Morgan Garrett’s sonic stew is messy and precise at the same time. Shrapnel scattered in random patterns across the ground becomes a playground. Sounds are dissected and repurposed from the dust, twisted into jagged tone sculptures. His newest album, Purity, is restless and intense, as though it’s simultaneously running away from one thing and into the grime-infested arms of something else. Inside the freneticism is a warm core that binds the disparate, scarred timbres together. Garrett channels so much energy and emotion into this music that it overwhelms, sometimes purposefully getting lost in the action to let the emotive heart run free.
Purity will be released on May 17 by Orange Milk Records. Morgan begins a massive tour in support of it later this month. Find his tour dates HERE.
First, to start as always, what are some of your earliest memories with music and sound? Did you grow up with a lot of music around?
MG: I think I can remember hearing the Jeopardy theme song, like, the waiting music for the players’ answers. I remember it playing when I was a baby, but that might also be something that was told to me by my mom or my dad, it may not even be my memory. I was standing, dancing to the music in a baby crib. Otherwise, it’s probably like a church band, a worship band. Like the rock band that plays music before the church service starts. I can definitely remember hearing that as a child maybe around age 4 or 5. I can’t really remember specifics of what music I was hearing very young. I know that I was hearing Steely Dan, and a 70s mix CD, Alanis Morisette. Certainly, my dad and I would communicate with each other using a lot of bizarre mouth sounds and voices. We still do this.
How did growing up in Appalachian Ohio influence you?
MG: I grew up in Portsmouth, Ohio, which is on the Ohio/Kentucky border, the Ohio River. I literally grew up in the woods. So maybe that had some influence on me, just the trees alone. It was pretty much the same people that I saw from the time I was a child until I left the area which was maybe 10 years ago but moved back for periods of time over the years. I think it’s very complex culturally and it made me learn how to be kind to people. I’m not sure why that is exactly, maybe I don’t ponder it enough. I grew up with like 99% white Christians, impoverished to upper middle class, definitely do not remember being around anyone that was rich. I think our graduating class in high school was like 35 or 40 who graduated. So it was the same people that I was around most of my life, which was fine, I think I got along well with the people in my life. I think the veil of Christianity over the region had an interesting effect. You know everything good and bad that would come from that is certainly present in my life. I went to church regularly up to my teens, and different types of Christian churches. Some of those religious experiences were pleasant, and some of them were scary, and sorta ruled over life in the area. I’m not deeply learned on the history of Appalachia, so I can’t speak about how these, you know, the historical roots of the region may have affected me. Certainly in my lifetime, the opioid epidemic affected my community. There were pill mills everywhere. Sometimes it was confusing because like, a parent or someone would pass away from a drug overdose but maybe it was portrayed to be their time or they were suicidal, I can’t remember it being portrayed as a result of drug abuse or addiction until I was much older. There was always some weird veil over the reality of these situations which made life and relationships confusing at times. I think growing up where I did taught me how to trust myself, and how to discern reality for myself.
When did you first start getting interested in creating your own work? Were there any specific moments or a certain impetus that pushed you toward it?
MG: Yeah, I was 16 and it was definitely playing Guitar Hero and being prompted by two guitar-playing friends of mine to consider getting a bass guitar and experiment with making sounds on my own, maybe not even so much with the idea of you know, playing in a band or learning how to play music specifically, but actually just creating sounds. So I did get a bass maybe a few months or a year after that. And just started playing it and I got a distortion pedal and I just kind of took to trying to make my own sounds with it. Playing really high up on the neck was something that I was drawn to. So it was right at the time that I got my first instrument around 16 or 17.
The first thing mentioned in the description of Purity is how it was created in response to finding a neighbor’s dead body. I don’t necessarily want to get into the specifics around that, but more generally I am curious how music works as a medium for you in processing trauma like this?
MG: My music allows me to process some of the more abstract parts of trauma like the humorous, or truly dark aspects of things that affect you or seem impossible to overcome. Like it’s probably possible to talk things out and parse it out conventionally, you know, discerning and working through really distinct things like “I’m afraid” or “I feel sad” but in order to stretch apart and reveal what’s in between, what’s harder to see and to face, I think creating original sounds and songs in these states can be helpful for me.
What surprised you the most about making Purity?
MG: The constant work on the album until its completion. Really just diving in completely into this project and not stopping until it’s done. Not in a way that is insane or overworked or anything, but just like a truly disciplined approach to a project from the outset till it’s into the world including now. Not done yet.
You collaborated with Alex Nagle on production for Purity. How did this collaboration enhance the creative process, and what did Nagle bring to the project?
MG: Working with Alex Nagle has been awesome, he and I brought this album to life together. Alex mastered Extreme Fantasy and has been more intimately involved in this project. Alex is truly a genius when it comes to the sonics of music, listening, mixing, and mastering. I think that we really find a mode in which we can focus that’s very kindred. We’re able to communicate with each other pretty effectively on what we plan to do, and how we intend to make aspects of the sound or the song actually happen. I would make the music alone in my house in my room and would send mp3 demos to Alex and he would respond with very succinct bullet points on how to improve upon the mix. So I would take those points and apply them and would create a new demo of the same song or maybe use parts of that demo for another song while keeping in mind his suggestions. Then that week we would meet up and mix and sometimes record at his studio if I had a completed song. I’d usually have a final mix of a song done every 2-3 weeks, which sped up towards the end of the project when we got to know each other better and when I was hitting a stride with songwriting and lyrics. So we ended up working on this project together for 6 months just in the writing and mixing and production process alone. But we were pretty much constantly in contact throughout the entirety of it. We still are. We’ve worked on remastering some of these songs and vocal production for the live show too.
Are there any particular stories or moments while you and Alex were working together on Purity that really stand out
MG: I remember when we got “Alive” right. We listened to it in my car when I was taking him to a show and it just crushed. In fact that might have even been an earlier master of the song, I don’t remember. But I felt like it was a time when we took a song that we were really excited about and had this moment outside of the studio brought into reality. Honestly, every meetup we had throughout was outstanding, but that moment outside the studio was memorable.
A more general question on collaboration, and considering the other bands and projects you’re in and have been involved with, it seems like that is an important part of your creative practice. How does collaboration and collective work influence your individual process?
MG: Absolutely, this album and my own work wouldn’t exist in the way that it does without the influence of these other bands that I’ve been in. I like to do things my own way because I like to experiment and I like to form my own process because that’s how I have fun, but I also appreciate the insights from a different human being, especially someone that I trust. I know that everyone will possess some rich or strange perspective and contribution. It’s always valuable. And I feel like whether it’s used explicitly or whether there’s some subconscious influence, it’s always gonna affect what I’m doing. At this stage, I feel like collaboration influences the more technical aspects of my process and less on the songwriting
What was the biggest challenge you had to overcome to make this record?
MG: Having enough time and energy to get it all done in a way that was thorough while living a normal life outside of making the record. Working full time, trying to maintain healthy relationships with my loved ones and friends, and trying to take care of myself.
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