Styrofoam Winos
Music has made me do a lot of strange things over the years. But feeling wistful about the Green Hills Recycling Center? That’s new. But that’s the charm of Styrofoam Winos and the joy of their latest long-player Any River. The trio makes the quotidian feel magical, bringing a vibe that is equal parts hip-shaking, heartwarming and bucket-filling. Any River is the aural equivalent of tubing down the Caney Fork: cool, laid-back and deeper than the still waters on the surface suggest. We caught up with the trio of stellar songwriters — Joe Kenkel by phone, and Lou Turner and Trevor Nikrant by email since they’re on the road with a different band — ahead of a pair of hometown celebrations for the album, released in June via Dear Life. They’ll play July 23 at Grimey’s and July 24 at The Blue Room at Third Man Records.
“There are a lot of moving parts,” Kenkel tells the Scene. “The three of us are all individual songwriters that also have our own solo projects. … But with the band, it’s like in some ways the constraint is helpful for us. I think we work really well with a goal together.”
The Winos are involved in an impressive amount of creative activity, even for a band in a town like Nashville. With a core of three songwriters who are also multi-instrumentalists, there is plenty of potential for things to go haywire. But the collaborative nature of their friendship and the way they listen keeps things grounded and focused without feeling forced or constrained. It’s a delicate balance that keeps the listener engaged without demanding engagement. It’s a colloquy between band and listener, a dialogue between musicians and audience.
“There are only three of us, and the songs are ours — there is some more freedom here,” explains Nikrant. “For example, we were playing a really hot and rowdy Saturday night show in London, and in the middle of the song ‘BBQ’ I realized that we were about to reach the very quiet bridge. The crowd was definitely not ready for a gentle interlude.
“So with a quick glance, we all decided to end the song with some big hits after the second chorus, and just get onto the next rocker. Conversely, for more intimate shows we can play our more rocking songs in a more tender and gentle way. So we have the freedom to sculpt the dynamics however we want, and it’s a fun way to tailor ourselves to different rooms and different audiences.”
Styrofoam Winos
The way the players support each other sonically — the little backup vocals that drift in as each singer takes a turn at the mic, the interplay between the pocket and the riff — all points to bigger, stronger emotional bonds than even those that develop through being bandmates. The group recorded over four days with Jim Marlowe at End of an Ear in Louisville, Ky. The fun of a long weekend with buds, eating oysters and hot dogs at Yachtsea, playing some tasty jams and bingeing Lord of the Rings, spills onto Any River like a pal rolling out of a kayak after one too many tallboys.
The band’s roots go back to their days as students at Belmont University circa 2011 and later co-workers at the much-missed J.J.’s Market & Cafe. The combination coffee shop, bar and student hangout is the kind of thing that’s long gone from Midtown and vanishing from the city overall.
“It was much more than the sum of its parts — something for everyone” explains Turner. “It was a place you could go to be alone and work on something or to hang with friends. It was like a communal living room.” That third-space, something-for-everyone aesthetic is reflected in the Winos’ ability to blend sounds and ideas from different scenes into a cohesive whole, eclectic though it may be.
“Most of the time the songs — and I think this is the case for [all of Any River] — came from things that we all just improvised together,” Kenkel says. “We’ll improvise, make a little voice memo and record it, or record it to the computer. And we’ll amass a good amount of recordings of improvised stuff and revisit them and be like, ‘Oh, this is awesome. Let’s pursue this as a real song.’”
The finished works are free-flowing and loose, slacking off in that classic indie way — think Silver Jews on a day when everyone’s feeling good, Michael Hurley at the height of his powers, Stephen Malkmus slinking his way through country and psychedelia. From the Herb Alpert-channeling trumpet part on “New Friend” to the unbelievably catchy “Someone Wants to Send You a Message,” Styrofoam Winos songs are ready to camp out in your head until fall comes.
“I think I’m just such a big fan of being in the studio together, and it’s just so fun to feel the songs come to life,” says Kenkel. “There’s a little bit of a mischievous fun energy to it as well, I think.”
