What do you get when two wholly unique creative folk forces come together as one? The answer to that question is Goodnight Moonshine — a modern folk-pop collaboration comprised of Molly Venter of Red Molly and Eben Pariser of Roosevelt Dime. The duo, who also happen to be husband and wife, combine elements of roots, blues, folk, americana and pop music while exploring themes of love, life, death and independence in a way that’s both purely intimate and instantly relatable.
On their second album I’m the Only One Who Will Tell You, You’re Bad, which just dropped June 1, the couple have compiled a collection of inspired, emotionally-charged yet mellow tracks, perfect for that laid back Sunday afternoon. Venter and Pariser were kind enough to share some behind the scenes details from their latest LP as well as a few insights on topics ranging from death to David Bowie to the ups and downs of writing and touring together as a married couple. Check out the full Q&A below.
Laurie Fanelli: What are some of the lyrical and musical themes of your new album I’m the Only One Who Will Tell You, You’re Bad.
Molly Venter: I wrote my quota of break-up songs and pining-for-someone songs in my 20’s. People resonate with the emotional roller-coaster of longing and heartbreak. It’s what all the movies are about! But then there’s this whole other world of actually being with another person; the celebration and the struggle that comes with that. This album is a lot about what a relationship can look like after you’ve been together a while – what it can look like after having a kid together. The songs explore our families-of-origin and our friendships too, and how those relationships shape us and hold us up. Now more than ever I’m finding the increasingly frenetic world at large affecting my internal space. The personal relationships can become a microcosm of the larger chaos unless I really pay attention and tend to them. Then hopefully, you know, that effort ripples out and gives someone else the ability to address a relationship that is complex and important.
Eben Pariser: Musically, we had a lot of fun in the studio. It’s all held together with the common thread of Molly’s acoustic guitar and vocals, but we really let each song speak to us in terms of production style and instrumentation. Some tracks called for classic strings, some called for backwards piano and tape-effects. Some called for trumpet, some for pedal steel. We kept writing and adding tracks til we ran out of ideas, with Adam Chilenski, my longtime friend and co-producer working out of his studio as well. The use of Roosevelt Dime as a backing band for 4 songs was Adam’s idea. It creates such a vibe to have a seasoned band on the record and, since Dime is my band, I was able to write parts in a way that is natural for us to play. In the end it walks the line between acoustic folk, indie-rock, and modern Americana very nicely, with a lot of arrangements and composed parts that I’m super proud of.
LF: As a real-life couple and song-writing duo, how much of the album is inspired by your own lives?
MV: “January Skies” is a song about falling in love with Eben, with all this romantic imagery from 10 years of my life in Austin, TX. In truth though, Eben and I met in a fierce head-butting accident in the hallway of a Memphis hotel. The feelings and sentiments behind a song are always close-to-the-heart, even when I make up the details. And the themes of these songs in particular (from this album) are exactly the themes we’ve been exploring in our own lives. When I was writing “What We Asked For,” I was imagining where our relationship might lead if left unchecked, or unaided. It’s a cautionary tale! And then “Settle Down” & “Keep the Spark” have not one invented detail.
EP: I have a song on the album I wrote during a really dark time between me and my brother. I felt like never speaking to him again, and our acrimony was tearing apart the family. I began to find it fascinating though, how the people closest to us have the unique ability to hurt us most deeply. My song “All Men Are Brothers” imagines this conflict as a metaphor for the human race — the violence and hate that nations, races, and tribes visit on each other, proof that we are all truly brothers. BTW my brother and I are chummy again so maybe there’s hope for the human race as well!
LF: I love the track “Bowie” and how you use the passing of David Bowie as an examination of death in general. Musically, the composition is very sweet and uplifting. Do you think that death shouldn’t necessarily be an unhappy occasion?
MV: That’s a big question. I think that death can be an awe-inspiring, joy-like experience even as it is painfully sad. I felt both things as my dad died. I find it problematic that we don’t talk about death in our culture; we hide it away in hospitals and we act surprised when people die. We don’t have traditions that help us grieve our loved ones together. Death is part of the package — the only sure thing actually — and so are these little deaths along the way. I was feeling the death of my pre-child identity the week I wrote “Bowie,” and thinking about how each life transition calls me to change shape, which is both uncomfortable and exciting. David Bowie was a shape-shifter and I admire that. My choice to write this song in a poppy, uplifting style was mostly so that I could sing it onstage. It’s hard to find a good place in a live set to sing a slow, sad song about death. But you can sneak in some heavy content if you lighten up the feel!
EP: Right at the time I was first dating Molly, I was really into this Mayan philosopher, Martin Prechtel. A big idea I took away from him is that grief and praise are flip sides of the same thing — praise being gratitude for something you have now that you know you are going to lose, and grief being gratitude for something you loved that is now gone. Actually my ramblings on the subject were a big part of what wooed Molly! Molly digs deep into songs about death and grief and it’s incredibly moving. I let her know I could see the love and praise in what she was doing. I don’t think grieving, when done properly, is the same as being unhappy.
LF: Was David Bowie a personal inspiration to you?
MV: In all honesty, the David Bowie connection came from a Facebook post that my close friend wrote on Bowie’s death and how it made her reflect on her father’s passing 12 years earlier. “Good artists borrow, great artists steal?!?” The opening line came directly from her post — “David Bowie died this week, reminding me that we die.” That line was halting to me and I couldn’t think of a better way to encapsulate the reality-check that happens when someone larger-than-life dies.
LF: Tell me a bit about your songwriting process. Do you collaborate on each track or are either of you the primary songwriter on certain numbers?
MV: For this record, the primary songwriter of each song is also singing lead on it. And the bulk of our collaboration took place in the editing, arranging and recording stages. I’m really interested in words and the specific phrasing of words, so Eben will usually defer to me on that. Eben is more musically creative and expansive than I am so choices of chords and harmonizations fall to him. I hummed a melody line over the bridge of “I Love You, Goodbye” and he wrote a 4-part string quartet to expand on that line for the recording. I work best alone at the germination stage of a song. It’s hard enough to get my internal editor to quiet down and I’m very self-conscious if I think anyone can hear me. Once a song is a bit written though, I feel bold enough (and SO lucky) to be able to take it to Eben and ask him to improve it.
LF: What are the best aspects of working with your spouse?
MV: Sharing an artistic connection is really fun because we’re constantly bringing little bits of inspiration to each other. The process of making our music better — even when it’s a slog — helps us know and understand each other better. And then performing pushes us even further because you can’t fake connection. I mean, we can and we do on bad days! But we care so much about being in a good place when we perform, that we work hard to let things go, resolve disputes, and connect to each other.
Sharing a career and a business has it’s own challenges. It’s easy to talk about work all the time. We need to guard time to not talk about work and remember that our lives are bigger and fuller and richer than our careers.
EP: I don’t know how musicians and civilian marriages work! It’s such a relief to be with someone who knows what you are doing is real work, that touring is mostly painful, that reaching an audience has more value than just to make you feel like a big-shot (which doesn’t happen all that often, by they way). When we tour together It’s pretty special that no one is left behind.
LF: What can people expect from your live show when you head out on tour this June following the release?
MV: We’re touring mostly as a quartet with our co-producer and upright bassist Adam Chilenski, and Eben’s bandmate from Roosevelt Dime Tony Montalbano on percussion. I love having these guys as our rhythm section; they hold us up so we can let it rip on the singing side.
EP: We really try to open up on stage and let the audience get a taste of our dynamic — it’s all part of the show.
LF: What’s next for Goodnight Moonshine?
MV: We’re on tour with the new album now, two-year-old in tow, wish us luck!
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Pick up I’m the Only One Who Will Tell You, You’re Bad here and keep up with all things Goodnight Moonshine on Facebook and Twitter.
