I’m a Chris Porterfield fan. A fan of the human, the musician and the artist. When I was a DJ at WMSE, the music he created as DeYarmond Edison, a band led by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and Conrad Plymouth would get airplay on my show. But when he started releasing records as Field Report, that’s when I connected on a much deeper level. I’m not sure why, but it just gave me all the feels. In the best possible way. No thumping dance beats, just heartfelt storytelling about things we all feel at times. Isolation, regret, anger and a bit of fear.
In the spring of 2020, Field Report released their latest record " Brake Light Red Tide." I think it might be one of my favorite Field Report albums yet. And thanks to the pandemic, I’ve missed out on seeing, feeling and hearing these songs performed live. And that is OK, I guess. So I jumped at the chance to chat with Chris about this new album. I’ve put some of my favorite bits below for you to check out. Wanna hear even more about the collaborations, sexy saxophones and instrumental moments that give songs time to breathe? Check out the audio interview below, too.
And just in time for the holidays, Field Report decided to press this album on vinyl, so get your pre-order in now!
Dori Zori: Tell me about the creation of this new work.
Chris Porterfield: Each song was a universe in itself, made until that particular piece was finished. Then we would move on to whatever is next. We did that for a while and in January, we assessed the pile (of songs) and there was some stuff that was talking to itself and decided pretty quickly to put it out into the world. It was all work that was recorded in 2018-19…and a bit of 2020.
D: You put it together in early 2020, before you knew what was coming, right? Would you have changed any of the songs on the album or the vibe if you knew what was coming?
C: I don’t know. We sort of had an inkling right before it came out in March and still wanted to go through with it and go forward. It seems like it kinda accidentally turned into a pretty OK Covid record. There’s a lot of loneliness and isolation and wondering … bordering on desperation and it kind of seems to work out OK for the moment. As long as that plays into something that’s helpful and not something that’s destructive, I’m pretty OK with that.
D: For the recording of the album, did you have all the usual suspects on this album or did you have anyone new you were working with?
C: Daniel Holter and I produced it. Yeah, I think this the actually first time Devin Drobka’s been on a Field Report record and same with Caley Conway. We’ve played a bunch of shows together, but it was after the recording process of the last album and so this is the first time we’ve all been together as an ensemble in the studio. Additionally, we had a few other players. Jonathan Greenstein on saxophone. He’s an amazing saxophone player. He was living in Madison briefly but now he’s back in New York. Josh Katanya played piano and then it was Barry Clark and Thomas Wincek and myself. Ben Lester flew in some pedal steel on one. I listened to it for the first time last week because somebody else had reached out and asked me some questions about it. It’s almost like it didn’t even happen to me.
D: Usually by now you would have done some gigs and gotten to play if for people. I know you have done some virtual stuff. Do you feel like something’s missing or are you just putting things on hold?
C: It’s almost like it never happened, honestly. I like being in the studio, I like the discovery part of that. But as far as understanding the work and my relationship with it it doesn’t exist until it’s been completed in a room with other people. I don’t really feel like I’ve gotten it off my chest until it happens that way. In a strange way it’s like it never happened. It was just a fun time hanging out with friends in the studio, but as far as a record? I don’t have any context for it. Normally I’m enchanted and distracted by whatever’s new and next. I’m not in a hurry to do something new. I don’t have anything to say to this moment right now. And frankly, I’m trying to save some space so that sometime down the line, this batch of songs will get a shot.
D: You just said “enchanted” and enchanting is exactly how I feel about Caley Conway singing with you on here. You need to do that with her all the time!
C: She unlocked a spirit of a thing that I’ve been aiming at for a long time. I like the fact that it’s not directly about me, that “I, Chris” am the narrator. It takes it into more of a realm of imagination. I have zero interest in listening to myself sing, but I really like listening to these songs because of Caley. She’s got such a creative way of arranging and using her voice. She’s also a ripping guitar player. A lot of weird little pockets on this record are just Caley shredding.
D: Any new Milwaukee music from 2020 that you’ve been digging this year?
C: Most of what I listen to is my daughter’s Spotify kids stuff. I could talk to you about a lot of Disney songs. There’s this guy that does kid’s trap about flowers and dinosaurs.
D: I do an hour-long Kid’s Disco mix on Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 10 a.m., and I would love to play that stuff!
C: I’ll send you link. (laughter) Honestly, Devin Drobka’s forthcoming piano trio record is amazing and it’s kinda been saving my life. A lot of instrumental music is where I’m at. Before quarantine, we did about 10 hours worth of Argopelter music. It’s completely improvised. Hopefully that will have a home sometime in the near future.
D: One last question, and I hear Chaka Khan’s voice in my head…. looking back on 2020, tell me something good!
C: I think this absence has gone way on longer than any of us thought. When it’s finally time to hug somebody … it’s gonna be a long long nice thing. And I’m hoping if we can keep any lessons from all this, it’s to just appreciate those moments that we have together and really cherish them, and defend them and fight for them. Nobody’s too cool for school anymore. There’s no point for anything other than just open-heartedness and honesty and love and joy if you can find it. I’m really looking forward to just cutting through any artifice at all. Personally and as a city and as a country and as the world. Open-heartedness man, I’m bullish on open-heartedness moving forward.
