Your Name: Carl Newman, aka
AC Newman
Name Of Album: Get GuiltyStory Behind The Name:Well, I have always thought that people should get guilty. What the world needs now is guilt, sweet guilt. It's the only thing that there's just too little of.
What You Wanted To Do:I have never really had anything in mind when I record. When I start an album, the finished record appears in my head as a shape shifting phantom, a dream that you forget the moment that you wake up. I can see little bits and pieces but I can't piece together the plot. The recording process is basically months of creative extrapolation.
A Favourite Moment:For me, the best moment is that eureka moment when you realize that you have a good song, when the notes and chords turn into a song. After that, it's a lot of work with a few more eureka moments thrown in.
A Least Favourite Moment:Some of it is tedious work, playing a rhythm guitar part over and over, spending hours to get it right. Some of it is just manual labour. The best kind of manual labour though.
Feel Of The Album:It feels a little sneaky. I don't know if I trust this record. I trust this record as far as I could throw it. About 100 feet.
A Favourite Song:I really like "Heartbreak Rides", because it is propulsive and often flute-driven, and "Elemental", because I like the feel of it, the arrangement.
What Other Songs Are About:Well, I wrote the song "The Palace At 4 AM" with nothing in mind really, except a snapshot of a time from my past, and then a few weeks afterwards I read Barthelme's "60 Stories", which contains a story called "The Palace At 4 AM". I thought that was an odd coincidence. Then I noticed that Giacometti has a sculpture called "The Palace At 4 AM" at the MOMA, which I have seen but never known the name of. What's up with that? Not funny, but interesting.
What You're Doing To Celebrate:I celebrated by beginning the writing process for another New Pornographers album. You have to treat yourself sometimes.
