For someone with so many famous heads stuck on poles outside his jungle hut, you’d expect he’d put a little more “brag” into it. But the soft-spoken Eric Drew Feldman lets his keyboard playing do the talking for him. When you’ve recorded and played live with a twisted array of musical talent that includes Captain Beefheart, the Residents, Snakefinger, Pere Ubu, the Pixies, PJ Harvey and Polyphonic Spree, you don’t have to blow any hot air into your own balloon. Speaking from his San Francisco home, Feldman touched on the high points of a marvelous career like a flat stone skipping over the surface of a mountain lake. His latest project, kNIFE & fORK’s The Higher You Get The Rarer The Vegetation, is out now via Frank Black’s The Bureau label. Feldman will be also guest editing magnetmagazine.com all week. Read our brand new Q&A with him.
Feldman: Writing lyrics is difficult for me. For me, the obstacle and the goal is to be able to accurately recite and share your subconscious/dreams, which allows others to see who you are. I can more easily accomplish this with the sculpting of music and sound. I don’t mind that exposure. It’s less linear. I don’t feel like a total loser because of this, as a couple of my favorite songwriters who seem to have the same dilemma come to mind: Jack Bruce and Brian Wilson. Lyrics can leave you standing there so naked. Never underestimate the talent of a good lyricist. I haven’t given up.
Video after the jump.
