Zach Kleisinger’s got a voice destined for country music. I feel head over heels for his song “You Should Hold Me” a couple of years ago and I’m excited to see that his songwriting has only matured since then. On his new song, “Seasons Change,” Kleisinger delves into seasonal depression and coping with those moments of despair — all with a characteristic warmth and self-effacement.
Kleisinger released his first full-length album, Their Symposium, back in August. He’s shared stages with The Deep Dark Woods, Charlotte Cornfield, and Sam Lynch.
In our interview, Kleisinger explains the meaning behind the album’s name, his favorite inspirations, and that one time at that Christmas market in Germany…
What’s a perfect song to you, and why?
“Visions of Johanna” by Bob Dylan. Though I don’t think I am qualified to declare a song perfect, I will say this song may be as close as any. There is a vivid storyline that hits all of the senses. There is surrealism in the lyrics; objective, familiar landmarks, all over this simple musical arrangement, almost as if the instrumentation was the pulse inside your brain while reading a poem by Rilke or T.S. Eliot. It is heartbreaking. It makes you think. There is the right amount of tension, and love. It does all of the things for me.
What’s your go-to album on the road?
When I am getting real tired, I will sometimes put on A Deeper Understanding by The War on Drugs. The album pumps me up and never fails to offer a third or fourth wind. However, while I’m on the road, I definitely listen to podcasts more than music. When I do listen to music, though, I prefer anything that I haven’t heard before. It passes the time quicker and creates sweeter, more impressionable memories when I hear something for the first time in a new place.
What’s a recent release you can’t stop listening to?
There is an EP by one of my favourite groups, The Deep Dark Woods, entitled Broadside Ballads Vo.2, which I have listened to close to a hundred times. The album is a collection of intimate recordings of old ballads. The songs conjure something profound and familiar inside me, as if there was a memory or experience in me, long forgotten and veiled in shadows, which was reawakened upon hearing their tune. The sequence of songs serves each other splendidly and flows as if part of a stream. There is a line in “The Wolves” by Mandolin Orange that goes, “Everything’s so great, can’t get better. Makes me want to cry,” and that is how I feel when I listen to those songs.
Explain the title of your album, Their Symposium.
Some of the songs on this album I wrote as far back as three years ago. Some of them I wrote more recently. And, when I return and play these songs, I feel like I am returning to different me’s. When I began looking at them more closely, it felt like all of these songs were their own characters. Slowly I began to see them as members of a Greek symposium—specifically, the gatherings where the men would sit around and have discussions on a particular topic. As in Plato’s The Symposium, where the actors offer their idea of what love is, the characters in my album are gathered to present their opinion on what I am. In this way, it is a grand, self-absorbed mirror.
What’s your favorite concert?
One of my favourite shows I ever played was in the great town of Nehren, DE. The venue was a barn in the host’s backyard, which fit about 60 people. I arrived in town about an hour before I was supposed to meet at the venue, and there was a small Christmas market going on, so I decided to stop in. Not more than two minutes after I started walking around, a man came up to me and introduced himself, telling me he would be at my show later. It was funny to me to be recognized by someone in a small, German town of 4,000 people. At any rate, I made it to the venue. The host and his family were so kind and welcoming. When the sunset, people arrived and pilled into the string-light barn. The space was packed, and there was beer and food everywhere. Everyone was respectful and excited, and it was just a remarkable, heartwarming concert.