Ceylon Sailor: ‘I would have loved to live through a little bit of that, it was the great final rock and roll gasp!’

New York 60’s-infused Ceylon Sailor is gearing up to release their debut full-length album next spring.

Ceylon Sailor comprises KM Sigel (vocals, guitar and keys), Kieran Kelly (drums), Seth Ondracek (bass), Andrew Wood (keys) and David Long (trumpet) and is a play on words of The Beach Boys song ‘Sail on, Sailor’: ‘We’re all big Beach Boys fans in the band and probably I am the most,’ Sigel said. ‘For some reason, since I was a kid, I have been attracted to the word ‘Ceylon’, the old Sri Lanka. I had originally planned to call the band Ceylon, but there were already four artists on Spotify with that name (laughs). I thought Ceylon Sailor had this cool Beach Boys tie in and, nowadays, it seems like having stuff that is Google-able can be helpful, so the combination of those two words really just stood out.’

Not that people tend to pronounce it correctly, often calling then ‘See-lon’, according to Sigel: ‘The thing that I love the most is that Kieran, who is my drummer and produced the record, and has been the closest member of the project for the whole couple of years we’ve been doing this, still seems to pronounce it incorrectly from time to time!’ Sigel and Kelly know each other from the New York City music scene and via Kelly’s record label Stunning Models On Display. Ondracek works in the studio that they’ve recorded a lot of their music in.

‘They’re probably my number one influence, the band that I’ve connected with the most in my life in terms of messaging and the music’

Drawing inspiration from the likes of Superchunk, Neutral Milk Hotel and Archers of Loaf, Ceylon Sailor’s music is a celebration of indie rock’s golden age, firmly rooted in the shimmery, nostalgic melodies of the 60’s. In September, they released their EP ‘Cambridge Streets’, a four track album that is wistful and reflective. The title track opens with buzzy, tuneful guitars and propulsive rhythms alongside a catchy horn line that reminds me slightly of the theme music to ‘Blackadder’: ‘This song was really heavily influenced by Neutral Milk Hotel,’ Sigel said. ‘They’re probably my top influence, the band that I’ve connected with the most in my life in terms of messaging and the music. They’re a very interesting band because they did most of their work in the 90’s and it culminated in this major album ‘In The Airplane Over The Sea’. It’s this huge cult record, I’m sure it’s sold over a million copies and it influenced so many other bands but they made that record and then basically fell off the face of the earth. In the last few years, I’ve been unhealthily obsessed with them (laughs) and a lot of what we did in these recording sessions was trying to emulate things that they were doing. I hope we don’t get ridiculed for our fanboy-ness but it truly comes from a place of love.’

‘Cambridge Streets’ turns out to be a reference to the Neutral Milk Hotel song ‘Naomi’ where they talk about walking around Cambridge, Massachusetts: ‘When I first wrote the song, I thought “this reminds me of that song”,’ he said. ‘So that’s how it evolved. I write the melodies and a lot of the chord structures. The lyrics come last and lyrics are pretty hard for me (laughs). I think the best songs always come fast, it’s like you spit them out. It’s about the end of a romantic relationship. I think there’s this common feeling that people can identify with when both people know that something’s not working. It was about a trip, together where you have to make the best of it. And yet, you know that things aren’t working and maybe one person is more ready to leave than the other. I think I was the one that was less ready to leave. It was my effort to paint a picture of the final moments.’ I say my overriding impression of the song is that it’s beautiful but really wistful and he laughs: ‘I am the world’s most nostalgic person, even the bad experiences, I like to relive!’

As the song kicks off: “It was the longest day. As we stared below the ground. But we cast our cares away. Embraced the sparks that careened around. Fragile grasses swayed and they beckoned in the night while the gulls they brayed, they didn’t care about you and I.”

‘I always felt like the combination of just distortion and horns was this really beautiful, amazing sound, so we put a lot of thought into it’

Horn lines are interwoven across all the tracks on the EP, making them the constant binding all of the tracks together: ‘It really was a big emphasis,’ Sigel agreed. ‘It was the instrumentation I wanted and it’s not really a gimmick but there are no electric guitars whatsoever on this record. There’s a lot distortion and fuzz, I always felt like the combination of just distortion and horns was this really beautiful, amazing sound, so we put a lot of thought into it.’

One instrument making its debut on the EP is an old Indian pump organ the band found on Craigslist: ‘You have to actually pump it with your hand while you’re playing it, which is kind of challenging because it makes a lot of noise, it bangs against itself while you’re playing it, which is something that Kieran has been yelling at me about forever because he has to take that noise out (laughs). We ended up applying a bunch of effects to it, which makes it sound synthy.’

‘Lines Seem Severed’ is their take on Superchunk’s ‘spirited crunch’, featuring a lovely post-chorus passage with a few bars of canorous, stabby strings. Ultimately, it is a song about how people change as their lives unfold, often swept and buffeted by forces that they don’t see coming as they try to adjust to those changes together. As Sigel sings: “You were born as someone else. I was, too, I can’t deny. I say nothing ever changes but that’s a lie.” He pictures birds up high with their own, unique perspective, as they fly to “places we can’t know, guarding secrets that could break our hearts and our foundations” whilst on the ground “I hold you firmly to the ground, hold you firmly to a sound, pray you’ll never need tomorrow”.

‘I keep guitars on the walls everywhere I live – there’s always one to grab!‘

As Sigel puts it: ‘Today (5 November) is election day here in the US, which seems fitting because this song is about the world being a mess. It’s not a new feeling for people, I’d say it’s been turbulent in the U.S. for the last ten years. I live in Harlem in New York, which is an amazing place but sometimes there’s tension out there that you’re feeling. You feel that there was a time where things made more sense and people were getting along more, that some of those social lines have become disconnected. I wrote it with my wife in mind, this idea that despite the fact that there’s a lot of disconnection around us, two people can connect and live through all of that turmoil.’

He also put his own voice through the wringer on this track, taking on falsetto duties on the backing vocals in the huge, soaring chorus: ‘I actually wanted to have other vocalists but for time reasons, I wasn’t able to get anybody else on any of the backing vocals. We may actually go back and do a little bit of rerecording before we put it out as an album! That is the chorus that I’m always going for, sometimes I get it and sometimes I don’t. It’s just amazing how writing songs goes and that you can remember moments when things come out. That one came out so fast and so naturally. I remember the chorus coming out and I was just like: “Wow, this is it!” In terms of streaming, it has been our least popular but it’s probably my favourite.’

Sigel and I are chatting at 05:30 a.m. his time, a time that he says is his most productive time of day: ‘I actually wrote that song around this time,’ he said. ‘It was right before six, I got up one morning and it came out! I was sitting at the breakfast table, it was amazing, I don’t think I’ve ever written a song that fast.’ I ask him if he always has a guitar to hand when inspiration strikes and he grins: ‘Because I’ve sort of realised those things about myself, I keep guitars on the walls everywhere I live – there’s always one to grab! And the ability to record on your phone nowadays is amazing. I don’t know how anybody did it back in the day, what did The Beatles do?! They wrote amazing song after amazing song but without a place to record their ideas.’

‘When I’m really in the right mood, that’s the one I want in my hands because it just feels right’

I ask him what his workhorse guitar is: “I have a bunch of cheap acoustic guitars, largely because I like to distort them when I record them,’ he said. ‘I have this one old guitar from the 1950’s with the body of an acoustic guitar but it’s actually an electric guitar. I got it from Goodwill, a thrift store, for a couple of hundred bucks. New York is amazing, I found this guy that fixes these old kinds of guitar. He had it for three months but he made it amazing by lowering the action and straightening the neck. I would say when I’m really in the right mood, that’s the one I want in my hands because it just feels right.’

‘Better Times’ is a lovely closer, an uplifting and sweet song about when everything falls into place: ‘I know that I said that ‘Lines Seem Severed’ was my favourite song, but ‘Better Times’ is actually definitely my favourite,’ he said laughing. ‘It’s about intimacy and two people navigating a lot of turmoil. That seems like a pretty common theme in what I write. I wrote a lot of the melodies for that something like eight years ago and I went back and re-listened to them. It was one of those songs where I was 90% there but just had not gotten all the way there.’ I say that for me, it’s the most evocative and cinematic track on the EP: ‘ I would agree, I wish everybody realised that, it’s a very special one to me.’

‘It’s got a ton of horns in it and it’s very driving. I love the melody, that one I’m really excited about’

The EP artwork of two blackbirds looking at a vintage-looking skyline is really striking and adds to the nostalgic vibe: ‘I had been collecting images for a long time from various public domain archives,’ he said. ‘Remember Tintin? That sort of comic book type art that’s hopeful. I call it 40’s futurist style, it’s sort of futuristic from the perspective of back then. I’ve tried to stick to stuff that has a bit of a water theme to it just because of Ceylon Sailor. I found that image somewhere and I held onto it and really loved it.’

Next up will be their first full-length album, out around March next year: ‘I had wanted to call it Turn of the Century initially but I think I’m moving away from that,’ he said laughing. ‘The songs are all recorded, there’s 11 songs recorded and I think I will release nine of them as the album.’ In addition to the singles they have already released, there will be five new tracks, including one of Sigel’s favourites, ‘Nowhere In Your Eyes’: ‘We already play it live, it’s very upbeat. It’s got a ton of horns in it and it’s very driving. I love the melody, that one I’m really excited about. I think it will be the single that will be associated with the release of the album. There’s another song that actually doesn’t have a title yet that is probably more of a ballad. It’s in a different time signature, which I think will be a bit of a break, it’s in 6/8. It’s a song that builds. It’s another relationship song like they all are (laughs) but it’s about how the tidal wave comes in and drowns the relationship. I guess I have a lot of sea imagery in these songs!’

Sigel’s introduction to music hit him like a freight train: ‘My parents weren’t that into music, I came to it late. I was around 12 and the whole universe exploded! I was always drawn to college rock, the bands are my life. I really love Neutral Milk Hotel and Pavement is one of my favourites of all time. Guided By Voices were very influential as well as The Elephant Six Collective, they’re a lo-fi, very 60’s-inspired collective of amazing artists. Dusk at Cubist Castle (2004) by The Olivia Tremor Control is a personal favourite, it really sounds like a Beatles record, it’s full of intensity, it’s incredible.’

‘I would have loved to live through a little bit of that, it was the great final rock and roll gasp!’

He’s also the co-founder of iconic Brooklyn indie venue, Gold Sounds: ‘It’s mostly rock and indie, punky,’ he said. ‘It’s in the rough and tumble part of Brooklyn (laughs). It’s small and dark with sticky floors and bathrooms you might want to stay clear of (laughs), but I’m really proud of it as an artists venue.’

If he could go drinking with any musicians, he is quick to pick Fleetwood Mac: ‘I’m obsessed with them, it was such an insane story in the 70’s,’ he said. ‘The 70’s are so interesting, the music and the people and they were insanely talented. They were going through so much crazy interpersonal stuff, they clearly were partying like nuts (laughs) but also just made a couple of insanely iconic records. There’s not a great book or movie that tells the story of all of it. If they can remember any of it, I would love to hear what it was like, how did they make these records? What was it like to be in a band where all these couples got married and divorced and partner swapped and all this kind of stuff? Have you ever listened to Tusk by them? It’s this weird, almost kind of lo-fi record at times, and clearly very drug-influenced but I would have loved to live through a little bit of that, it was the great final rock and roll gasp! The movies then were very arty but still popular and the music was very big and then punk came and blew it all apart, which was great. It needed to happen but I think it’s a period that I feel like now people are starting to come back to and say: “Wow, it’s so cool the kind of music people were making at that time!” You could even just be a fly on the wall during a recording session or behind the scenes of them being together!’

Sigel recalls his funniest adventure as a musician: ‘I spent several years touring with a band, there were so many crazy stories that I can’t even remember,’ he said. ‘One highlight that I do remember though was when we were invited to be in a “Japanese-style game show” that was performed live on stage at a large venue in Brooklyn. We were the only band, and I don’t remember all of the other contestants, but we were definitely also competing against an acting troupe that dressed up like TV’s “Golden Girls”. They had us doing crazy competitions like throwing things at each other, eating weird things and completing a Karaoke battle! Somehow, my band managed to win, which probably is not something we should have been proud of but I just loved that we got to do something so unique and amusing!’

 (Photo from left to right: Seth, KM, Andrew, Kieran and David.)