Americana/tumbleweed pop artist Archer Monk is sharing his new single, “Lost In Translation,” and you can check it out premiering right here at New Noise.
Archer Monk is the moniker of artist T. Wold, who coined the genre “tumbleweed pop” for his upcoming, 12-track album, Joy Ride Opus, to describe its vibrantly eclectic, stylistic palette. The album embraces storytelling, pulling influences from a number of genres, including folk, gospel, alt-country, mid-tempo Americana, hot club-style jazz, and psychedelic folk-rock.
“Lost In Translation” is the lead single from the project, a storyteller song created in the spirit of ’60s folk-rock, recalling names like Bob Dylan and The Band and exuding a mystical sense of wisdom.
Wold says the song began like most do, with him and his guitar lounging on the couch, wondering if there’s enough olive pate in the fridge. Composition-wise, Wold says the single pulls from a classic chord profession from the Dylan songbook, which got his mind “racing back to Highway 61” to the loose, rattling parlor feel of Dylan’s “It Takes a Lot to Laugh It Takes a Train to Cry.”
“Eventually though, when we made it into the studio, Luke’s hollow body electric bass groove
and Rachel’s steady and beautifully simple drumming turned it more soulful, setting aside was
the bombastic quality that I first imagined and for the recording, that was more appropriate,” Wold says. “The best thing is that I didn’t even realize it at the time and when Luke laid down the piano, it
became even more soulful.
“Sometimes I think to myself, ‘Damn! I wish we would’ve recorded it the other way!’ but that’s just text book second guessing studio insecurities. I can always rock it out live with a full band even though the lyrics feel better as a gentler ride down 61.”
He says the best way to begin the story was by starting with the moon, calling the song’s narrative “a bit of a love story, as some days I do feel as though ‘someone somewhere had a plan’ for me and my wife to be together.”
He also cites “Lost In Translation” as a great phrase that seemed perfect as the hook.
“I’ve often felt like I’m part of a bunch of social misfits hitting the road searching for freedom because there are ‘plenty of lawns to mow’ later on and to ‘live in the future while the present dies’ translates to ‘you’re sleeping in a house of regret,'” Wold concludes. “Everyday we’re living lives and doing things that can be difficult to make sense of so we need help in the translation. The final verse deals with all the superficial bullshit of being human in this era and I do believe that the final translation is given to you when you take your last breath. That message actually might be, ‘don’t sweat it man.'”
Listen to “Lost In Translation” here:
For more from Archer Monk, find him on Instagram and Spotify.
Photo courtesy of Kate Schermerhorn
