A Carousel Moon has teamed up with producer and engineer Brendan Williams of Gain Stage Recording in New Paltz, New York to write and record their newest single "All My Friends". This is their first release since the "Random People" ep in 2021. The duo of Michael Esserman and Eric Sosler (No Great Pretender) have taken a new approach to writing and look forward to releasing more music with MINT400 Records in the near future. (Interview with Michael Esserman)
In your opinion, what are the essential qualities that make a “good songwriter”?
It’s hard to say what makes a good song writer. I think a good song writer is someone who writes good songs. That sounds obvious, but I think the real question is what makes a good song. In my opinion, what makes a good song is when broken down to the bare bones, the meat and potatoes, it still holds up. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the production stuff, the ear candy and what not, of course that can make a good song great! But you can’t polish a turd as the saying goes. You need that strong foundation, a great melody or a great instrumental hook, something that grabs your attention and pulls you in and then takes you on a complete journey, start to finish.
What is the basis for writing attention-grabbing music in the year 2023?
It’s seem now a days you need to take out the fluff, trim the fat, so to speak. There is so much music out there it’s hard to grab anyone’s attention with a 1 minute intro. The listener wants to get hooked right away or they are moving on. What that hook is I don’t know, it seems that’s what everyone is trying to figure that out. I don’t think you should try to write a song you think people will like, you just need to write the best song possible, and if you love it you hopefully they’ll love it too.
What has it been like working with an indie record label as opposed to working on your own?
Working with an indie label puts a little more pressure on you to make a finished product, but it’s easier to do so without having to worry about performing the tasks the label takes care of. It allows you to focus more on the music, and less on the business end of things.
Can you pinpoint some specific songs and songwriters that changed the way you write music?
As crazy as it sounds, the show and sound track to Daisy Jones and the Six. In the show they were really pushed by their producer to work hard on their tracks and really take the time to craft them, to chisel them down to there best form instead of settling on the first incarnation of a song. We were really inspired by that.
Do you find it hard to be inspired by artists that are younger than you, or are you motivated by their energy? Can you name any new artists you find inspiring?
Young artists, old artists it doesn’t matter, if they are making great music it’s always inspiring. And of course it makes you want to work harder when you see someone younger than you, that is better at there craft than you, it’s humbling and makes you want to get improve. There is a young blues guitarist out there Toby Lee who is just phenomenal and when I heard him play I was blown away. I was like damn I wish I could play like that!
For your new album, what inspired the lyrical content, album title, and overall vibe?
In the past lyrics always seem to take a back seat, but moving forward we wanted it to be just as important as the music, if not more important, so we have been focusing a lot on that. I think the lyrics are more personal and focus on different experiences rather existing to create an abstract vision or mood.
Do you find that you ruminate over writing songs and hold on to them for a long time before including them on a record? Or do you prefer to write them, release them, and be done with them? Do you ever re-visit old material to do a re-write or once it’s done it’s done?
We generally like to write and release. I heard somewhere that a record is exactly that, a time stamp. It represents where you were at that point in your life. There is no reason to go back and revisit. That was then and this is now.
Were there any lessons you learned in the writing and recording process for your current release that you will take with you into your next project?
I think you always learn something new, and that is how you grow as an artist. If we didn’t learn we couldn’t grow and the music would remain stagnate. I think on this particular project we are learning to really sit down and shape the songs, to go over with a fine tooth comb instead of just throwing ideas at a blank canvas and hoping we create a masterpiece. We are working with more intention. That being said, we haven’t abandoned what we’ve done in the past. Spontaneity is still part of the process, but we are more willing to remove, shorten, or rearrange parts for the benefit of the song, rather than keep things just because they sound cool.