Blitzen Trapper
Furr

Produced and mixed by Eric Earley at Sally Mack’s School of Dance | Recorded by Eric Earley and Mike Coykendal at Sally Mack’s School of Dance | Mastered by Roger Seibel at SAE

Coming off tours with Two Gallants and Fleet Foxes, Portland’s Blitzen Trapper has emerged with the follow-up to its 2007 breakthrough release, Wild Mountain Nation. A similarly jaunty effort, Furr opens up the carefree guitar romps of its predecessor, utilizing more space and crisp fidelity in capturing the blithesome songs. This is not to suggest that the band has abandoned its rougher qualities altogether; the heavily overdriven vocals that usher in “Love U,” an endearingly creaky piano that carries several songs and subtle Casio coloring throughout recall Trapper’s lo-fi origins. Even with the relaxed-sounding, shaggy arrangements that keep an eye trained on decades past, the group continues to honor its predilection for tight and concise song structures. Many tracks again clock in shy of the three-minute mark, including the quietly infectious “Saturday Nite.” With the exception of a few stripped-down moments, the band takes full advantage of a wide array of instruments to create a lush, dynamic and fully fleshed-out sonic palette.

Performer tracked down frontman Eric Earley to talk about the making of Blitzen Trapper’s fourth full-length and Sub Pop debut, Furr.

Q: Since you were living in the studio while recording Furr, did you ever worry about getting burned out?

A: Our studio wasn’t exactly like a regular studio - more of a rehearsal crash pad. It took maybe a few months to record, but we were out on the road a lot during that time so it was kind of in pieces.

Q: What was your writing process for Furr?

A: I’ll write on guitar, although on Furr, half of the songs were written on piano – which was nice because I’d never written on piano. That kind of changes the way the songs come about. The guitar has a very specific way in which you move around, but the piano is totally different. We just found an old piano in the hall of our studio space, pulled it in, and I started playing it.

Q: How were the arrangements constructed?

A: I pretty much arranged everything on Furr myself. There were times when I’d sit down and write an entire song in like 10 minutes. For some of the songs, I came up with guitar and voice, then went to a different studio and just did it live in one day. Then I added tracks over the next few weeks. Oftentimes, I wouldn’t even have a skeleton of a song – I would just record a live thing and then start piecing a song together.

Q: How do you approach writing lyrics?

A: I don’t really give it much thought. I just sort of start with an initial idea and, if it develops naturally, then it’s good. I don’t like songs that I have to work at. Sometimes I come up with lyrics first and sometimes I come up with the music first. They’re all different.

Q: Was Furr put together differently than Wild Mountain Nation?

A: I think the results were different, but the process was pretty much the same. There’s just more of a folk element in the [new] record. There’s more acoustic guitar than in Wild Mountain Nation and I think Furr is more organic and less electronic. There are more harmonies, probably. I think it still traverses a number of different genres. It’s still not super consistent, but I wasn’t making a record or anything. I was just making songs. There were about 25 tracks that I recorded for it, and then we picked some at the end to make the record.

Q: What considerations went into choosing which 13 tracks would make it?

A: Honestly, I didn’t even choose the songs that went on the record, I left that up to a lot of different people to pick and choose. That took the longest of anything, almost. For me though, it’s all about the songs. If a song is strong, I want to put it on.

(Sub Pop)

www.blitzentrapper.net

-William Cremin