‘If it were really that simple, I would be writing essays, not songs.’


American singer-songwriter Ethan Gold has ambitious plans for the future: a trilogy of albums called ‘Earth City’. Part one, subtitled ‘The Longing’, has been released in June of 2021 to excellent critical acclaim. Which is justified, for it is quite the lovely album. Keysandchords.com had the chance to talk to Mister Gold via ZOOM. The connection was woeful (we were lost in space and time twice), but Mister Gold proved to be a friendly and open conversationalist. Even if yours truly sometimes misunderstood a certain song’s intention or meaning, Gold welcomed all of them.

Julian De Backer: ‘You’re living in Los Angeles, and you wrote a song called ‘In New York’. Is it just an ode to the city, or an expression of longing, of wanting to live there instead?’
 
Ethan Gold: ‘I’ve lived in New York City, on and off. I have probably spent three years there. Played in a band, worked on a film score, et cetera. It is a city that I know reasonably well, even though I’m not a native. I did my best to capture the romance of the place. In any neighbourhood, there’s an imprint of ‘New Yorkness’ that you can feel. I wanted to evoke that. I did a music video with lyrics and photographs, and someone pointed out that the song structure that I used was much more in tune with songs from the 1940s. I wanted to express a feeling of the city that could last. The nostalgia that you feel in that song is for the archaeological layers of the city. I consider cities to be like living beings. Like bodies that have a heart, blood, skin, and organs. They function like these interrelated systems. It’s a song for the city of New York, it’s an ode.’
 
Julian: ‘What city are you a native of?’
 
Ethan: ‘I’m from San Francisco, California. Los Angeles is, of course, in the same state, but the two could not be further apart or be more different. Weather, culture, architecture, it’s another world. I’m planning on spending more time in Europe the next couple of years, actually. I may spend most of 2022 over there. Next month, I’ll be in Norway, if I’m allowed into the country, to play a show. The Netherlands and Germany are also on the agenda. I may come to Belgium, we’ll see. It’s an exploratory trip. I consider myself a citizen of the world. I did a video for another song called ‘Our Love is Beautiful’, where I went around the world. Cities are microcosms of our civilization, but also the civilization itself functions like an interrelated city. Different places inspire different things.’
 
Julian: ‘Funny you should mention Norway, because they’re not part of the European Union.’
 
Ethan: ‘And they’re currently not allowing Americans into the country. But I have a friend who wants me to play a show in his town. I would be the artist of the month. I’m hoping it can happen.’
 
Julian: ‘Perhaps they’ll make an exception for that. Your song ‘Alexandria & Me’ is quite lovely. The lyrics mention ‘It’s just another ghost story, Alexandria and me’. Were you inspired by the movie ‘A Ghost Story’?’
 
Ethan: ‘No. No, I was not. I don’t even know that movie.’
 
Julian: ‘It’s an American movie, but an independent one. It never got a wide release.’
 
Ethan: ‘In a way, ‘Alexandria & Me’ is the flipside to the song ‘In New York’. It’s really a song about the layers of history in Los Angeles, about being out with somebody, and exploring the underbelly of the city. It’s about the romance of a different kind of city, about the excitement and the exhilaration of finding the layers and facing death. I went to some rather haunted places – either literally haunted, or haunted by the shells of people whose lives had fallen apart. Basically, I was in a milieu with a lot of darkness and death. You’ll find these pockets of decayed glamour, of what a city was in prior generations, of flowers growing on graves. The feeling of exploring a place, and how the layers of things show up. ‘Alexandria & Me’ is really about the old downtown Los Angeles, but Alexandria stands in as a woman and as a city. Weirdly enough, I met a gnostic priest. When he came to LA, he looked over the city and saw it as the reincarnation of the ancient city of Alexandria. I had already written the song, so it was a nice sort of confirmation for me. It’s not an essay (laughs), it’s not direct or rational, but it’s an evocation. I often write my songs in a semi dream state.’
 
Julian: ‘Apparently, there’s also a hotel in downtown Los Angeles called ‘Alexandria’. But of course, you used it as a metaphor for both the city and perhaps the girl of your dreams.’
 
Ethan: ‘Or perhaps the ghost of my dreams. Before it was cleaned up, I went to several parties at the Alexandria hotel. Nobody I knew would go downtown at night. It was considered putting your life at risk. The hotel smelled of death. Dark energy. At least two people died during those events. You’d hear the sounds of howling women echoing through the stairwells, persons deep into a mental illness or a drug addiction. But at the same time, you could see it had once been a glamorous hotel in the 1920s or whatever. This combination of post-apocalyptic life with a sense of mysterious glamour underneath layers of dust and grime, was an inspiration for the song. Alexandria is a woman, a hotel and a city, all at once. A vortex of energies. The song is about all of those things.’
 
Julian: ‘Your song ‘Bright and Lonely City’ has a very sixties vibe, at least musically. Were you going for a retro vibe, or did that just come naturally to you?’
 
Ethan: ‘Nobody has ever said that, and I definitely did not. I was going for a retro vibe with the song ‘Pretty Girls’. ‘Bright and Lonely City’ is sung in a style that’s not my usual singing style. As you can hear, my speaking voice is somewhat low, yet I’m singing quite high in that song. That one was written as I stood outside my father’s apartment overlooking downtown San Francisco. He lives in a one-bedroom walk-up filled with books and dust. For me, it was the sense of promise that is in a city, and also the kind of alienation. In a way, as the first song on the album, it’s the piece of candy version of an introduction to the themes of the record. A light, candy-like version of some of the darker themes on the album. So I wasn’t deliberately going for a sixties thing.’
 
Julian: ‘I’m sure the inspiration can come from anywhere, it can strike you like lightning and may end up in a song.’
 
Ethan: ‘Yeah. Writing a song is one kind of inspiration, and then the arrangement is often a different one. Sometimes, they come at the same time. ‘Bright and Lonely City’ is going to reappear. It’s not the last you’ve heard of that song. I’ll leave it at that.’
 
Julian: ‘It has to be hard to decide on a song’s final mix.’
 
Ethan: ‘That’s one of the challenges of any artist. It may have been Brian Eno who said: ‘Mixes are never finished, they’re only abandoned’. At a certain point, you just have to say: ‘This is done’, and I used to struggle a lot with those kinds of decisions. A few years ago, I had a head injury, and I have become much more decisive since. I now have a clearer sense of what a song’s message and meaning is. Your inner guide has to say: ‘Is this evoking the truth?’. If it’s not, it might be interesting, but it’s not really the point. My next few albums will probably feature a more pure expression. My process feels more and more pure, as a conversation between the brain and the spirit.’
 
Julian: ‘We’ll be able to notice a narrative thread throughout all your songs, if we look back on your oeuvre in the future.’
 
Ethan: ‘That’s where the album trilogy concept comes from, which is quite abnormal for an artist to do in this day and age. We’re focusing so much on singles. I know I’m going to be putting out a lot of music, which relaxes me in regards to the arrangements. It takes the pressure off, trying to have one song be everything. It’s more like a long and delicious meal.’
 
Julian: ‘It’ll last longer.’
 
Ethan: ‘I certainly hope so! (laughs)’
 
Julian: ‘The beginning of your song ‘Our Love is Beautiful’ reminded me of a waltz, something you’d hear on a Parisian marketplace. I don’t know if I’m making sense.’
 
Ethan: ‘Oh. I’ve never heard that. It’s not technically written in a waltz time, from a musical perspective. But I love the energies that you’re picking up on. It’s a song that unabashedly wants to place beautiful things on a pedestal. From a musical perspective, I wanted to have flowers in the music, if you know what I mean. Your point about feeling Paris or Vienna makes sense spiritually, even if it doesn’t make sense musically. So I’m really happy to hear that that’s what you’re getting out of the song. I get that. It’s going to be different for everyone.’
 
Julian: ‘That’s what makes music and art interesting. It’s never just one thing.’
 
Ethan: ‘It’s always hard when people ask me: ‘What is this song about?’. I tend to respond: ‘Well, listen to the song, and that will tell you what it means’. If it were really that simple, I would be writing essays, not songs.’
 
Julian: ‘Pete Townshend once said: ‘I wrote a song called ‘I Can’t Explain’, and I spent the next forty years explaining the song to journalists’.’
 
Ethan: ‘Haha!’
 
Julian: ‘It’s sad, but it’s the truth. I’m out of questions, so thank you for your time.’
 
Ethan: ‘Thank you, for your time.’

Julian De Backer © 2021 for Keys and Chords