Band Interview — Vetiver

By Shannon McGregor

Vetiver’s latest album, Tight Knit, explores a hopeful and complex soundscape. After touring almost nonstop for the last two years, founder and front man Andy Cabic settled into his San Francisco home to write the type of timeless Americana songs that Vetiver is known for. Now the band is on the road again, and they will make a March 23 stop at Café 11. Ahead of their first-ever Florida tour stop, Cabic talked with Drift.

Drift: Tell us a little about how you feel about the new album. What’s your take on being pegged a member of the folk movement?
Andy Cabic: I have a variety of thoughts on that. I don’t consider myself much of a movement-involved person. When I write songs, it’s not in some perceived folk idiom – I just write songs one at a time; to me, they each have a different life. People largely have that interpretation of my songs, mostly about my first album with Vetiver – which was arranged with an acoustic guitar. For lack of a better term, they deem that folk. It’s just the way people hear acoustic instruments. Most people I know who are in the folk scene are tied to tradition and to playing songs that are in some form from older folk songs. With me, I was just trying to write something new. For me, it’s just not how I’ve ever perceived my song writing.

D: How did touring for almost two years straight before recording Tight Knit affect the songs you wrote and what ended up on the album?
AC: Quite a bit. I don’t live with anyone I tour with – or anyone who plays on the record for that matter. I live in San Francisco, and the rest of the band lives on the East Coast. I write at home by myself, and then maybe send demos and try and fit them into a set. So some of the songs on the record have that process. Some are songs we’ve played numerous times live. And some were songs I’ve brought to the band moments before the session. … It made for some denser arrangements and a little more upbeat record.

D: Has it been good so far for Vetiver working with Sub Pop on Tight Knit?
AC: It’s going good. I’ve seen it more in other people’s perceptions of my band more than it seems real different for me. It doesn’t seem a whole lot different than the process with other albums. I had a real close relationship with Revolver and DiCristina. Then my own label, Gnomonsong, put out my last record, so there’s been some continuity there. So far, so good. They have a lot more hands on deck.

D: You mentioned your record label, Gnomonsong, which finds you in business with Devendra Banhart. What’s that been like?
AC: It’s a loose label of records that I want to put out for friends, basically. It’s not terribly involved – we do three or four releases a year. I’m fortunate to have people involved whose music really means a lot to me, like The Papercuts, Michael Hurley and Jana Hunter. The label is with Gary, from Revolver, Devendra, and myself. We’ve got The Papercuts’ album coming out in April, and a Michael Hurley record coming out not too far after.

D: You’ve also toured with Vashti Bunyan. Tell me a little about that and about you producing her upcoming album – her first in almost 40 years.
AC: She’s still writing it, but she’s got some demos, and we’ve used those as a launching pad for some arrangements. She’s got her family in Los Angeles, her son and grandson … so I’ve been down there to start sort of unpacking her songs. The songs sound really good – classic Vashti songs.

D: How did you select the songs Vetiver covered on your last album, Things of the Past?
AC: It’s a mix of songs we had already been playing, which meant they were songs I really dug. I have an unceasing urge to go to record stores, used ones, and just flip through records, so I have lots of records. Lots that just have a song or two that stick with me, and of course, ones where I love the whole album. A lot of the songs come from an album where they just sort of called out to me. For every artist that’s on there, there are 500 more that are influences also.