1. We’re super-excited to be speaking today with acclaimed Grammy-nominated singer and songwriter Seth Glier; greetings and salutations, Seth! Before we dive into the proverbial Q&A musical rabbit hole, how has the freshly-minted autumn of 2023 been treating you?

It’s been wonderful! Today I spent most of the day in the woods foraging for hen of woods (maitake mushrooms) that are fruiting around the base of old oak trees. I foraged about 15 lbs of them, gave some to my mom, my electrician,  and made a big batch of Maitake creamy mushroom soup for the week. This is my favorite time of year and also a time where I tend to look inward and think back. I love October so much but it was also the month my brother passed 7 years ago. I’ve been thinking a lot about him and how grateful I am to have had him in my life.

2. Major congratulations on the brand-spanking new single and companion music video for Mammoth which is released this October 17! What served as your inspiration for this beautiful new tune?

I was reading a Science Journal about the resurrection of the Wooly Mammoth and the team of scientists who are trying to crack de-extinction. I’m going to let my nerd flag fly high here. Scientist Sergey Zimov and Nikita Zimov of Russia have been picking through the ice and the melting permafrost of northern Siberia for the perfect frozen sample of a Wooly Mammoth. Their hope is to take the DNA and bring the mammoth back to the plains it once roamed. I discovered that there is some merit to this idea as a climate solutions. Much like what happened after Renee Atkins and her team helped bring wolves back to Yellowstone. The ecosystem responds in incredible ways when animals who belong in a place return to a place. The Permafrost is one of the largest carbon reservoirs we have. In the grazing ecosystems, mammoths trample snow while foraging during the winter. When the snow is packed beneath their significant weight, it allows deeper freezing of the permafrost and thus protects it from degradation. The whole story is wild! The closest relative of the extinct Wooly Mammoth is an Asian elephant but since the Asian elephant is on the endangered species lists they can’t risk the reproductive system. So….the scientists are building a womb. 

3. Who was your producer on Mammoth and what did the collaboration between artist and producer look like in the studio? Or, being a well-respected producer in your own right, did you undertake the producing honors yourself?

I recorded this and shared production efforts with Anthony Da Costa & Will Honaker. I had recorded the vocals and piano from home and had basically a really good worktape with some weird synthesizers that had movement and felt heavy like the animal was breathing. Anthony is a magician and watching him work in the studio is nothing short of magic. He’s helped me spend just about all of my money on equipment and old outboard gear. Anthony plays a brilliant guitar but my favorite thing he did on this song was add the most unique and expressive bass part. It really moves the song along. Will added some keyboard, bass Clarinet and sampled a snow storm in Montana where he was quarantining. We also had John Mailander on violin who plays with Bruce Hornsby & Jason Burger on drums. It was collaborative however in this case I basically handed them the bones, arrangement, main instrument, & lead vocal of the song and Anthony shaped it, adding some window dressing, drums, and built a whole world around it.

4. The music video for Mammoth is extraordinary, a true show-stopper; kudos! How involved were you in the behind-the-scenes production of the music video?

I’ve been working with Tobias LaMontagne on 3 Music videos for this album. He did color correction for the first single “rise” and we just finished shooting the video for the title track last week. Mammoth was a few phone calls of us asking “how the hell do we do this.” I always think that the challenge with being a very lyrically oriented narrative songwriter is that it can sort of take the wind out of the video imaging direction because the lyrics do a lot of the storytelling. Tobias sent me a time-lapse video of ice melting that he had come across and I reactively very strongly to it. We both decided to try freezing some hair into a block of ice because I think it needed to be connected to the animal in some way. I believe Tobias also added some dye to the ice in spots so as it melts you see deeper texture and a more define “run off”. I love the 2^nd verse when he shines a green light through the ice and the frozen ground suddenly becomes the sky during an aurora borealis. 

5. In your humble opinion, what differentiates Mammoth from the Distinguished Competition on the 2023 music scene?

I don’t really look at myself as in competition with anyone. Honestly with this album, focused on climate change solutions, I rarely consider myself part of a music scene. I mean music and songs are my medium but I’m hanging out with ecologists, citizen scientists and other people passionate about healing our relationship with the natural world. They don’t care about what’s trending or what’s hot. The only streaming numbers they’re looking at is how many rainbow trout are spawning.

Mammoth is a weird song. It’s a strange idea. In imagining its resurrection I think I landed on just how lonely it would feel for the animal. Perhaps we are all feeling this loneliness as we too have resurrected after lockdown and are increasingly in a world we have a hard time recognizing with things like AI and a culture that is upside down. I don’t know if that makes it different, but I think the strangeness of it all connects with people.

6. On the heels of the October 17 release of Mammoth and its music video, you made a whole lot of us happy by announcing that you’re gearing up for a January 26, 2024 release of your newest album EVERYTHING – Congratulations yet again! Can you give our ever-inquisitive readers a hint or three as to what they can look forward to with this new LP?

The album is entirely about climate change solutions and is an exercise in imagining a future in which humans and the planet are re-aligned into mutual restoration. Each song is a practical solution told through a story. I believe how we tell a story has the power to change a story. I feel that part of our climate crisis is that too often our climate storytelling leans towards fatalism and the apocalyptic. I believe we must shift our cultural climate narrative to one of restoration, liberation, and optimistic engagement. I am hoping some of these songs help do that.

7. Who inspires you musically?

I’m currently diving into Gnawa music. It’s the sufi spiritual music of Morocco and has an incredible energy to it. I was listening to the latest Sufjan Stevens album earlier while making soup. I also am a big fan of Allison Russell’s album “The Returner”

8. In the wake of the release of Mammoth and on the eve of the January 26, ‘24 release of EVERYTHING, what does your touring/performing dance card look like?

It’s busy. I’ve got a few more shows in the northeast this month, headed to the Midwest in November, and doing some shows on the west coast this December. Next year will also bring much more touring. A few shows in Florida and New England have been announced and another tour with other artists (who I love) that will be announced shortly. I’ve also got some festival plans for next summer as well.

9. How is Mammoth similar to some of your roast music? How is it different?

Its similar in the fact that its me at a piano. That is sort of Homeplate for who I am as an artist and how I create. It’s very different in its subject matter.

10. As a singer-songwriter, which generally comes first for you: The lyrics or the music?

It depends. Sometimes it starts with a title. I love writing with a title. Sometimes I start by writing a chorus and then the musical choices are about how to make sure the chorus is a lift. That would look like having the verses in a minor feel if the chorus is in a major key and feel. Often it comes together over the course of a few days. I’m a big believer and follower of tone. I say a lot of nonsense words when writing. I’ll have the shape and tone of the language (often informed by the chord progression) and I’ll keep saying filler words until a real one pops into place. It might look like going mad from someone on the outside looking in but it’s a process that I’ve learned to trust

11. At the end of the day, what do you hope listeners walk away with after giving many-a-spin to your new single Mammoth?

When It comes to the resurrection of a wooly mammoth it’s not if, it’s when. The scientists believe they’ll have the first one cloned by 2024. I want the listener to think about living on a planet with something like a mammoth and how that would affect them. Are you responsible in any way to this living thing? Especially since these creatures are being brought back to “save us.” On another level, they have raised millions and millions of dollars to make a single animal de-extinct while we continue to have whole communities that have stewarded this land going through their own extinction. What does it mean to be here on this planet and in this time? Who do we choose to protect and why?

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