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Herring keeps it short, bittersweet
Dustin Downing
Collin Herring’s “Ocho” singularly sketches innocence lost. The Austin transplant’s fourth album, equal measures folk (“Trazodone,” “Little Aches”) and indie rock (“Seemed to Be,” “Passed Away”), dissects its coming-of-age theme succinctly.
“I like eight, nine songs (on an album), and then my attention span is really done,” says Herring, who relocated from Fort Worth two years ago. “I like to dig into a song when I listen.”
The 32-year-old songwriter performs Wednesday at the Mohawk.
American-Statesman: You did well overcoming some sound issues at Waterloo (Records, where Herring performed Nov. 17). Do you like doing in-stores?
Collin Herring: I do enjoy doing in-stores. You never know what you’re going to get. That time, it was a little difficult, but once the first sound issue started, it’s just, “Well, where do we take it from here?”
You played ‘Nothing’s Good’ that afternoon. It sets a pretty somber tone as the new album’s opener.
People ask me about that. You know, the song is depressing, but at the same time it’s hopeful. The average listener will think, “Whoa, what a sad, dark song to start a record with,” but I feel like it really jumpstarts the whole album. It’s where I was when we started recording: “Nothing’s wrong, nothing’s good.” What do you think?
Well, it’s interesting you say ‘hopeful’ about ‘Nothing’s Good.’ That surfaces more obviously in ‘Trazodone’: ‘I think great things will happen.’
I think a degree of hope is important. I had all these sad, quiet songs, and that line to me is just saying that life isn’t all that bad. As dark as some of these songs may sound, I do have hints and motions toward goodness in a lot. Another line is, “Don’t put my name on every mistake.” A lot of (expletive) comes, but I want to make sure I put a lot of hope in the material as well.
Does the cover art (depicting eight ghost-like figures) relate to that?
Well, I sent three songs to this indie artist in New York City named Niloufar Mozafari. She listened to the songs, and that’s what she came up with. First, I thought, “There’s no way.” Then I realized that it’s perfect, ghostly with silhouettes. It looks like women in dresses. Plus, there are eight of them and eight songs. If you listen to (“Nothing’s Good”), it goes perfectly.
Why stop at only eight songs?
Financially and time-wise, we had five days to record and two to do rough mixes. That was as much as I could get recorded in that time. I hate the idea of restarting just to get two more songs added on. I don’t like to listen to long records.
What did (producer) Will (Johnson of Centro-matic) bring to the dynamic?
He slowed me down. “Trazodone” was (sings cheerfully): “There were hassles and heartaches! Trazodone!” He was like, “Let’s go slower, Collin.” These songs took on a whole new depth. He added patience, emptiness, sparseness and a lack of overproduction. I immediately realized that this is not like any other producer I’ve worked with. This is someone who truly understands the beauty of what a record can be.
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