Plain Mister Smith (Image credit: Sandra Lockwood)
By Jason Barnard
Plain Mister Smith learned cello with the Vancouver Philharmonic, spent what he reckons was about eight years in the Vancouver indie band Cinderpop, and still hasn’t worked out how to perform live without falling over in his earth-shaped mask. None of that quite explains Bric-a-Brac attack, a title he lifted from Dadaism and Kurt Schwitters’ found-object art, built from volcanic fissures, borrowed voices, and a guitar he plays straight now that Moev’s synth trickery is behind him.
Back in 2021 you talked about a run of songs building into an EP, then singles, then an album. Does Bric-a-Brac attack match the shape you had in mind then, or did the plan change along the way?
In a streaming world, I would suggest it’s good to release music as singles, because many people don’t listen to albums but discover new music on playlists (and the singles are shared on playlists). However eventually for listeners and fans, I think it’s great to culminate an artist’s music on an album, so there a journey: a beginning, middle and end and the album listening experience unto itself. That’s different than listening to singles or playlists which are much more fragmented. So eventually I was indeed planning to release many of the singles on an album.
“Grade Five And The Axe” and “New Wave Sangfroid” both came out through Popoganda Records. Bric-a-Brac attack arrives via Amelia Records. What prompted the move?
Popoganda music is really just my label imprint. The guys that run Amelia Records, Piers and Colin are friends, I wanted to release Plain Mister Smith with some friends rather than release it more anonymously through one of the very big digital distribution services. It feels friendlier somehow….I’m not just filling out an automated form to upload music and never talk to anyone from the company releasing my music. (for starting indie artist’s it can be tough in this way). It’s much more lovely to be dealing with real humans!
‘Grindavik’ opens the album, and you’ve drawn a line between the volcanic fissures there and a relationship falling apart. Was that connection there from the first chord, or did it surface once the song was already underway?
The connection really came about as I was ruminating on the lyrics for Grindavik, and started to think about red-hot fissures in the earth and red-hot (or angry fissures) in relationships. We always want the earth to mend (and the earth is struggling these days) and certainly it’s wonderful if relationships can mend too. I drew the parrellel
Jordan Klassen turns up on four of the nine tracks, more than anyone else on the record. What keeps pulling you back to that collaboration in particular?
Jordan has the most amazing voice. He can go incredibly high (and quite low) which is unusual for male singers. This capability suited the vocal melodies I was writing, especially several years ago, that tended to be in upper octaves. He was able to embrace them and sing them and take them to another level, still filled with emotion.
Findlay Brown worked with you on “Grade Five And The Axe” in 2024 and appears twice on Bric-a-Brac attack. How has that partnership changed since then?
Findlay also has a wonderful voice and good flexibility in how he can approach melodies and the vibe of a vocal. We tend to work on the part together where he has a go at the original vocal melody, and if something sounds like it would be better sung a different way, or if a different melody would be impactful, then I adjust it. Eventually we hopefully get to a melody and vocal performance that really works for the song. Findlay is easy going and positive through the whole process, which is a joy for me.
You’ve previously mentioned not having worked out how to perform live wearing the earth’s head without tripping over a cable. Has that been solved, and will this record get a live show?
I would love to do some live shows! However, the ‘falling on my face with my earth head on’ issue has not been resolved alas! It’s amazing how Angine de Poutrine play live with their crazy masks on, so maybe I just need to be inventive and think up a way I can see better with the earth head on. I’m sure there’s a way!
Moev drew on OMD, Magazine and Siouxsie and the Banshees. You’ve named Sufjan Stevens, Bryce Dessner and The National as later influences. Where does Bric-a-Brac attack land between those two poles?
Moev’s music was much more synth focused, and in Moev, I tried to make my guitar in fact sound synthy, especially with my dandy “E-Bow” (used by Robert Fripp on Bowie’s Heros for example). Plain Mister Smith is centered around acoustic or electric guitar. All the songs are written from this basis and then the other instrumentation flows off that. Vocally I would suggest Jordan Klassen is in a similar universe to Sufjan, and so some of the songs, such as Grindavik or Dream to be Free may have colours of Sufjan in them, with their high male vocal melodies. Other songs, such as Fragmentary world and the odd time signatures, maybe be slightly reminiscent of artists like Bryce Dressner (who is a genius) but perhaps they are in a similar sonic universe than being really too too similar?
You’ve spoken about learning cello and playing with the Vancouver Philharmonic pushing you towards new textures. How much of that orchestral thinking made it onto this record?
I listen to and play orchestral music all the time, and my instincts perhaps lean towards different times signatures or keys or chorus intervals or arrangements that aren’t traditionally that ‘pop’ or ‘indie pop’. At the same time most of the Plain Mister Smith songs have a pretty traditional verse/chorus/verse/chorus/bridge/chorus outro arrangement, which is very traditional to pop. So perhaps a little like Lambchop (I bow down) or Radiohead (also bow down) orchestra music whispers in my ear sometimes when I am writing, working out melodies or chords, but what I’m doing still remains pretty much in the pop/singer-songwriter spectrum (for now)!
The title suggests something assembled from odds and ends. Is that how the album came together, piece by piece, or is the title more of a red herring?
Because the music is quite varied, with indie rock like Andy Warhol, or quasi epic songs, like Fragmentary World or Grindavik, or more playful indie pop songs like Miss Sunshine, it felt like quite a hodge podge of styles. I was think of Dadaism and especially Kurt Schwitters, who made random art from found objects (a cigarette butt, a train ticket, etc) and I think the phase Bric-a-Brac came of our dadaism, so I thought what the hell, I like the sound of Bric-a-Brac Attacks so named the album appropriately!
You’ve mentioned releasing music under Moev and also under the name Cinderpop, alongside Plain Mister Smith. Where does Cinderpop fit into the story, and does it still exist in any form?
Cinderpop was a Vancouver indiepop band I was in for maybe 8 years? The main writer/composers was Kevan Ellis, a fantastic songwriter, who would never compromise his writing to make something more commercial. It was fun and I learnt a lot from Kevin, but it was also cool post Cinderpop to begin working with other vocalists and amazing musicians like John Raham (brilliant drummer that he is).
‘Tubers’ put subway stories from London, Paris and New York into print, and you’d mentioned adding Tokyo. Has any of that book made its way into the songwriting on this record?
I have more Tubers stories to be published hopefully in the not too distant future, that take place in Toyko. I’m a little stretched for time but I do hope I can get these stories out somehow or another in the next few years. I’ve also touched up the previous stories (which I wrote when I didn’t really have a clue what I was doing, so I hope to get the previously released stories out in a modified book of Tubers soon.
You still won’t say who’s behind the mask. Does anonymity get harder to hold onto once collaborators, orchestras and a growing catalogue keep putting names next to yours?
Good Question. I think the anonymity from what I can tell, doesn’t bother people and I’m happy to remain anonymous to be honest. I can do things and have fun in a manner that I wouldn’t if I didn’t have a mask. However, it can also be completely true that the public and media may look at me at some point and think “God not that guy with the Earth Head again – please please go away!” (hopefully I am some years and at least one more album away from that happening however….:-)
Further information
Bric-a-Brac attack is out now
