The Pat Keen Interview
What was your childhood like growing up, and where are you originally from? When did you first begin to fall in love with music and was this something that was relevant around your household when you were young? Who were some of your earliest influences? When and where did you see your first concert and when did it dawn on you that you wanted to pursue a path in music?
I grew up in Eau Claire, WI, which had an inspirational music scene between the jazz pedigree at the high school I went to/university, as well as the indie songwriting boom of the early aughts. It has produced a lot of really special musicians over the years, including Bon Iver, JE Sunde, We Are The Willows, Megafaun, and many more. I got to see all those bands as a high schooler and got super inspired by them. My first concert of my choosing was Paul McCartney at the Xcel Energy Center when I was 11. I wore the shirt I got at the show every day through all of middle school. That felt quite defining in knowing that I wanted to do music.
Did you participate in any groups or projects prior to setting out as a solo musician? 2015 saw the release of your debut album “Leaving”. An album recording entirely on four tracks, tell me about this album and the sort of calm, isolating atmosphere it has.
I’ve been touring since 2013 in a slew of bands that I either led, or played a role in. Those included Adelyn Rose, Guerrilla Toss, Ryan Power, IAN SWEET in the past. I’ve been in the band Humbird for its entire existence and keep very busy with that still. After I graduated from New England Conservatory in 2014, I toured for 6 months straight before heading home for the holidays. I realized that I wanted to write more songs, which led to the desire to study with the great Chris Weisman, whose songwriting I had admired for years prior. Chris lives in Brattleboro, VT, so I decided to essentially create a 4-month retreat/study at a back house I rented in Alstead, NH, about 45 minutes from Brattleboro. At my first lesson with Chris, I told him about how much I loved his songs and wanted advice on writing my own, to which he replied “let me just teach you how to open up your guitar playing”. So we did all these pattern and shape-based guitar games. A lot of the songs on “Leaving” were created by experimenting with those techniques. The inspiration to record it to a 4th track was also from Chris, who has recorded all his music that way.
In 2017, you followed up with “Albatross”, but this time with a talented group of folks to help bring the album to life. How did you want to particularly approach this record now having the elements of inviting people in on your process in comparison to “Leaving”?
All the instruments on “Albatross” are played by me aside from some harmony vocals by Hemma and JE Sunde. I used an interface to record the guitars, basses and scratch vocals into Logic and then brought in my dear friend Leo Strei to engineer the drums and final vocal takes. It was a departure from “Leaving” in that I took it upon myself to become a better singer. That’s where JE Sunde came in and coached me through the vocal takes.
Jumping ahead to your most recent effort that was released this summer, entitled “I Saw A Bug”. A huge advancement in your career and unique process of approaching music as well as composing. What was the overall vision going into this project and what was most important, while capturing the essence of what these songs mean to you?
I released a record of my songs with lyrics about the pandemic called “Cells Remain” on Birdwatcher. I’m super proud of that record, and like many things during the pandemic as well as the uprisings here in Minneapolis after a police officer murdered George Floyd, disappointed and confused about the outcome. There was a shift in my creative process then. It didn’t feel right to write lyrics as a white dude with privilege. I still wanted to make music, but I didn’t necessarily want it to be so delicate and cerebral when it came to the scope of it. Taking lyrics away made that make sense and allowed me to make different decisions during the creative process that there wouldn’t typically be space for if there were words.
I’m curious to know some of the backstory to songs like “Dance With Wheeler”, “Mud Season”, the album’s title track and “Full Worm Moon”. What does the rest of your summer look like going into the fall? Is there anything else you would like to share further with the readers?
Every day that I recorded a track, I would usually take a hike in the morning before, especially the bulk of the music of which was worked on in Taos, NM at a farm I stayed on for 2 months to get some personal space in early spring of 2021. I’d come back and start working on a piece of music and once it was time to save the Logic file, I’d quickly rack my brain to something related to the nature around me, so that’s how “Full Worm Moon” and “Mud Season” came about. “Dance With Wheeler”, is referring to a day I tried to summit Wheeler Peak which is the tallest mountain in New Mexico. I got above the treeline and almost lost my tracks because it was snowing so hard. Ultimately, I turned back. I’ve never felt so inferior to nature than that. It’s called “I Saw A Bug” because I did indeed see a bug that day. I don't know what kind of bug it was. At the end, I thought that was the strongest title of them all, so I decided to make it the name of the record too. The “I Saw A Bug” album release show is in Minneapolis 8/24 at Berlin. Starts at 8!
