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Banjoist Nathan Bowles and his band, drummer Rex McMurry and double bassist Casey Toll, join us to discuss their new album Are Possible (Drag City Records, July 26th), Nathan’s follow-up to 2018’s Plainly Mistaken and their first full-length trio effort.
Plainly Mistaken was something of a split recording, in that four of the songs were solo Nathan Bowles pieces and five featured his current trio set-up, albeit playing Nathan’s tunes. It wasn’t the first time Nathan had brought in guest musicians; 2014’s Nansemond featured three additional players. Are Possible is different in that it is a band record, where the trio play songs written together for this particular lineup. “It was all pretty new when we recorded [Plainly Mistaken],” Nathan begins. “And at that point, I was still presenting tunes to Rex and Casey, and they were learning them. We did some improv stuff, like the In Kind tracks, but we hadn’t properly begun writing together then.
“For me, there’s not a clean line between finishing the last one and starting to scheme on this one,” Nathan continues. “But COVID made it so that we had these things kicking around that were embryonic and we were working on them collaboratively and building the songs out, instead of me bringing tunes.” “I feel like when we were initially going to record this in 2020, we had all come up with ideas we hadn’t fleshed out yet,” Casey picks up. “And then around 2021 we really started honing them together and making them more finished things. There were still improvisatory aspects there, but they were pretty set before we went into the studio, which was the main difference.”
When it comes to Plainly Mistaken leading into Are Possible, Rex feels there is a particularly significant song that marks the transition into a trio band. “The Road Reversed felt like the beginning of playing like we do now,” he says. “Nathan brought that tune to us in a very early stage, so we worked through that one largely together. There were more songs that were written all the way on Plainly Mistaken, but we were starting to play like this live at that time too, and we’ve just been running with it since.”
Moving forward into making Are Possible, Nathan believes the spirit of the songs felt different and perhaps more satisfying as they were being developed. “I feel like there are songs on the new record where I can hear and feel discrete elements of everyone’s compositional minds,” he explains. “I don’t feel that as much on Plainly Mistaken, although The Road Reversed is one song where I remember way back feeling I really needed upright and drums on there. And I felt that on that album we were just getting started and it would have been weird to abandon that idea and move onto something else. There were a lot of possibilities left.”
Interestingly and somewhat appropriately, Are Possible doesn’t feel like a banjo album, with songs like the ace Our Air building itself into something of a jazz piece around a killer bass line. It immediately gives credence to the trio concept. “A lot of that comes from the songs being collaboratively written,” Nathan says. “With Our Air, I had a riff, but it didn’t have the harmonic movement that makes it as cool as it is until Casey brought in that bass riff. Combine that with rhythmic elements and ways to stack layers and you realise that the banjo isn’t the focus of the song. Maybe the banjo isn’t the focus of any of the songs…”
The recording is certainly careful to have each player equally served. “We were conscious of that in the mix,” Nathan nods. “We wanted the banjo to be audible and clearly articulate, but I didn’t want it to sound like a banjo dude being backed, because that’s not where the songs’ strengths are, they’re in the combinations.” “We had more rhythmic ideas, with changing time signatures going through it,” Casey adds. “I was trying to think of a way to connect it, like a thread, so it felt like one continuous phrase, instead of three separate signatures stacked on each other.”
This idea of rhythm is key to the record and comes in straight away with Rex’s drums before the trio bed into the first song, Dappled. This groove feels like it is a crucial element of the whole record’s character. “In my memory, with a lot of the songs, we would get excited by a strong groove and latch onto it,” Casey agrees. “We wanted to continue with that idea, with each of us bringing in other elements to make it more of a composition and not just a groove, although it felt like the kernel.” “We still write from that rhythmic idea,” Nathan says. “Casey mentioned the bassline as a thread that comes through; because of that, the jagged uneven banjo thing I came up with sounds very smooth and natural. I also know that finding grooves that are a bit elliptical and not totally circular and finding ways to make them interesting tends to be a prime motivator of Rex’s drumming too, which drew me to his playing.”
“Nathan’s drumming background has been super helpful,” Rex admits. “There have been times when I had an idea but couldn’t quite work out the movements and Nathan and I sat down and figured it out. But I also feel that the more acoustic nature of the instruments is helpful, as opposed to other groups I’ve played in. It often seems like everyone’s drumming, even when we’re all playing different instruments.”
Are Possible is rhythmically a very tightly played album, with each musician clearly in tune with the others, but the band claim there is still room to manoeuvre and improvise in the songs. “The structures are pretty solid and consistent,” Nathan says. “But anytime I’m playing banjo, no matter how composed it is, individual rhythmic micro-choices, especially with my left hand, are quite in the moment. And if you came to a few shows back to back, you would hear differences for sure, especially with our approach to melody and things.” “I think that’s true and that we mostly improvise in our communication,” Rex suggests. “Especially when live and how long we play certain things… I would say that Casey improvises the most, but, thinking about the record, he’s that good at improvising that it sounds really tight and locked in the first time he does something that you’ve never heard. That’s pretty fun to play with.” It sounds to us like this trio is quite hot right now and the live shows will be a lot of fun. “Yeah, we like playing,” Nathan nods. “I’m eager for different people to hear this; it’s exciting to get it out on the road. I do think the music has a unique palette of sounds, but because of the rhythmic and hypnotic qualities, I think it’s pretty inviting too. And when it comes to the album being a grower, that’s like my favourite shit right there.”
Are Possible is out on Drag City Records on July 26th.
Pre-save/Order: https://lnk.to/arepossible
Nathan Bowles Trio US Tour Dates:
26th June @ Local 506 – Chapel Hill, NC *
27th June @ Eulogy – Asheville, NC *
28th June @ Richmond Music Hall – Richmond, VA *
10th July @ Thirsty Beaver Saloon – Charlotte, NC
11th July @ Pilot Light – Knoxville, TN
12th July@ Soft Junk – Nashville, TN
13th July @ Hungry Brain – Chicago, IL
16th July @ Acoustic Music Works – Pittsburgh, PA
17th July @ Zissimos Bar – Baltimore, MD
*w/ Grails
