Tulipomania - This Gilded Age of Isolation and Mystery

The13th AÑO: 4 | NÚMERO 40

UNA R E VISTA IMA GINARIA

TULIPOMANIA THIS GILDED AGE OF ISOLATION AND MYSTERY

[ Interview with Tulipomania by Pablo Müllner ]

THIS GILDED AGE OF ISOLATION AND MYSTERY

Tulipomania is not easy to label. Their official page quotes a critic saying they sound like “cult synth punks”, and that probably comes close.

But it is only a first impression. Much of the musical approach of the band is about the focus on the minimum details. It is a matter of many, many layers, involving both sound and meaning. They have taken it slowly but seriously since their debut almost 15 years ago, until “This Gilded Age” (2016). They are musicians that still think “less is more” and give space to mystery and unsolved questions, the ones that makes you think more. It reflects in their name of choice, for starters. (Tulipomania refers to a historical episode: the tulip euphoria from the XVII Century, which took place in the Netherlands. It is said to be the first historical account of mass delusion and madness of crowds.) Only one thing we know for sure: Tulipo-

this complexity is inevitable and part of the world we live in. History resembles the present, with sounds like choruses of folk songs coming around again with updated verses and new solos and melodies being played over old chord structures by new musicians on instruments that have just been invented. The song goes on forever – we hope…

mania are Tom Murray (lead vocals, bass, drums) and Cheryl Gelover (synthesizer, background vocals) joined by Mitch Smith (guitar, background vocals) for “this gilded age” that sound nocturne, enigmatic, sometimes bleak, but always compelling. As their own answers…

twisted and unconventional plot. How does a Tulipomania song come to life?

First of all, that's quite a compliment! Maybe it is no coincidence that David Lynch and the members of Tulipomania all lived in, and studied art in Philadelphia?

Maybe something is in the air here? I can tell you that we don't share a current "Philadelphia” sound or style, if there is such a thing. The nightmarish soundscapes in Lynch's films are fantastic. We also have an album artwork connection with Lynch. When David Lynch started to release music he worked with Vaughan Oliver. We are very lucky to be doing the same. The Quay Brothers also studied art here in Philadelphia and were a source of inspiration for Vaughan Oliver too, I believe. They are to us as well.

There is a short story by Mark Twain called The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, from 1873, that is a satire of the so-called Gilded Age, that is an account of a lot of serious social issues hidden beneath a thin veneer of gold. So even more in the present context “This Gilded Age” cannot be separated from the Trump Era, which must be a good source of inspiration for any musician to write dark, brooding music? I got the idea that from the title on, the listener should expect multiple layers in your work, both sonically and lyrically.

Mark Twain was one of the artists who made America great. The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today, was relevant in 1873, and sadly, it remains relevant today.

Speaking of satire, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver (although he is not American) continue to keep America great, in our opinion!

We are (we hope, obviously) interested in exploring musical and lyrical complexity only to the extent that we find it exciting and interesting. We don't intentionally make either complex – we think

After I listened to the last LP at least twice on your Bandcamp page, I started thinking about “similar sounds”, as I found a need to connect things or at least create some logical order, but as an American band (I read that you are from Philadelphia, and not Dutch!) you didn´t sound very American at all to me. And if I can think of American art with a similar kind of sensibility, it would be the films of David Lynch, for instance. That´s much more than saying the band sounds cinematic. It also suggests a very

Perhaps it can be misunderstood by someone who watches things from very far away. Is there a “scene” or at least of a group of current American independent bands that you feel a part of? Or, do you think that much of your work is in part born out of isolation?

We are definitely not part of any scene. Philadelphia is very lucky to have MAGNET – a national music magazine located here. They are, and have been very supportive of a lot of local and regional music as well as more obvious and larger bands and artists. It is hard to imagine what music from Philadelphia looks and sounds like from your perspective. Without a doubt

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our music and films are created in isolation. We have friends in other local bands - but we are not creatively connected together in any obvious way.

Our music develops from the drums and keyboards out, about half of the time. About half of the songs have lyrics first, and then we make music to work with the lyrics, and with about half of the songs the lyrics are written to go with existing music – or are finished or changed after the music is created. We write the music, starting with bass and keyboards or often drums and keyboards first. All of the other arrangements come together after the vocals are recorded, most often.

The name of the record is also a part of the lyrics for the song “So What are You Looking At?” which is a kind of a desperate lyric, almost in the “nothing to lose” vein, so “This Gilded Age” is even more clearly an ironic statement. But what did stri-

ke me most about the song is the latin vibe, it has a strong Spanish influence. It reminds me even of a flamenco lament. Do you recognize that?

Yes, "This Gilded Age" is taken from a line in the song "So What Are You Looking At?" It was absolutely intentional that the lyric and the album are “This Gilded Age”. We are not referencing a past era. Although that song and the others on the album were written before the current political situation – it was clear to us where things were heading. Things have been on this trajectory since the 1980's certainly – maybe they have always been heading this way. We think it is difficult not to see things right now as traveling along a pretty dark path.

We are influenced by so much music, and many of the things we love are obviously and admittedly influenced by Spanish music. For example, we know that Leonard Cohen said the basis of all of his music

evolved from lessons he received from a Flamenco guitarist. For us, there was no intentional quotation or reference – but when you love the sound of something it will influence your aesthetic choices.

Mitch Smith plays guitar on this album. He is a fantastic guitarist and musician. Knowing his aesthetics, we’re sure he was influenced by Spanish music and guitar styles. Mitch's playing on "So What Are You Looking At?" surely does sound influenced by Spanish music, we agree.

The sleeve design is a work from visual artist Vaughan Oliver, who was the man behind a lot of iconic cover sleeves from the 4AD record label. It’s very powerful and beautiful and also very intriguing: it seems to be a piece of used, discarded gauze. I can imagine a creature of the walking dead, or some kind of Frankenstein’s monster emerging out of it.

But that is just my take. Can you explain how it was working with Oliver?

We think the cover artwork for the album and singles as well as for the poster are fantastic! Working with Vaughan Oliver has been a terrific experience. He creates his artwork after listening to the music, by reacting to the mood of the songs. He really reads the lyrics, and doesn’t hesitate to ask questions. When working with other artists, we try not to force our own input. We tried to allow Vaughan the time and latitude he wished.

Why would you work with a great artist, and then place demands that would attempt to limit her or his creativity? We feel very lucky that Vaughan was interested in working with us! We are thrilled with the process and the results. He is a very smart person with an intelligent sense of humor – and having the opportunity to meet and work with him has been an all around joy. We like to think we have similar sensibilities. We gravitate toward - dark - for want of a better term - music and art and simultaneously prefer people with a sense of humor. Vaughan is a great storyteller and a pleasure to be with, and to work with. He’s driven and focused, while still able to maintain a light and joyous touch.

There is also a strong cohesion between the album cover imagery and the video work done for some songs of the album: "Hold On," "Shooting off the Set" and "Don´t Be So Sure," which looks like a real abstract painting in motion. Those short films

were featured in film festivals, which is a great way of getting attention for the band too. The visual aspect of it seems to be a very important part of your music, is that right?

We are filmmakers, animators and visual artists as well as musicians and songwriters. It all happens together for us and each discipline influences and interacts with the others. We would love to make a video for every song we release. If we had nothing but time – we think we would. We are still trying to make videos for all of the tracks on "This Gilded Age". We have completed animations for over half of the tracks – so maybe we will be able to fulfill the goal this time. We love film festivals and animation festivals, and feel it’s a real treat when we’re able to attend them. We are honored to have our work included by so many terrific international festivals. For us, the visual and musical are integrated and inseparable.

The Whispering Campaign was your previous work, released in 2011. The name also refers to a historical moment, and it´s also very thought provoking. I managed to hear some of it online. The single “Rumble Thud” is excellent and has a great video. But maybe it’s a very slick track compared to the rest of the album, which sounds much edgier. What happened in between those two albums? Five years is arguably a lot of time…

Time has a way of going by quickly and running away from you. We have been making films and animations together for a long time and we can't say why the time lapse between the two albums happened. It is always a struggle to start and to finish songs, albums, films...

We think we may start releasing singles on a regular basis rather than wait until a collection of songs are completed and complied into an album. There are always tracks that get started and are never released or even finished and some of that process can lead to long delays if you are waiting to finish an album. We don't remember exactly when Rumble Thud was first recorded – but it may have been months before or after the other tracks you are talking about. We would love to release new music and videos every few months.

That may be a more workable plan, moving forward.

Glad to hear that you like Rumble Thud and the video we made to go with it. Thanks!

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Your profile as a band on the internet is quite mysterious: I read you have two more albums out, but I couldn´t find much before the Whispering Campaign… Actually I found out about a self-titled album that is said to be released a long while before, like 2003? Can you tell us a bit about the beginnings of the band?

We released four albums, a number of singles and an EP. The first self-titled album was out in 2003, I believe, and an EP was released shortly after that. We released a second album titled Anamorphic around 2008. The Whispering Campaign was released in 2011, we think.

Our latest album "This Gilded Age" was out last year.

We have had a number of lineup changes. We have recorded with three different drummers and various guitarists on the various albums. Changing the people you work with and developing new relationships and rapport takes time. Finding people with compatible aesthetics and schedules can lead to long delays.

Tom played bass on almost everything we have recorded and he played guitar on two of the four albums.

On all of the recent recordings Tom played bass and drums. We recorded with Mitch Smith on guitar for the most recent album. We (Cheryl Gelover and Tom Murray) are the core of Tulipomania. We write the songs together and play on every track. We make the music

videos together as well. We would love to work with other people more often – but as we mentioned before – there are time constraints and delays that happen when more people are added to the mix.

To sum up things a bit: Do you think that being an indie American rock band during This Gilded Age of the Trump Era is something vital? Is it a good place to be, to have the strange privilege to be part of these times?

We don't know for certain... We aren’t that sure that this singular moment is as isolated as we would like to believe. We think it is always been, and will always be, a good time to be attempting to make art and reflect and comment on the culture you are born into and that shapes your existence. Sometimes, it’s hard to see it as a privilege, but maybe life is the privilege, and making something of and about the world you find yourself in is all you can hope to do.

Do you have any near-future plan to come visit South America?

We wish we did! We hope we can visit and perform near you at some point. We would love that! We don't have any firm future dates to share - but we will be sure to reach out to you when we do. Thanks for taking

7 the time to talk with us about our music and films. We appreciate the perceptive and thoughtful directions

your questions have taken us in‌ Many thanks to you!

Thank You Very, Very Much Tulipomania!

The13th U NA R EVISTA IMA GINA RIA