It’s often said that the Valley is home to plenty of top-shelf musical talent. Seems like one of those generally true feel-good statements that’s always safe to fall back on, but now and then, news arrives to remind us that it’s really the case.
Shelburne Falls’ Seth Glier, a piano-based singer/songwriter in his early 20s, has spent plenty of time on local stages, and even now spends time recording in his basement.
Recently, he had a fairly surprising evening. “I was in Denver watching Family Guy,” Glier says.”I saw, on Twitter, ‘Congratulations.’ I said thanks. I had no idea what it was for!
“Late at night, the record label called me.” Glier’s album had been nominated for a Grammy. “I thought it was a computer glitch at first.”
Part of his surprise might have had to do with the category in which he was nominated: Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical.
“Funny enough,” Glier says, “I recorded all of the vocals in my basement.”
The impressive rest of the engineering team, Glier figures, couldn’t have hurt. “Kevin Killen [who mixed the album] mixed Peter Gabriel, and U2’s Joshua Tree. I think he had a large part to do with that.” The team also included Brendan Muldowney and John Shyloski.
Big-time roster or no, Glier says a lot of the sounds (vocal and guitar) were generated in decidedly project studio surroundings. “Several years ago I made a thing—it’s storm siding, window shutters—on hinges. You can fold them into a three-way box. I spray-painted these sidings black and put on acoustic foam. I wrap that around my body,” says Glier. “It’s pretty primitive.”
Glier says he wanted a home studio because it helps him create outside of what can be high-pressure circumstances in a high-dollar professional studio. “I had a hard time feeling rushed,” he says, “feeling like I have to create something then and there.”
Once Glier generated tracks he was comfortable with, he says, Killen took his raw material and worked it into the bigger picture of the album.
Listen to the album (The Next Right Thing) and it’s apparent what the fuss is about, especially if you listen for more than a general impression. Glier’s got an unusual, fairly high-pitched voice, and is quite adept as a vocalist, pushing into soaring pop tones at times, introspective, folk-tinged quietude at others. His music is often driven by straightforward instrumentation, resting primarily on piano or guitar. That simple kind of formulation is often left to wither or thrive solely on the strength of a songwriter’s melody and songcraft.
On The Next Right Thing, simplicity is still in evidence, but there’s a relatively subtle dressing-up that heightens the emotions of the tunes, wrings them dry of what they have to offer. It surfaces in things like a tumble of sounds that coalesces into a tune, in the reverb of a big vocal, or in a half-buried layer of droning strings. Regardless of the sometimes “primitive” origins of the sounds, the whole possesses a clear sophistication.
Glier is, of course, thrilled with his nomination, but he’s approaching it with a useful wariness. “I certainly take it with a grain of salt,” he says. “The Grammies—it’s not a fan-driven thing. My parents asked me, ‘What do you do now?’ I told them it’s like in high school, running for class president against a lot of popular kids.”
Beyond what Glier refers to as the “industry schmooze” lies what he finds the most important: “What’s real in music is the live performance of it.”
Glier takes his musical pulpit seriously. “I like touring with some sort of story,” he says. “I feel lucky to have a mic to say whatever is on my mind. I feel like it’s my duty and imperative to say something that’s socially important.”
That’s led him to do a tour with a carbon footprint of zero and use soy and vegetable inks in CD inserts, and inspired his fans to bring around five tons of food to shows to be distributed to shelters.
On Feb. 12, he finds out if his album gets the Grammy nod. Beyond that, he’s working on a new recording, and in March and April, he hits the road with Ani DiFranco.
