Cardinal Bloom: To Love Someone
Cardinal Bloom was formed on Snow College campus roughly a year ago. Music majors Nathan Adair, Jacob Sylvester, Joey St. John and Josh Thomas came together with a common desire to play music outside of their studies and something more along the lines of Bon Iver, Pink Floyd, Dr. Dog, Tame Impala… a blend of sound they like to simply call “indie”. Now, with a growing catalogue of music online and steady following of fans from around Utah, Cardinal Bloom hopes to continue developing as a band as they take on more challenges and anticipate big moves for the future.
Salt Lily met up with the group to talk about their past year as a band and what they have planned ahead.
How has studying music affected playing in an indie rock band?
Josh: Um, it's kind of tricky, because, while at some points it's really beneficial and helpful to like-- you kind of have like this big library of knowledge now, but the beauty of like, indie is how like raw it is and how unrehearsed it can sound at times, you know? It's really just like, "this is what we're playing, this is what we're feeling. Put it out there doesn't matter if it was recorded on a phone," you know?
Nathan: For me, school makes it feel really academic, like, the music doesn't feel as emotional and like you're putting energy in it. It feels way too rehearsed... Everything we're doing in Cardinal Bloom feels like we're doing exactly what we're taught to not to do, you know? 'Cause you see, like, our big band at school… it's a great and highly professional feeling. But I don't know. It's just... it's like awkward, almost. But with this stuff, we can channel that energy in a better way. It just feels natural rather than forced, I guess is what I'm saying.
How do you describe the music you make outside of what you study?
Josh: I think we now sit in the indie rock genre. A lot of what we've recently been writing is very much that. We definitely had some more like-- not dream-poppy, but like psychedelic rock stuff ... That's more like the Pink Floyd influence. I mean, a lot of like, the bluesy kind of style comes out when I solo, mainly, and like some of my little licks that I play riffs and whatnot. But overall, I think we sit pretty comfortably in the indie rock genre now.
Joey: Yeah, I would say we all bring a different genre when we're playing. But we kind of listened to the song and see where the song is supposed to fit. And so I think we have a lot of local influence by the Backseat Lovers and stuff like that. And the Moss... Who else is a local band that we listened to? Brother. Yeah.
Josh: I like Drusky a lot, too.
Joey: We've played with Indigo Waves quite a few times... But yeah, we'll listen to the song and be like, “this is really Dr. Dog-y or something.” And then we'll just stay to that vibe through the whole song.
How do you guys go about writing a song?
Nathan: I don't even know where to start. What have we done?… How did we start? I guess, at least with the song that I've been helping with, we kind of find a vent or like, kind of moment in our life that kind of is impactful, I guess, in any way... emotional. And then try and write something lyrically about... I don't know-- to kind of get that emotion out, therapeutically. And then if it kind of sticks it sticks... But I don't know. Joey, go for it.
Joey: I guess, like... this songwriting process is most of the time... I'll probably write the song and acoustic guitar at like 3 a.m., just in the middle of the night ... And then I bring it to these guys in a rehearsal, and we just like, just play. So I'll probably just start off the song and then they start kind of coming into the song, and then they all bring their own aspect. Although, I have a really clear vision of the song each time I've made it, so I might tell one person that kind of like… “I like that, but don't go too far that way,” or “do more of this”... something just so that way we're all on the same page … But lyrically, most of the songs are all real … it just depends on what's happening in our lives. And hopefully it's relatable… I don't really want to listen to fake manufactured music. We're people just putting out music to put out music.
You guys have said before your new EP coming out, To Love Someone will feel quite a bit different than what you’ve released in the past. Why the shift in sound?
Joey: Um, I guess the shift in sound almost has to kind of come with the change in members a little bit. So, Claire, who's our keyboardist and vocalist, is moving on to do her own thing with jazz and stuff like that … And because of that, we've had less harmonies available live. And I like to record stuff as much as possible to what we could do live. I don't want to record it and be like, “we can never play this one live.” And so what I found with the indie rock scene is like, you don't need the three or four part harmonies that I was writing before... But we also want more energy in our shows. And the newer songs we've written have gotten a lot of great energy from crowds and people, like, more than just vibing out. And so... I think we're just trying to find the balance between vibing out and just have a really chill, you know, Dark Side of the Moon-type songs versus Cage the Elephant, Group Love-like energy to it and more just like fun. I think we kind of want to meet in the middle. A little bit.
Josh: As far as the new EP goes... we've been writing a lot more songs, like a lot more of these songs that are all within this vein. We kind of have like this whole thought it's like a theme. It's like a concept album without it being necessarily a story as much as it's just like a theme, and like, kind of one emotion that sits behind all this.
What's the theme?
Josh: It's a very bittersweet kind of thing... To Love Someone. Yeah. And it's the name of the title track, I guess. In the whole thing... it's like this bridge between, like your worst days, but always knowing the sun's gonna come up again ... Like, no matter what, there's still always going to be something to look forward to at the end, no matter how awful the time might be that you're in ... Yeah, you have your rough patches. And, you know, we still hold on to that faith it's all gonna work out in the end. [That’s] what a lot of these songs are about.
Joey: I guess most of the songs lyrically, when I was writing them, I was going through a very weird breakup. It was tough but not [tough], at the same time. And so I guess... the underlying aspect of all of it... It's just showing how hard it can be in every relationship, whether it ends or whether you get married and stay together-- just how hard it is to, like, truly love someone. Even after you break up and just like the pain you might have later turning your relationship to a friendship, or just always holding those feelings to your heart, like the, like how hard it can be. And also how easy it can be at the same time. So it's kind of like the bittersweet, like what Josh was saying.
Is there a certain emotion that you want your audience to have when they're listening to it?
Joey: I would say the emotion that we want our listeners to have is the emotion that they have when they listen to it. As in... whatever you are feeling in that very moment, then that's what we kind of want you to feel. As in... we feel very differing emotions. Some of us feel really sad when a song comes up. Some of us are very hopeful… And I think it's varying through each song … If you're crying and one of the songs, then cool. And if you're screaming by the end of it, then cool... We want it to be very raw. Our other songs are very particular in the emotion that is being pushed out. Songs like "Time", I guess, are very vibey, very slow, very, like-- kind of want you to feel relaxed in a way. I don't think you would be jumping up and down in your seat to that. But our title track "To Love Someone" starts off kind of sad [but then] gets very energetic... I wouldn't say angry, but like, you just gotta let all your emotion out. It was one of those things you just go to the top of the mountains and just scream... It's a feel good song [laughs]. But then we move towards the bridge of the song and it does turn into kind of happy… like resolving. And there's a few little twists and turns in there that you'll probably hear that you'll realize it's just a story in a way of life. Like you don't want to feel one emotion your whole life, you know? The point of the song is not to really feel sad the whole song, which I have written some songs where I want you to feel sad the whole time. But I want to write a song like this where it was just like a, I don't know-- like a wave of emotion or it's just you don't know what's gonna happen next... You guys got anything to add on to [that]?
Josh: Very human.
Joey: Human. Feel human … I think one of the biggest things to really describe this EP is we all have had relationship things that are very differing. And we've tried to all find solace in it. I kind of had like a weird, almost kind of bad, breakup. Nate had a good breakup, but it's like, almost unresolved in a way. And there's just a lot of like... not really tension, but like, just feelings up in the air. Josh had a girlfriend who passed away. Jacob just got married, but he has like almost no girlfriends before. And so it's just like, we all went through the most opposite of relationships. And we're all trying to find our path with each one of them in a way. And almost like, letting some of the relationships kind of close in your heart and in your mind, and then moving on from it.
Cardinal Bloom hope to have their new EP out next Spring.
