Awakening : An Interview with Gentle Temper and Live EP “Sleep It Off”
Gentle Temper is a dreamy folk duo out of the Boston area. There music is tempered with easy strummed and plucked guitars, smart rhythm arrangements and tender harmonies. Releasing a new EP in the form of a behind the scenes documentary called “Sleep It Off” sees the two artists colliding in a beautiful celebration of sound. The voices of Ryan Meier and Marion Earley on their own have a brut strength and range, but it is together that they truly shine. With Meier commanding a tone similar to that of Dallas Green of City and Color and Earley’s voice finding a beautiful and ethereal spot in the mix.
Watch the 18 minute-ish documentary below and read up what the duo’s thoughts were behind this project and what is coming next…then get out to their show at Atwoods with Stains of a Sunflower on March 25th. Tickets available HERE.
RLR: What does the songwriting process look like for you all as a duo? Do you write together? One person writes then brings it to the other and hash it out?
GT: Yes, and also yes. We’re kind of at the mercy of ourselves when we write. We’ve spent hours coming up with one line for our YouTube debut “Cold Shoulder” (filmed on the same porch we wrote it on), but we wrote all of “Sugar”, our first acoustic single, in less than two hours. I (Ryan) love it when Marion comes to me with a poem that resonates with me; the song just sort of seems to already exist and I just get to bring it to life.
RLR: The concept for Sleep it Off is pretty awesome. There is something really special about getting to see and witness the artistic process of a group or single artist. How was that for you having a camera follow you around for this? Do you think it heightened the creativity because you were like “ok we have to make this shit look cool and interesting” or maybe the opposite because you were focused on the fact that a camera was there? Would you go back and do it again?
GT: The team that our manager, Becca, put together for us was such a solid and genuine bunch of students, and we’d worked with and met most of them before the actual day of the shoot. The documentary portions really felt like we were just hanging out – Wes Cannon (our director, with whom we’d already filmed a cover of Dry the River’s “Hammer”) is really good at capturing those honest, candid moments that you don’t really think about while filming. He’s got this way of editing and filming that’s so vulnerable and real, and he’s always down for an adventure. We’d definitely go back and do it again. Everyone we worked with was so eager and hardworking. It was a really fun project for us.
RLR: I must admit, you guys were new to me when Becca reached out. Its hard to believe just how many great acts are all over Boston (nevermind the world) that we may never hear about. Something I ask every artist I talk to is about their take on ‘community’ and the one that they are part of. How has Boston been to you and have you seen it evolve and develop around you as an act as you have become move engrained in it?
GT: Boston has been really kind to us. We’ve been lucky enough to open for some national touring acts (Bombadil, The Family Crest, LOLO, and Ballroom Thieves to name a few), and we’ve made a lot of great friends thanks to the community that we’re a part of here. Boston is such an unassuming but immensely creative city. It’s almost impossible to meet someone who’s not involved in art or music in some way. And it’s constantly evolving and growing – I think it’s safe to say that on average we hear about a new project, new band, new venue, etc. almost every other day.
RLR: There are a lot of dynamics to your music considering its just two folks. There is a lot of energy and drive an passion, particularly in your singing. How important is that for you and your sound to be able to really move folks with that build and largeness to the vocal harmonies and sound, and inversely the juxtaposition of that sparsity and balancing the build with quiet moments. I am thinking specifically about verse vs. chorus in Mouthful of Saltwater.
GT: We like to play with dynamics a lot in our music. We don’t really have a song that sits in the middle the whole 3-odd minutes. Because there are only two of us, we’re somewhat limited in what we can do. But we try to make as much noise as we can and get creative with it. It’s cool to get really loud and kind of boisterous, and then to strip it back down to the basics, which is where we started. We have a lot of fun messing around with different harmonies, too.
RLR: What were you guys listening to or referencing when you were preparing for this EP and visual project?
GT: A lot of the inspiration for the visual EP came from watching tons of AudioTree and KEXP sessions. We originally wanted to do a session really similar to both of those; fully live with some interview questions between songs. When we had our first big meeting with the whole team we decided to make a few adjustments to separate the idea a bit from those already well-established sessions. We wanted to create something that Green Line Records could do again with other artists down the road. Musically we were listening to a lot of Andy Shauf, Bahamas, Henry Jamison, and Shakey Graves (we still are, ha).
RLR: Who are some local acts that you guys adore and why?
GT: Oh man. There are so many. A lot of our friends are just insanely talented and driven, it’s hard to name just a few. Stains of a Sunflower: four buds of ours who just put out an awesome EP on Vanyaland, Jakals: operatic soaring vocals over orchestrated guitar parts, Tory Silver: charming singer-songwriter guitarist who put out a live EP not too long ago, Honeysuckle: a trio of jaw-dropping vocal and mandolin/banjo/guitar arrangements, Copilot: a group of musical heartthrobs busting their butts playing shows just about every night, The ZILLA Show: long-time compadres of ours who bring new awe-striking performances to every space they inhabit, Darlingside & Ballroom Thieves are big influences both professionally and musically for us. We’ve been able to kind of watch them grow from their beginning stages, and it’s truly been so inspiring for our growth as a band.
RLR: Anything else specifically you want to push/promote?
GT: We’re releasing our debut album this summer! And we’ve got a lot of shows leading up to the big day. Catch us at Atwood’s Tavern in Cambridge, MA on March 25th – we’ll be opening up for Stains of a Sunflower! Check our website for updates and where to catch us live! –> gentletemper.com
photo by Kaya Blaze Photography
