Music/Interview – WATERS

Grab yourself a download of ‘O Holy Break Of Day’, from WATERS’ forthcoming debut Out In The Light on City Slang, via the Soundcloud player below — and read the interview that follows.

WATERS – O Holy Break Of Day by cityslang

Former Port O’Brien frontman Van Pierszalowski, aka WATERS, is not the most forthcoming interviewee. I call him at his temporary Oslo dwelling (he hasn’t paid rent in five years) and, like a sad scarecrow staving off imminent conversation, he prefaces every answer with an arduous sigh. It’s at odds with the outgoing and prolific globetrotter — who’s been expressing himself as an artist confidently, and, to a degree, successfully since the tender age of 18 — whom he resembles on paper.

We’re on his case because he has new music worth shouting about. After auditioning backing band members in Brooklyn, Van settled upon Nikolai Haukeland (bass and guitar) and Sigmund Nilsen (drums), along with Grammy-nominated producer John Congleton of pAper chAse renown. Written between Oslo, California, Brooklyn and Alaska, debut album Out In The Light draws on familiar tropes and searching melodies to hint at a prevailing sense of adventure without aspiring to stray far from its comfort zone. The album’s theme is unsteady ambition in the light of possibility.

During the interview Van’s relationship with Port O’Brien co-founder and then-partner Cambria Goodwin is largely avoided, but presumably the band’s split was tied up in their personal affairs; Van met a girl in Oslo during one of the last Port O’Brien tours and has been rebounding between Norway and the States since.

As ever, these are songs of an intricately personal bent — an inclination openly expressed by way of constant allusion to nautical imagery and metaphor (Van was raised on a boat to a fisherman father). I suggest Out In The Light moves away from Port O’Brien’s eerie and distant warmth, while retaining the inherently folky, indie rock leanings within a more electric-centric framework. Helpfully, he offers, “I don’t know about indie rock or whatever the hell that means, but it’s definitely not folky,” so that’s cleared that up.

* * *

I saw a video from March 2010, and you were talking about the future of the band very positively. Was the split a sudden decision?

I would have to watch that interview to see what context that was in. But already by then it was starting to creep into my mind that it might not work out to do another record. It was hanging over my head all summer. I wanted to make another record as soon as possible, but maybe not within the Port O’Brien name. But in a lot of ways there’s not a whole lot different between Port O’Brien and WATERS.

How about the writing process? I know you’ve written a lot of songs while working on your dad’s boat, was that again the case here?

A couple — the way I write songs usually, I can’t just sit down and have this idea for a song and a couple of hours later it’s done. It’s not like that for me. I have this melody that sticks in my head for a few months, and I eventually get round to writing lyrics, then I get to put in a chorus or a new part. It’s a collage, really. There’s no sense of a linear path with the way I write songs, it’s all just a patchwork; a culmination of the year, really.

Do you find your geographical surroundings affect your songwriting?

It definitely used to for me, especially when I was writing more about Alaska specifically and being a fisherman’s son and all that kind of stuff. But now it’s more about what I was going through, what I was feeling and where I was.

Alaska is always good because there’s no distraction, no internet or cell phones. All you can do is work on the songs when you’re not working. So I did get a lot done there. But I also got tons of work done in New York, which has obviously got more distractions than anywhere in the world.

Was there any time during the interim period when you considered quitting music?

It never even crossed my mind. A lot of people have asked that — maybe it should have! It was never remotely an option. It would’ve been the perfect opportunity to throw it in the hat: I have a college degree, I could’ve gone back and become a teacher, but it was not even an option in my mind. This is what I have to do, and I want to do.

It sounds like once you stopped playing with Port O’Brien, you left behind this thing that was dragging you down and immediately became rejuvenated under WATERS.

Yeah that’s it, more or less. At first, I wasn’t immediately able to jump forward and go head on, there was a dark, hard period where I was trying to sort all that out. But in general once I made that decision I immediately devoted every inch of my time and self to the new project, for sure.

Did anything you picked up during that time influence you or the record?

I think everything about the last year re-energised me and made me excited again. Towards the end of Port O’Brien I started to get tired of it — I wouldn’t look forward to touring, even. And now after this year I kind of — cheesy as it sounds — fell in love with life again, and the idea of being a musician and being in a poor indie rock band. And travelling and touring, I just love it again.

Is this your ‘happy album’ Van?

[laughs] No! It’s actually much darker than the Port O’Brien stuff. I’m in a better place now, but I had to go through a very dark period to get here. Breaking up the band and the personal relationships — it was a hard time. It’s always hard to make huge, drastic changes in your life and there’s a lot of heartbreak involved. Working on a band and then deciding to end it when I’m 25 is a hard fucking decision. So there’s a lot of darkness, but now I’m out of that. But no, nobody wants to hear happy music. I’ll leave that to people who are good at it.

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