Interview with Glen Phillips of TOAD The Wet Sprocket
We had the pleasure of interviewing Glen Phillips of Toad The We Sprocket from The Twisted Wool Lounge at the historic Woolworth Theatre in Nashville!
During his years as lead singer and main songwriter of Toad the Wet Sprocket, Glen Phillips helped to create the band\u2019s elegant folk/pop sound with honest, introspective lyrics that forged a close bond with their fans. When Toad went on hiatus, he launched a solo career with Abulum, and stayed busy collaborating with other artists on various projects including Mutual Admiration Society, with members of Nickel Creek and Remote Tree Children, an experimental outing with John Morgan Askew.
Phillips\u2019 previous solo record,\u202fSwallowed by the New, was a post-divorce outing about grief, while\u202fThere Is So Much Here\u202ffinds Phillips writing love songs again focusing on gratitude, beauty and staying present. \u201cLooking at this batch of songs, I realized I\u2019d turned a corner. I noticed that I was in a state of being that wasn\u2019t all about loss. Things felt doable and hopeful again. There\u2019s no pure happy ending - the world is a mess, the future is uncertain - but I started to internalize poet Mary Oliver\u2019s words: \u2018Attention is the beginning of devotion.\u2019 I\u2019m paying better attention. I\u2019m getting more devoted.\u201d
The 11 tracks on the album move between quiet love songs and outright rockers that consider the multi-faceted meanings hidden in our everyday lives. \u201cStone Throat\u201d is a midtempo rocker that looks at a couple in a new relationship, trying to find the balance between desire and responsibility, or as Phillips sings, \u201ctrying to find the balance, between the sacred and the street.\u201d There\u2019s a hint of new wave ska in the rhythm of \u201cI Was a Riot,\u201d a song that casts a compassionate eye on the end of a relationship. \u201cThe arrangement nods to Joe Jackson\u2019s Look Sharp,\u201d Phillips says. \u201cGraham Maby is one of the greatest bass players of all time, so\u202fwe had him\u202fin mind when laying down\u202fthe bass part.\u201d\u202f
The COVID lockdown-inspired \u201cThe Sound of Drinking,\u201d is an appreciation of the familiar things in life, like drinking a glass of water on your back porch. Sean Watkins (Nickel Creek) plays soft acoustic guitar and Glen sighs a lyric of gratitude for simple pleasures.
\u201cCall The Moondust\u201d is the most metaphysical song in the set. There\u2019s a dash of secular gospel in Depper\u2019s piano, and ambient effects that suggest the vastness of the cosmos. Phillips delivers an emotional performance over a tense arrangement that hints at the wonders of the universe. \u201cThe beauty of life is in its mystery,\u201d Phillips states. \u201cIf we think we have an answer, we\u2019re deluding ourselves. My dad was a physicist and was reading about string theory on his death bed. He found God in all those extra folded dimensions, and left this world with a sense of wonder. I hope I can do the same.\u201d
Ultimately, as Phillips reflects on the album, he shares: \u201cThis is an album about showing up for what is and letting it be enough.\u201d
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