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AM Live at the Hotel Cafe, Tuesday, December 8, 2009
Getting to Know: AM
by Breanna Murphy | 11.23.2009
What’s in a name? In asking Los Angeles-based musician AM about his, the answer is decidedly mysterious: “I tend to shy away from answering that. It’s more fun that way,” he explains with a secretive grin. Despite the assumed anonymity (resulting in one of the most un-Googleable band names since The The), he reveals the “A” and “M” are his given name’s initials, though that’s all the singer’s willing to divulge. However, and perhaps more importantly, the moniker serves as a deeper acronymic allusion of sorts, a nod to his influences and the musical nostalgia of days gone by. With a self-professed attachment to the sounds and films produced from 1965 to 1975 (what he calls “The Golden Age”), AM’s upcoming sophomore record, Future Sons & Daughters, is a similar recollection of those times past, recalling mellow yellow, saccharine summers soaked in California sun.
And though underneath California sun is exactly where his second release came to be made, AM is quickly enthused to remind that the ’60s and early ’70s were tuned not only to the Crosbys of Laurel Canyon or the Reeds of the Lower East Side, but also to names from Italy, Brazil and Turkey like Morricone, Gilberto and Ozkent. “That’s where I was for this record, just listening to songs mostly sung in languages that I don’t understand,” he says. “But I just found the beauty and the groove that was going on in these different areas to be the most inspirational.”
Inspiration was also found buried in his own personal history. As a resident of both Tulsa and New Orleans during his youth, the beginning of AM’s own groove was created against the backdrop of the riffing majesty of legends like J.J. Cale and an immense exposure to jazz and R&B. From those origins, his path took an unlikely detour at university while a student of philosophy, where books (both theoretical and poetic) on ideas like humanism and ethics shaped a whole new method of thinking –and songwriting.
“What it really is — the very base of philosophy — is questioning. That’s also a big part of songwriting; you’re observing and you’re questioning. Being able to read and study philosophy opened me up to song lyrics. I really don’t think I would have been attracted to people like Lou Reed otherwise.”
After a post-grad move to Los Angeles, AM wrote and recorded the songs that became his first album, Troubled Times, which was released in 2006 and received praise as one of iTunes’ Best Indie Albums. He also found himself a mentor in local hero Gary Jules, gigs at the launch pad venue Hotel Cafe in Hollywood, and a D.I.Y. mantra to live by: “You really need to do things yourself. No one is going to care as much about your music as you. And if you want to get it out there, you’ve got to find a way.” Three years later, the same principles hold true.
In many ways, every aspect of AM’s diverse influences can be heard flourishing on Future Sons & Daughters, culminating in a modern pop record for the ages. Comprised of songs written entirely during the summer of 2008, the international and experimental soundtrack playing in AM’s headphones — from The Byrds to Jorge Ben — can be heard subtly winding its way throughout the record. With the help of engineer Charles Newman (whose lengthy relationship with The Magnetic Fields has spawned ingenious products like 69 Love Songs) and a collection of instruments dated no later than 1970, the sounds sparked in the studio maintain an orchestral and individual approach to the nostalgia of The Golden Age. But, like the ’60s and ’70s themselves, it’s not all sunshine and rainbows– there’s always something darkly intriguing brewing beneath the surface.
“I wanted to capture a groovy-ness, but stay true to what I wanted to say,” AM says. “I don’t know anybody who responds to lighthearted lyrics — what’s there to grab onto? I think human beings can relate more to pain than they can to pleasure. Pleasure comes and goes; you forget about it quickly. Pain lingers around for a long time.” But, luckily, not so long as the infinitely bright Future ahead of us all.
