Library Voices Get Literal

Youthink chats with Library Voices' Michael Dawson about his band's new album, Summer of Lust.

While Saskatchewan’s musical talent continues to make its way onto the Canadian music radar, a real treat emerges for any music fan out there who also appreciates a little literature. Library Voices, a seven-person indie-pop band from Regina, showcases catchy songs bursting with literary shout-outs and an incredible range of instruments on its latest album, Summer of Lust. Youthink recently chatted with keyboardist/ lyricist Michael Dawson (pictured far right) about the new album, the band’s love for literature and why they’d like to take their music south of the border.
 

YT: The band members share a love for literature, accounting for the name Library Voices. What is it about this art form that you find so appealing?
MD: My favourite authors have this way of capturing the human experience. I’ve always found it’s hard not to have your own life directed a little bit by what you read and the authors that you love… It was never 100 per cent intentional to make [literature] such a big part of our band, but every time you write a song, you are telling a bit of a story. It’s hard not to look to those people that have influenced you that you respect.
 
YT: How did it feel to be nominated for Independent Album of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards, for both your EP, Hunting Ghosts and album, Denim on Denim?
MD: It’s flattering. I mean, the Hunting Ghosts? You’d never really expect it. You know, you make a little record a couple blocks from your house and you put it out, then when you sort of get the recognition, it lights a little bit of a fire under your a**… that someone recognizes what you’re doing and respects it. And so the fact that it happened a second year in a row reaffirmed that a little bit.
 
YT: How did having an EP and a studio album under your belts influence the writing and recording of Summer of Lust?
MD: We knew what we didn’t want to do this time around, which I think was a huge advantage. We wanted to make it a lot more lively and sort of capture more performance of the songs, and how we played the songs live. We wanted to all get together and just kind of play the s*** out of the song, and start a record after that experience.
 
YT: What are some goals you would like to see Library Voices reach in the next couple of years?
MD: I think that one of our immediate focuses and objectives is to start performing more outside of Canada. And don’t get me wrong, we love Canada. We just about crossed it 10 times this year, but just sort of to expand our travel experiences a little bit, play music for new people in new locations. And so we’re excited that this is our first proper release coming out of the States and we’re looking at some other territories as well. So that’s one of the big focuses for sure.

Web Exclusive: Library Voices Interview Outtakes

YT: When the band initially formed in 2008, you came together as a 10-piece group and are now a seven-person band. Do you feel seven is the magic number?
MD: Yes, I do… when it came time to re-evaluate the band and write new songs, we agreed that the seven of us kind of felt like there’s no need to replace anyone. So we definitely won’t be adding anyone anytime soon as a permanent member – but hopefully we’re not losing anyone either.
 
YT: Seven members in a band is still a pretty large group. What does the creative collaboration look like within Library Voices?
MD: It varies on a case-to-case basis. There’s not really a set-in-stone formula of how we create music. But myself and Carl will sit together, and we’ll have the melody, and we’ll kind of fight to put together the loose song structure with acoustic guitar, piano and I’ll write the words to that. And then after, we bring in whoever’s available – hopefully the whole group. It shades the shape and direction of the song quite often if someone comes up with an idea and says, “Throw in a horn.” It sort of shifts the song that way.
 
YT: In a VUE Weekly article featuring Library Voices, you described the band as being “just a group of friends from around the neighbourhood.” How do you feel most of the members growing up so closely together has affected the band?
MD: It goes a lot way in trusting each other. [With] any sort of artistic endeavour, whether it’s music or visual arts or something, you always put a little bit of yourself on the line when you create something. And so through that process I think if you start to feel a little insecure sometimes, it just helps having people you trust around you. We all mutually trust each other’s opinions creatively, so I think that goes such a long way in working together.
 
YT: Can you give me an example of an experience that has really impacted or influenced your band?
MD: There was a time when we were on route to Victoria to play a really great event there and we drove into this crazy, crazy snowstorm. There were like hundreds of cars, and no one could even get up the mountain. Like cars were sliding backwards without driving them… so much snow. And so, in the personalities within our band, just sort of… how everyone is able to, you know, laugh and make the best of terrible situations. I mean, it’s reaffirming for sure that it’s the right group of people playing music together. And that’s the reason we’re doing this is absolutely because we love it, and that those obstacles that get in our way aren’t really hindrance, you know? I mean, it’d be nice if they didn’t keep occurring, for sure, but in the same respect it keeps the focus of things on the music and why we’re doing it all the time.
 

YT: I saw video of you, Carl and Fred Penner delivering a workshop at the Regina Folk Festival. How does it feel to be in a position where you can share your experiences and advice with an audience?
MD: It was awesome. And at the end of it, Carl actually turned to Fred and admitted that he thinks he learned more then than he has in a long, long time. It’s all another level of experience, and it’s stuff we’re all very happy to share. The things we’ve done and you know, the process that we use to create our songs with people. But it’s also just to sit next to someone like Fred Penner, who’s such an insane musician and such a talented performer, and hear first-hand what he does. Sort of the best of both worlds, for sure.