2013 saw the release of The Lonely Wild’s debut LP, The Sun as it Comes, a beautiful 12-song collection of morbid, yet rollicking and uplifting, indie folk tunes that got the band accolades courtesy of the likes of American Songwriter and Consequence of Sound, in addition to gigs supporting John Doe, Damien Rice, and Laura Marling. About a year ago the band recorded their follow-up LP, Chasing White Light, with legendary producer and musician John Vanderslice, known for his work with St. Vincent and Spoon, among many others. The LA-based band are currently on the road with San Francisco’s The Family Crest and have a local date this Saturday, July 18th, upstairs at World Café Live. I recently got a chance to catch up with founding member Andrew Carroll, who was slightly thrown off when I first asked him about the highlights of The Lonely Wild’s career thus far, which began half a decade ago.
“[Laughs] It sounds so monumental when you put it like that. This next record we’re putting out will be a highlight. But also, this is the first band that I’ve ever been in that had a booking agent and it’s the first time I’ve ever been on a cross-country tour… and we’ve been to Canada, so I guess you can say we’re ‘international’ [laughs]. But a lot of my favorite reactions have been from fans. We reached out from the internet and when we put out ‘Holidays’ a while back there were people who were like, ‘You totally get me,’ or, ‘You speak to me,’ which was great, and then they check out the rest of our catalogue, which is really amazing for us.”
The Lonely Wild are set to release their sophomore LP, Chasing White Light, and Carroll tells me that the album is quite a bit different than anything The Lonely Wild have recorded and released in the past.
“We do have a different drummer, for one, but we also worked with a producer for the first time, John Vanderslice, who was strictly analogue and no computers. In the past I always demoed out a lot before actually entering the recording studio, but for this album he was all about not nitpicking, and was like, ‘We’re not re-recording your demos, we’re recording an album.’”
The band have come to characterize the new album, affectionately or anti-affectionately, as the “death album.” The album deals with some of the darker aspects of the human experience, especially in relation to those one inevitably becomes fond of and knows intimately (on some level or another). “I’m always influenced by friends and family and Chasing White Light is all about death and the loss of loved ones and the notion of being a band and always being on the road all the time and being apart from family and loved ones.”
But, on the other end of the sentimental spectrum, when I ask about being on the road with The Family Crest, Carroll admits, “They’ve been fantastic, very good musicians and also very nice people… which doesn’t always happen…” And when I ask what The Lonely Wild are most excited for, Carroll admits that the new album is a big priority but, even more exciting for the band, is that he and bandmate Andrew Schneider both have “new editions” to The Lonely Wild whose due dates are in August and September.
