Sea Wolf
Interview with Alex Brown Church
Words: Michael Rabinowitz

Appearing:
October 25, 2007
University of Florida – Rion Ballroom, Gainesville

October 26, 2007
State Theatre, St. Petersburg

October 27, 2007
Café Eleven, St. Augustine

It is always adorably naive when an artist refurbishes an image or ideals from a bygone era: Dylan emulating the train car hopping Americana hoboes of Kerouac's and Guthrie's time; Jack White finding shade under John Water's rockabilly kitsch; even Madonna wistful dalliances into Mae West burlesque sexy time.  Yet, for Alex Brown Church, the songwriting talent behind Sea Wolf, the latest and greatest out of Silver Lake, CA, there is a genuine passion for turn of the century left coast sea shanty revelry. 

Church chose the alias Sea Wolf from Jack London's novel of the same name as a nod to a lifelong fascination toward the author since learning they both share Oakland as a hometown.

“I feel a kinship with him,” Church explains.  “I’ve always had this fascination with ships and the feeling of nautical, turn of the century era.  His heyday was a hundred years ago so I wanted to pay homage because my roots come from him in a way.” 

His debut LP, Leaves In The River, captures London’s late 19th century era with untraditional rock elements.  Relying on accordions, cellos, and even a Chinese harp on the to capture an archetypical response by the listener.  But don't expect Sea Wolf to pursue the Victorian nautical themed rock so reminiscent of The Decemberists.  The album’s atmospherics permeates an unsettling eeriness that on only a synth machine can recreate, like on the outstanding track, “You’re A Wolf.” 

“I like The Decemberists’ sound but would never want to limit myself to that,” Church emphasizes.  “I wanted Sea Wolf to have a combination of world instruments and sounds you wouldn’t normally hear in rock songs as well as new things like synthesizers and electronic drums.  There a couple of songs where I use samples.  I wanted Sea Wolf to sound very contemporary, but at the same time have an element of timelessness to it, something the older instruments like cello and woods evoke.”

And it’s the modern form of story telling that fills Leaves In The River with these little cinematic moments that all of us 21st Century denizens categorize our own memories in.  The title track, a standout number that spins a yarn of a young couple walking through a lonely rain soaked street on Halloween night.  By avoiding a chorus and simply telling a story, Church churns up all the ingredients of a romantic comedy meet-cut scene, even adding the comforting sound effect of falling rain. 

But for Church, the song lies closer to reality than a Hollywood facade.

“That song is based on a true event. I wasn’t thinking about it in terms of cinema when I wrote it.  It was recreating the event in words and adding a little bit to it. 

He goes on to explain the significance of the rain effect:  “I actually recorded the rain couple of years later in the same place where that walk happened.  It’s not something anybody else would know but it has a lot of meaning to me.” 

It is apropos for Church to transcend a small but intimate real life moment into a larger virtual event.   It was at NYU film school where he honed his storytelling skills.  Yet, film never satiated the pursuit of creative control that music does.

“I wanted to be a writer-director.  That was what interested me,” he admits.  “I think that I always liked the act of creating something and having the most creative control over it.  But, I was also doing music while I was in school and it became immediately more satisfying because I could write and record a song a lot easier than do a movie.”
 
It’s this mix of old world values and modern mythmaking—with all of the technology this century affords—that moves Church’s motives past the assumed naiveties of new artists and towards a more sincere location.

“I certainly don’t consciously make anything cinematic,” he soberly admits.  “I just write music that sounds good to me.  I just want it to have an impact."

www.seawolfmusic.com