Q&A: A Conversation with SYML on the Beauty of Quiet Moments in Minneapolis
INTERVIEW
INTERVIEW
☆ BY SHEVON GREENE ☆
I’VE BEEN TO COUNTLESS CONCERTS WHERE THE MUSIC IS SO LOUD—that you can barely hear yourself think, but SYML’s show at The Cedar Cultural Center in Minneapolis on his solo North American tour was quite literally the opposite. There was a special vibe in the room with how satisfyingly quiet it felt, even though the venue was packed and the evening was nearly sold out.
Throughout the evening, Seattle-based musician Brian Fennell, who performs under the name SYML, made the show feel more like a laidback conversation versus just a typical concert. Between songs, he shared stories, welcomed questions from the audience and took time to acknowledge the people who had come to see him. I personally enjoyed seeing loved ones dedicate songs to each other through his song dedication online form, especially knowing how differently each person might connect with the same music. At one point, Fennell dedicated “I Was Stone” to a seven-year-old fan who had traveled to Seattle the year before to see him perform. He also dedicated “The Walker” to Minneapolis, acknowledging the city’s resilience and strength and how inspired he was by it.
That connection between Fennell and his listeners became that much more meaningful after speaking with him before his show. As we discussed the deeply personal stories fans have shared through his song request submissions, he reflected on how people “take and own songs differently than I do,” something he considers one of the beauties of making music. We also chatted about his latest single “I Was Stone,” his experience at All Things Go and how he’s continuing to revisit and reimagine his music. Read below for more.
LUNA: You've been letting fans submit song requests for each show. What a lovely way to make every night feel really personal and unique in its own way! Have any of the requests or stories that have been shared with you really stuck out to you? And have they changed the way you think about certain songs?
SYML: It's been incredibly touching and emotional to read through people's requests because often people share things about either health journeys or mental health or losing folks. It's incredibly touching. I wouldn't say it changes my interpretation of the song, but I think that's because a long time ago, I realized that people take and own songs differently than I do, and that's one of the beauties of it. It’s been really cool.
LUNA: That’s awesome. I even heard that recently a fan got to come up on stage and sing with you!
SYML: Yeah, sometimes people ask to come onstage, but this is the first time I agreed to it. She was so sweet and confident, and I was like, "All right, we'll see how it goes." It was so sweet.
LUNA: I wanted to ask about All Things Go and how that experience was for you, because music festivals are very high-energy compared to some of your music. How do you translate your music into a festival setting?
SYML: Typically, if I have a band with me, it's a lot more natural to fill that space, especially outdoors, because the sound just disappears out into the world. But I think whenever I'm by myself or doing an intimate show at a festival, which is what I did at All Things Go, typically people receive it as a bit of a respite or a break, literally from volume, but also just from being a bit more drawn inward. I love it and I embrace it. I like being that part of a festival.
LUNA: How do you decide on the setlist at a festival?
SYML: You know, it’s funny. At All Things Go specifically, I had to rush to my own show in the city afterwards, so we didn't have a piano, and we didn't have the same amount of colors we have to play with. Some decisions are based around that. It’s also funny because I didn't get to play my most well-known song, which is always a little bit funny-feeling. I'm sure fans in the audience were like, "What?" It also depends on the setting, and when it's during the daytime, it’s the question of “What are the most fun songs to play on the guitar?”
LUNA: You recently released "I Was Stone" after performing it live for a couple years. I find it so interesting that the audience got to hear that a ton before you recorded the studio version. When you were playing it live each time, were you thinking about what you’d want to change in the studio, or a live experience where you thought, “I want it to sound exactly like that in the studio?”
SYML: With "I Was Stone," it was a bit of a reverse of how I would normally approach a song. I did a demo of it by myself and then we were gonna do it for this live recording with strings, so we rearranged the demo based around that need. But I knew all along that I wanted it to be more electronic-based, like the demo was. So we veered for arrangement and setting and came back to the original playground of ideas.
LUNA: You announced your strings tour for next year, which will be really exciting. Have there been any songs that you've started to imagine with a string quartet that have surprised you that you haven't expected or just any “Aha!” moments where you're like, "I definitely want that on the setlist?"
SYML: I think the biggest “Aha!” moment with all the live performances is that that was never really a goal, to do so many live recordings. In terms of the recorded side of things, I think we've done three live recordings, and now we're going to do a fourth. So now it's like, “Well, we have so damn many of them. Let's pick songs that we haven't done and fill in those gaps.” And that will always provide fun opportunities to dream up new arrangements.
LUNA: Between Nobody Lives Here, revisiting older songs on the tour and already working toward another album, it seems like you're in this place of looking backward at your old songs, but also looking forward at the same time. Has anything about revisiting your older music lately surprised you about how much you've changed as a songwriter?
SYML: The longer that you do something like this, you just have this open diary. There's some stuff you share and then some stuff you don't. And revisiting those songs, on one hand, there's a reason that they haven't raised their hand yet, because it just wasn't their time and they're still cool, or you've moved on and you just don't feel that way anymore. Being able to be open with yourself and not be precious with what might be possible is a great exercise. And I do this with phone memos too. That's where I keep a lot of ideas, and I'll take full days to go through and farm ideas and give them their stupid little names just as ideas, and treat them with the respect that there was something there. I had an idea and I thought it was good, so do I still think so? But I think the key is that you're not overly critical.
LUNA: I'm sure it's really cool to go back, especially years past if you're looking for a specific year.
SYML: For this new set of recordings I'm doing, there's definitely songs that the ideas came from four or five years ago.
