Interview: Tom Barrett revels in plaintive musings

“Honest Eyes” is not like the rest, that according to musician and songwriter Tom Barrett. With his forthcoming album, Everywhere We Live, he configures a muted, more plaintive path than he previously forged. While the lead-in to the project, “Honest Eyes” stands as the “outlier of the record,” he explains. An exercise in songwriting, he never had plans to include the plucky little number on the album. “It’s catchy and makes for a solid track three,” he counters. “Hopefully, the listener is ready for ten more songs that sound a little different from that one.”

In building the song musically, featuring stringy guitar and percussive heartbeats, Barrett recalls having the “drum beat in mind, then came up with the guitar part. Once I had some lyrics going, everything else came together pretty quickly,” he tells B-Sides & Badlands. “I’d finished a version of it while we still lived in Jersey City, but after we moved, I decided it could be better, so I rerecorded a lot of it, mainly the keys and percussion. I may have redone the guitar, as well.”

With his more hushed approach, steeped in different vocals and guitar, the songwriter found himself naturally heading in this direction. It just felt like a natural progression. “A lot of artists I like try to challenge themselves by going against what feels natural to them and making themselves uncomfortable,” he reflects. “There are avenues in music where I attempt that sometimes, but with my writing, I tend to lean into what feels right to me, probably more than I should. It all depends on the song.”

Barrett also tossed in some shakers and tambourines to stretch out the stylistic flourishes. “Honest Eyes” finds him wading chest deep into muffled waters – allowing him to discover colorful new layers to his voice, in particular. Drenched in the idea that many folks enjoy sharing bad news – an effort that Barrett believes for people to “scratch that itch for some reason” – the song goes down smooth yet pierces the heart. It’s that potent – and that’s just Barrett doing what he does best.

Everywhere We Live arrives on October 4.

Below, Barrett dissects the song further and discusses indie-rock influence, overarching album themes, and more.

Was there a specific incident that sparked you to write this song, or is it more of a generalized observation?

I almost never know what a song is about until I’ve written a few lines and a meaning sort of reveals itself. It ended up becoming more generalized. Some people just don’t know when to hit the pause button. It’s more pointed toward the virtual realm, I guess. There’s not much more to it than that, all my songs are pretty simple.

Why the dog statue on the single’s cover art? Does it have a deeper meaning?

It’s just a photo I took in a park overlooking Lake Erie while in Cleveland traveling with my wife. It’s actually a monument to a local police dog. The song has a lighter and more playful vibe; I felt the cover should be playful as well. The dog’s eyes are intriguing to me, though. That’s the look of someone who’s got some bad news for you. [laughs]

Did this musical approach make you think differently about songwriting and musicianship?

Not really. The songs on this record are more dense and polished, and somewhat more accessible, but I still put them together the same way I always have. I’ve never put too much thought into what I do outside of not wanting to repeat myself and make the same song or record twice. If anything, I’d like this to be the last record I do all by myself, at least for a while. I’ve reached a point where I think it might be necessary and good for me to have other people in the room who can bring fresh ideas into the mix, and I’m not just deferring to my own judgment all the time. Whatever the next thing is, I’d love to make it in an actual studio with an engineer and have it be more of a band record.

What aspects of indie-rock do you bring into this new chapter?

The home recording aspect of early and mid-90s indie rock, for sure. That’s kind of my favorite period of music. Maybe it doesn’t immediately present itself in my songs, but when I think about it, there’s not much difference between what I do and what bands like Sebadoh and Guided by Voices were doing with their own homemade lo-fi recordings back then. The technology has vastly improved, and the same opportunities for happy accidents and off-the-cuff weirdness might be gone, but the spirit is still there, I think. I’m only doing the best I can with what I have at my disposal, just trying to make things work. There’s magic in that, too.

Did you meet any major roadblocks, creatively/personally, in making this new album?

There weren’t any real roadblocks, I don’t think. We moved, it takes time to get settled, and that creates a bit of a work stoppage, but you just need to be patient and let things happen naturally. We found our house pretty quickly, and I was able to set up a nice little space for myself where I could record and get things done, which opened things up for me. Before that, we lived in this apartment for a month right in the center of all the honkytonks and bachelorette parties of downtown Nashville, and one of the perks of the building we lived in was this little studio space with some recording gear and a grand piano. I’d spend entire afternoons in that room and just work on songs for hours and hours. That was a fruitful time. A few songs from those sessions made it onto the record and others didn’t, but a lot of work got done, and I was pretty happy with all of it.

I know you prefer to let the music speak for itself, but is there an overarching theme to the new music?

I didn’t have a theme in mind at the start, but again, I guess one just sort of developed over the course of the songs coming together. A lot of lyrics reflect how I was feeling as my wife and I were leaving the home that we’d come to know together over the last decade or so, and the home I’d known all my life. I’d never lived outside New Jersey before last year, so I guess a fair amount of the lyrics deal with the fear and uncertainty that come with being sort of a stranger in a strange land. That’s what’s at the center of most of these new songs, missing where you came from and figuring out where you belong, having to rediscover yourself and find peace with your new reality – things like that.

Did you have any personal revelations during the process?

I guess I learned that while being a musician in Nashville can be both daunting and intimidating a lot of the time; you need to keep reminding yourself that there are all kinds of musicians down here and each one is different from the next. Some of them may technically be better songwriters or players than you, but ultimately everyone is doing their own thing, and there’s always a place for you at the table. The more people I meet and play my music for, the more that idea gets reinforced. That was helpful in building up my confidence about even deciding to put this record out, honestly. It’s been finished for a while, and I definitely toyed with the idea of not even releasing it, but it’s a good record, I’m really proud of it and want to share it with anyone who cares enough to listen. That’s really who this record is for.

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