Geographer: TAS In Session

Based in San Francisco, Geographer actually has local roots thanks to singer and songwriter Michael Deni, a New Jersey native. Following a a series of family tragedies, Deni left the tri-state area and headed to the Bay Area for a fresh start. He began the buoyant electro-rock infused Geographer with cellist/keyboardist Nathan Blaz and drummer Brian Ostreicher and the trio released the much-acclaimed Innocent Ghosts in 2008.

For their latest album, Myth, out now on Modern Art Records, Geographer worked with producer Eli Crews who has also collaborated with tUnE-yArDs, Deerhoof and others. The threesome will join I Break Horses for two gigs in Los Angeles and San Diego this month and are looking ahead to San Francisco's Outside Lands festival later this summer.

Deni, Blaz and Ostreicher recently visited The Alternate Side for a session, chatting about their admiration for former tourmates Stars, the creative impact of the subconscious and more. Below, watch the videos and read highlights of the interview and don't miss the session when it airs this Friday, May 18 on TAS on 91.5 WNYE at 11 a.m. EDT, also streaming on the TAS site:

UPDATE: Listen to the Geographer session now in the WFUV archives.

Alisa Ali: Mike, you’re originally from New Jersey?

Michael Deni: I am!  [I’m from] Lawrenceville, near Trenton. New York has always terrified me as a place to try to make a name for yourself. There’s so many buildings, people and cool things going on. How do you know when you’re doing the correct, cool thing? And I had friends in San Francisco. No friends in New York.

Alisa: Now that you’re in San Francisco, you know that you’re doing the correct, cool thing?

Michael: Oh, interesting! I guess that’s what I just said. Every time I’m doing anything cool, I rest assured that it is correct.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwcBnHNfT4g]

Alisa: I understand that when you first started making music, you were folk-centered. Now things have changed?

Michael: It was sort of a gradual crescendo into electronic rock music, I guess. The folk was really out of necessity. I still mostly listen to Simon and Garfunkel, James Taylor, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young. Pepper that in with a lot of Radiohead and Aphex Twin. When I’m in my room, I’ll pop on those records. I moved to San Francisco with just a guitar and I was playing open mic nights so those were the songs I was writing. And then I met Casey Johannsson who has a beautiful voice.

Alisa: And Casey is the one who introduced Nathan and Brian to the mix? You guys all went to school together?

Nathan Blaz: We went to Berklee College of Music, Boston.

Alisa: Your college paid off.

Michael: Yeah, and I’m reaping all of the benefits.

Alisa: Mike, did you study music?

Michael: I was an English major and a creative writing major. I took piano lessons from [the time] I was 6 and then saxophone lessons.

Alisa: Do you ever bust out the sax?

Michael: We busted it out on "Blinders," actually. There’s no sax here [today]. It’s hard to sing and play the sax at the same time.

Alisa: Now you first realized you wanted to be a singer when you got the role of “Aladdin” in fourth grade?

Michael: No! It was just a chorus concert. I sang the Aladdin part of “A Whole New World.”

Alisa: Who was your favorite band to go on tour with?

Michael: Stars is a favorite band that we’ve been on tour with. They were just so nice to us. They invited us onto their bus and treated us like friends. They made a real point to get to know us immediately.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ywxYpHPMq-4]

Alisa: “Life of Crime” is the lead-off track from your new album, Myth. This is a little bit of a theme that you’ve touched on. There’s some reference to bank robbery in other songs. There’s comparisons, in your lyrics, to youth and the current day. Do you find yourselves reflecting back quite often? Robberies of the past?

Michael: Well, there’ve been no robberies. I think I only stole one piece of candy and that’s because I didn’t understand what stealing was. I think I reflect a lot and that inevitably goes back to my youth. But the “The Myth of Youth,” that song, drew a lot on what I was thinking about in the back seat of my friend’s car when we were just driving around New Jersey. That’s what you do for fun in Jersey: you drive. That’s before the environment was dying. You stare out the window and think about leaving your small town — how life is going to be amazing, you’re going to discover everything and fall in love. Then you grow up and you’re sort of hoping for those same things.

It seems that somehow we were sold some sort of myth about that: “You’ll understand when you’re older.” It’s like the curtain closes on the love story and then you live happily ever after. I think that’s something that people really truly believe in and they live for. That’s what that song is about.

Alisa: You’re a strong believer of the subconscious when it comes to writing lyrics?

Michael: Definitely. I think I used to rely on it way more than I do now. Now I rely on it for a lot for those kernals. Those choruses come from the subconsciuos. You can’t just sit there and think, “What’s going to be the thing that’s going to be powerful, connect with people and mean something to me and a stranger?” I could never sit at a desk and concoct that. I’ll build the song up to a point and then just loop it in my headphones, sing and try to lose myself and get free of trying to do anything. Then something will come out; maybe in a 30-minute recording there’s five seconds of good lyrics. I’ll take that and I’ll figure out if it means anything to me. Then the song goes back and forth between trying to write it and just letting it come out.

Alisa: Do you take a lot of satisfaction out of writing lyrics or are you more into the musical aspect?

Michael: I do get a lot of satisfaction out of the lyrics. Playing your music for people is really meaningful but when they’re singing your words and it means something to them? The things I’m thinking about? The things I spend my days with? If I can put that out of myself, bring that to other people and they do something real with it, it makes me feel like I’m a part of something. It’s very meaningful to me.

Alisa: Is the process of recording versus playing live iike apples and oranges? Would you have to make a lot of adjustments bringing these songs to a live stage?

Nathan: Yes, a lot of adjustments. We had to take a couple of months to figure out how to play this new record live. We’re still modifying things and making it even sharper. Especially with all of the layers; how do we make a compelling performance, just with our limited number of limbs distributed among three people?

Alisa: Can’t you just recruit friends of yours?

Michael: Well, that was a conscious decision, not to recruit friends of ours. We really like working with each other and being on stage with each other. It’s a different kind of thing to watch — a bunch of guys with tons of gadgets — but as long as we don’t get mired in the electronics, it’s what’s we enjoy doing. Even if it does drive us totally insane, for that three month period, it’s worth it once [we’re up on stage]. As long as we don’t forget to plug in a cord or something.

[video:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHc3RXeLwyQ]