Sean Kelly of A Fragile Tomorrow talks to Jason Barnard about his creative process and new album ‘It’s Better That Way’.
Hi Sean, you’ve trailed ‘It’s Better That Way’ with ‘Lost In Art’. It’s a track that refuses to conform to one style of music. Is that something you’ve aimed for that track and the album more generally?
Certainly! I think we’ve tried to stay away from genre as much as possible, but I think that really shows on this record. “Lost In Art” can’t really be classified by any one style of music and I really like that about it. I personally love music that doesn’t adhere to much other than exploration. That’s what I love about David Bowie, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel, Wilco, R.E.M.; these are artists who would try so many different things.
Kate Bush incorporates Celtic instrumentation on songs that are really synth-oriented, and never was concerned with how that would be classified. I think that’s the beauty of music when it’s genuine, and I hope we’ve done that in our own small way.
Reflecting on ‘It’s Better That Way’ what are the lyrical themes that you cover?
The very initial idea for this record on a lyrical level was that it would be a collection of songs written about my disillusionment with the music industry. Ultimately I wrote a lot of political songs as well, just because I couldn’t avoid it. But there are plenty of those songs still present on the album! And there are some more personal songs like “All Signs to Amsterdam,” which is about my struggle with anorexia when I was younger. And a song like “Sandy” is a bit hard to define but in some ways it’s about parenthood, written partly as a tribute to Sandy Denny.
So there are a lot of things happening on the record lyrically speaking, but I think it’s a reflection of where I’ve been, and where we’ve been as a band, in the last three years or so.
Who did you collaborate to write and record the record? Do you start with a musical phrase or lyric? Was it a quick process?
Brendan, my brother and our guitarist, and I collaborate most often these days. A large portion of the record was written together, and we threw about three quarters of the album in the trash about halfway through. This album took about three years from the point that we started writing until now, and I think it’s actually a rare instance in which we’ve made a better record because of that.
The pandemic put things on hold for a long time, and our brother Dom leaving the band did as well. But we enlisted our friend, the great Peter Holsapple, to help us reshape and finish the album and it’s turned out to be the record I’m most proud of in our catalog. It feels great to finally have it ready to go!
How has the group’s sound evolved over the years? Has it been shaped by how has been in the line-up at the time?
I’d say evolution is really the name of the game in this band. We started when I was 11 years old, and our first record (if you want to call it that; it was more like a glorified demo) came out when I was 14. So naturally, we’ve evolved a lot. Unfortunately we kind of did that in a somewhat public manner so there are still remnants of that stuff on the Internet, which I don’t love. But on another level it’s kind of nice to sometimes look back and realize that we’ve actually learned a lot and had a lot of opportunities that informed how we’ve been able to move forward creatively.
What other tracks of yours would you recommend and why?
One of the new songs I’m personally most proud of is “Fraying Wire.” It was a direct response to the January 6th insurrection and was just very visceral for me. I think it’s also one of those kind of amorphous songs that don’t sound like rock or pop or really anything definitive. And I’m quite fond of the guitar sounds on that song!
What music inspires you past and present and why?
I’m endlessly inspired by bands like R.E.M., Crowded House, The Cure, Fairport Convention, stuff I mentioned earlier like Kate Bush, Bowie, Peter Gabriel, Roxy Music, bands like that. I also am hugely influenced by The Byrds, Gram Parsons, and that sort of thing, and lyrically I’m very much influenced by the politics of Pete Seeger and Phil Ochs. One of my favorite lyricists is Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest, a group that has had immeasurable influence on me. Hip-hop is a huge part of what drives us creatively, even if it’s not obvious in our music.
My Bloody Valentine is in my top five favorite bands, and has been a major influence over the last few years for both me and Brendan. And stuff like Cocteau Twins, Slowdive, Jesus and Mary Chain, Bauhaus, Suicide, etc. Brendan and I also love and have explored hardcore punk, and we love bands like OFF!, Minor Threat (and Fugazi, of course), Bad Brains, etc.
And I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Continental Drifters, who are by far the most important band to me as far as actual influence is concerned. The Drifters were Americana before that was a thing, but a million times better than anything that passes as such these days. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I learned how to write songs by listening to that band. I’m writing a book about them right now, and they are all dear friends who have had a huge impact on this band and all of us personally.
Where are you based and what is the music scene like there?
As a band we’re all over the place currently. I’m in Savannah, GA, Brendan is in our hometown of Montgomery, NY, Shaun Rhoades (bass) is in Charleston, SC, and Josh Kean (drums) is in Nashville, TN. We were all in Charleston for years, and Brendan was in Savannah for a few years as well, but we’re spread out now.
Savannah is a really interesting scene. I’m the co-founding editor of a nonprofit digital news publication here called The Savannahian, so I’d like to think I’m fairly plugged into what’s happening. Brendan and I ran a recording studio here for years as well alongside our friend and collaborator Ted Comerford. So we all saw a lot of bands pop up here.
Some people think Savannah just has hard rock and metal, which we do of course. But there are some really fucking amazing artists of all kinds here. There are some great synth-based bands like Street Clothes and Bero Bero, and really kick ass garage-y bands like Rev Bro Diddley and the Hips. There are great rock bands like Superhorse, who are quite legendary in town, and also there’s some really brilliant hip-hop here like Basik Lee and Dope KNife. I think Savannah is a really overlooked and undervalued music town, and I think there should be a more concerted effort for bands to tour through here. It’s an amazing city.
What are your future plans and how can people find out more about you?
That’s a hard question to answer at the moment! We’re trying to figure out how to do as much in a live or touring capacity as we can given where we all are geographically, plus I’m also the father of two very young kids. So it’s a tough thing to juggle, but we all love doing this and we have the desire to play together as much as possible. So it’s a matter of time, I’d think, before we’re out there again doing something in the way of shows. Right now we’re just excited for this record to be done, and we’re so proud of it. Beyond that, Brendan and I do a lot of scoring work and I think we may want to take a band breather and pursue that more closely at some point in the near future! But we’ve been in this band for nearly 20 years, if you can believe it, so it’s always part of our identity in some way or another.
The best place to go these days is Facebook (facebook.com/afragiletomorrow) and Instagram (@aftmusic). But our site, afragiletomorrow.com, is always updated! We’re on all the streaming services and all of that. If you like what you hear, reach out and tell us! We genuinely love it.
A Fragile Tomorrow’s new album ‘It’s Better That Way is available to preorder at: https://mpress.lnk.to/ItsBetterThatWayPreOrder
