Andrew Wasylyk on Perception, Grief and Sandwiches
I spoke with the SAY Awards' shortlisted musician about his process and relationship with the audience.
Here’s my chat with Andrew Wasylyk, a musician twice shortlisted for the Scottish Album of the Year Award. I started following his work when I lived in Dundee, and since then Parallel Light has been a mainstay of my playlists. Be sure to watch him live at Celtic Connections at the end of January, playing with Gerard Love.
We have a conversation about his process, inspiration and the iconic Warren Zevon. As always, if you have any suggestions for future interviewees, let me know in the comments or here.
I was looking back at a Creative Dundee interview I did with you six years ago! I’m really interested in this process of psychogeography. After all these years of making music about places, what insights have you gained?
It’s a never ending process I suppose. I learned a lot more about Dundee, its past and maybe where it's headed. I lived here all my life and I think you tend to miss things. But I guess you ultimately do these things to learn about yourself.
I’m in love with ‘A Further Look At Loss’ - especially the alternate mix. I think it creates a really sentimental space. I saw someone share a blog naming this song in a playlist of ‘music to grieve to’. How does it feel to know you’re scoring all these massive moments in people’s lives?
There’s only so much I can think about that. It’s such an incredible privilege to meet people’s emotions and their lives. I’ve had lots of moments like that with art and music myself so I can relate to that. If I was striving for that I’d probably miss it by a mile. That’s the beautiful thing about art, you can have those dots joined by a listener. It’s such an honour. Thank you for sharing that with me.
When you’re making something new do you feel a pressure to engage with the audience’s expectation of your work? Does the perception others would have of your music ever factor into the work itself?
It’s made a lot easier for me as I don’t feel like I have the tools to penetrate that big commercial level. Emotionally and artistically that doesn’t make me want to sit down with an instrument. In a way that simplifies things. When I approach a project I can explore the grey areas and see what surfaces. Sometimes it’s complete nonsense, other times it makes me feel things and energises me.
You toured with a lot of incredible musicians, including the amazing Wilco! What was that experience like?
Yeah man I still can’t believe that. Hazey Janes got an email from their manager asking if we fancied going on tour in Italy and Spain. For a week or two we were like ‘very fucking funny’... we could not get our head around it. I remember hanging backstage and Nels Cline called me over and said ‘hey, listen to this’ and he played a riff from one of our songs. I was nearly in tears. Very good souls, it seems.
I read an interview with you where someone asked you about the meaning of life…
What did I say?
You said ‘enjoy every sandwich’. I know that quote from Warren Zevon, are you a fan?
Oh ok yeah. How do you even answer that question? [laughs] The magnitude of the quote is just… yeah that’s the right answer. He was such a great writer. He has that song about going to the doctor who said: ‘your shit is fucked up’.
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You seem to be very prolific, but I’m wondering what those moments of creative inhalation look like?
I think I may be guilty of not pausing as much as I ought to… but equally I don’t really know what I’d be doing instead. The creative process is the most important thing, because everything else is out of your control. It doesn’t really feel too prolific from my point of view, every record is a struggle. But that’s part of the rub. It’s a funny period because I became a parent a couple of years ago, so dust is still settling. It’s been an interesting and beautiful thing for those periods of gathering.
What’s been inspiring you lately?
It’s a strange time, talking about all this with the huge issues facing the world. It’s hard to find the positives. But they are there. Speaking to my partner on a daily basis, I feel so lucky… She often restores my faith in humanity.
I’m glad you touched on that, because I’m a huge fan of Clare… During my time in Dundee it was clear that her work in the city was very meaningful and a massive force for good.
I (obviously) agree. It’s massive, I’m inspired by her and our wee girl every day.