Oakland-based music project, Saint Solitude, announced its newest album, Sugar Pill, which will be
released on September 30, 2022. This is the band’s seventh album and the first release since 2021’s
Twilight Reduction, songwriter Dup Crosson’s “never-meant-to-be-lost” album. Sugar Pill’s 11 tracks were prominently written, performed, produced, and recorded by multi-instrumentalist Dup Crosson, and touch on themes of
wonder, connection, and community. The album is a direct response to Soul Song Paralytic, Saint Solitude’s deep and heavy 2017 multimedia project that focused on Crosson’s grief after the loss of a close friend, and his reconciling of western culture's numbness to mourning. We caught up with Saint Solitude's Dup Crosson to discuss the new album, what inspires him and more:
1. How did the band form and what does the band name mean?
I started using the name in 2006 to give form to some vague, glorified solo project idea I had in my head after a bout of writer's block. A band I was playing with at the time was trying to come up with names and Saint Solitude was floated, but ultimately passed over, so I took it from that list. I originally heard the words to mean the monastic type of solitude a saint has, and not deeming myself a capital "S" Saint like it's been interpreted over the years...but oh well.
2. Previous musical projects? How'd you first get into music?
I've been in a million bands that no one has heard of like most of us – my favorite being The Cardinal Heart and Noise in Print when I was living in Asheville, NC. I wish I had kept the name The Cardinal Heart instead of SS, actually. A child gave us that name. In the rock and Americana realms, I've played with Lady Lamb, Spouse, Vega Victoria, Mullerette, The Bribes. I've drummed for a ton of bands across genres since living in California, including a bachata band called Felipe y las Estrellas del Mar.
I first got into music hearing R.E.M., The Smashing Pumpkins, and Pearl Jam when I was probably 10. My brother was a big influence on getting some great stuff into my brain, like Sunny Day Real Estate and Zeppelin. He played drums. After being annoyed with the loudness they brought to the house, I started sneaking into his room when he wasn't home to play them and got hooked. I learned Green Day songs and the like. Then he started writing, playing guitar and other instruments, and recording on a 4-track, and I followed suit with that as well. Now I'm crazier about all of it more than he is. Story of my life, actually. Other than getting some pointers from him, I'm self-taught – I'm pretty horrible at music theory and writing/reading in the traditional way.
3. First concert that you ever went to?
My first concert was a local Maine band called Rustic Overtones that had a big horn section and they were getting some national press when I was coming up. They got Bowie on one of their records. The first national band I saw was probably Collective Soul when I was 14 or so, though I've never forgiven my parents for not letting me see The Smashing Pumpkins when I was 11.
4. What's your writing process like?
I've almost always written alone, and I'm very motivated to finish what I start. Playing several instruments helps since I can flesh things out entirely at my home studio (Stumble Abode), and that's helped me become quite prolific and productive. But lately I've been itching to co-write and collaborate a lot more, and I'm looking back through the telescope a bit to figure out how best to do that. I wrote in the same room with my friend José Ayerve (Spouse, A Severe Joy) a few years back for a Spouse EP called Sell The Silver, and that was really satisfying, especially since we sing well together. What's difficult wirth co-writing is forming that trust – he and I have known each other for 25 years, so that came naturally. But I'd like to step in with other players that have ideas coming from entirely other spaces.
5. What other artists or songs inspire your music?
For this record Sugar Pill, I leaned heavily on the production of Wye Oak (especially the record Shriek) and The National. Wye Oak has an amazing drummer and they find these ways to process his drums in a way that feels organic and "in the room" but also novel with a silvery, liquid polish on top. It's delicious. And Aaron Dessner's drum production for The National has long held my highest honors. Their track "You Had Your Soul With You" also makes that organic/programmed hybrid percussion sound really well, and that bled into tracks like "Grand Ellipses" and "Sugar Pill". I spent a good amount of time with Neil Godbole, who mixed most of this record, studying the mix of their drums, especially "Quiet Light", to figure out how they got those lush, deep tones on the snare. That was fun to be a part of, and we eventually got to that Peter Katis/70s style we were looking for.
I always draw from layered, heavy music. The Smashing Pumpkins are a given, but also The Besnard Lakes and the insane orchestral arrangements of the Spiritualized record, Let It Come Down. I think I finally achieved that Jason Spaceman-level of production indulgence on the final track on the new album, "Omni" – string sections, double drums, 6 guitar solo layers, etc. It's completely bonkers on the mixing side of things, but Neil was able to handle it.
Plus my ears still heavily lean towards female-identified songwriters these days, too – Santigold and Neko Case are two of my favorites. It's probably why there are a number of female voices on the new album.
6. What's the live experience like and your philosophy on playing live? Do you think the music live should be identical to the recorded version or should it be it's own thing?
The live show has had so many iterations over the years, so it's different every album. I'm much better now at letting the songs be more of an expression of the current band and players playing them. I used to be more strict about following the album arrangements perfectly and I think that hindered my ability to enjoy live shows as much as I do now. I was certainly more anxious, I can see now. And honestly it probably hindered our ability to connect with a lot of audiences, too. My records are still super detail-oriented, but especially as the pandemic fades out in culture, I've been able to be more present in our recent performances and less precious about keeping to a script on stage. Sometimes it takes a decade to get somewhere very, very obvious like that.
7. Has the band toured? What has the touring experience been, best shows? Worst shows?
I toured a lot when I was living in North Carolina, several times a year up and down the east coast and then a big US tour solo. They were some of the best years of my life.
Stories? Hmm. I was booked with a Christian hardcore band once in Wisconsin along with a queer opener (who was playing showtunes) and I was so confused about being on the bill with them. The opener was making subversive philosophical pokes at them in his set the whole time, and they had no idea. It was all good fun though, we all got along.
We also had a horrible show at an Ethiopian restaurant in Washington D.C. once thanks to a terrible booker I had. The place had no idea we were coming, let alone playing loud music. I love Ethiopian food but for a few years, eating it was a trigger to that moment.
Then there are the moments where people propose to you on the street, or you get to play a national baseball game. Or you almost pass out from ecstatic dehydration. All part of the fun.
As for touring, we'll be sticking to shows in California in 2022. All of my touring friends say it's rough out there right now, and even from seeing shows of big name acts I can see that a lot of listeners are still not ready to go to shows – not to the level that independent bands like us need to make it work as a touring outfit. I think society needs to re-embrace the notion of taking chances of live music again – seeing a band they've never heard of before, showing up for the openers to hear something new, and – this is huge for me these days – actually talking to the people next to you when you go to a show. The indie rock scene is so bad at that!
8. What's up next for the band?
The new record is out September 30th, and we have a big album release show on October 1st here in the East Bay. We'll do some regional shows as a quinet for the first time through the fall and from there on out, I'm not so sure. I've completed 7 albums with this project now and I'm beginning to think I might hit a reset in some big way in 2023. I'm looking at residencies or even moving out of the country to chase some new ideas.