin: This is our third van. We started out high school seniors and college freshmen, that was in a soccer-mom caravan. (Laughs) I think most of the memories actually are when you first go out and you don't have any money and collectively among six of your best friends you go to the grocery store with ten bucks to feed everybody—that's pretty great. I remember playing Lollapallooza and looking out from the stage and you can see this huge crowd. Our first show overseas in Dublin. For me, just being on stage before you begin playing when you realize, this is wild.
 
Paste: Tell me a little more about the lyrics on the new album.
Wallin: Floating World—I think a lot of those themes sort of dealt with—how to say this without sounding totally stupid? I feel like the songs dealt with words, language, meaning, just kind of floating in the air and what to do with, you know, I think people can see an object in a million different ways, and what do you do, because everyone's isolated in that way. Canopy Glow at least isn't as dark in that, you know what, there are things around us with dark around it especially like a celebration of nature. There’s a part in “Noni’s Field” that talks about fireflies, constellations in the sky. There’s a song about the river; there's a song about northern lights. And I do think the natural probably overtakes a lot of our lyrics this time around in Canopy Glow.
 
Paste: Is that where the concept for the album cover came from?
Wallin: We were searching for a while on what to do for the album cover, and came across a painting by a friend, Tim Lowly, and he was the one who really welcomed us to Chicago, and arranged for us to have a practice space. In the painting it's his daughter, and she's lying on the ground very much alive staring out. I think at first glance it's an image that is borderline creepy because you don't understand what's going on in the picture. I think she's probably ecstatic to be so close to nature, even if you can't see it in her face that's probably what's going on in her head. And I think that sort of idea, you can see this thing mean two different things--that's where the image came from.
 
Paste: Was there anything else that was noticeably different or matured about making this album?
Wallin: It's very hard to describe how a city can change your sound. When we wrote Floating World, for the most part we were all in school, so the entire process took about three and a half years. Even now, what I was listening to in 2005, 2004, is a lot different to what I enjoy in music now. I think you can hear it a little bit. I think one of the weaknesses of Floating World is you can hear the progression. I think from the first track to track 14, it's almost two different bands if you were to put some of those songs side by side. Canopy Glow really came together in a span of seven, eight months. So hopefully—it's either mature and consistent, or it will all sound too similar. I would hope that there is a maturity to this record. I think it all sticks together much more nicely.
 
Paste: I think it's a neat aspect that you guys have known each other for a while and have been making music together for a while.
Wallin: It is a cool part that we take for granted. I've known Matt and Dan since elementary school, really. And Jamie since junior high. You get so used to being around these people, knowing you exactly, and it's strange. It's amazing that we get to spend the next six weeks celebrating the last two years we have spent in a great city and get to share a trip to Europe and a trip to Japan, and hopefully more travels in 2009.