Ned Russin, formerly of hardcore-punk favourites Title Fight, continues his foray into fuzzier waters with his second Glitterer album, ‘Life Is Not A Lesson’. This time taking on production duties himself, it’s a step up into big, punchy tunes that reckon with wanting both answers and reassurance.
Hi Ned, how’s it going? What are you up to today?
I’m doing pretty well, thanks. These days I’m not doing too much. Going to work, reading, playing and listening to music. That’s about it.
Tell us about your new record – when did you begin work on it, and what was your starting point?
I started writing what would become ‘Life Is Not A Lesson’ in late-2019. I was touring a lot, and the last record had just come out a few months beforehand, but I wanted to just keep working on new stuff. I didn’t really have a specific starting point, but the first song that I wrote was actually ‘Didn’t Want It’, and I think that provided a good foundation for what the rest of the actual album would become.
Were you able to spend much time in studios, or working with others? How did the pandemic impact your process?
Before the pandemic hit, I had actually booked a series of sessions to record the album. The first was supposed to be at the end of March in Paris. I was doing a European tour and was going to just stay for a week after it wrapped up to work on the first batch of songs. That tour was cancelled partway through, and we returned home into lockdown. So after that, I had to completely alter my recording plans. I ended up recording the record myself in my practice space, except for the drums which were recorded in Kingston, PA.
Did you come up against any other unexpected challenges during the record’s creation?
Yeah, beyond the logistical challenges, I also had to deal with the mental and emotional challenges. I came home from Europe believing that the lockdown would only last two weeks and the pandemic would end. That obviously didn’t happen. The severity of the situation unfurled in real-time while making the record. So I was trying to focus on creating something while also trying to make sense of, and peace with the world seemingly fall apart around me. Those aren’t the best conditions to try and make a record under, especially one that you’re making on your own.
‘Life Is Not A Lesson’ feels like a reassuring title, what was the inspiration there?
The title of the record comes from the title of a song which is from a lyric in that song. The lyric was saved from a scrapped idea I was working on earlier, and it just felt like it offered a solution to a lot of the questions I was trying to work out while working on the album. I’m not particularly interested in defining what life IS or IS NOT about, that’s too big a task, but beyond the meaning of life I think the goal of the song is to say that it certainly is too valuable to be used as an example or explanation.
You’ve said that the major theme in ‘Life Is Not A Lesson’ is desire, how does that play out across the record?
I don’t ever set out on a batch of songs with a roadmap or anything, I try to allow myself room to just freely explore what’s going on somewhat subconsciously. The word “want” kept coming up over and over again in lyrics, and after putting it down so many times, I tried to assess the reasoning behind it. A lot of the songs explicitly deal with wanting something, and a lot of it boils down to a certain kind of driving intangible desire.
In what ways does the album progress what you were doing on your debut?
It’s hard to say because I’m so close to everything, I feel like I don’t have the ability to be completely objective about the changes in the band. This album is definitely more electric guitar-driven than the records in the past, but overall to me, it just feels like a logical extension of the Glitterer songs that I’ve written.
Do you know where you want to go from here?
The only goal is to just play more music.
What’ve you got coming up over the next few months?
Going to work 9-5, eating salads for lunch, reading, and releasing a record and a book in February.
Taken from the March issue of Upset. Glitterer’s album ‘Life Is Not A Lesson’ is out 26th February.
