PREMIERE | R.E. Seraphin, 'Fool's Mate'
R.E. Seraphin & communing within nature; photographed by Morgan Stanley.
Scenes arrive, scenes go. Bands get together, bands break up. Movements are set into motion and like many laws of physics eventually exhaust their own momentum. Through the perpetual influx of these moments and models of creativity the power of artistry shines through with an everlasting light. Recollecting upon the eerie twilight when the world was on the brink of total lockdown, one artist name stood out among the many. A name familiar among Bay Area denizens and DIY veterans alike, someone that was making some of the most inspiring solo works around. While we anxiously awaited the shelter in place orders in the face of a global pandemic, a conversation with an acquaintance at a local SF restaurant revolved around the praises of a prolific wunderkind. The force of nature in question was the almighty R.E. Seraphin.
And as the world went sideways, Ray Seraphin graced us with the sounds and styles that graced our lives whilst quarantined in our home digs. We rocked out to Tiny Shapes, we rolled on with bedroom dormitory dalliance of A Room Forever, the skint, spent & suave Swingshift and now present the debut of the grandiose long player masterpiece — Fool’s Mate via Take a Turn Records / Safe Suburban Home Records. The Vallejo artist teamed up with recording at the Crockett, CA home studio of the Papercuts' Jason Quever with the enlisted brass of Joel Cusumano, Daniel Pearce, Josh Miller and Luke Robbins to round out the full send that Seraphin had been envisioning for over half a decade. The edges of previous works can still be found, with the scrappiness traded in for a fuller sound developed with the aid of a full band to bring Ray’s visions to their brightest zenith.
Fool’s Mate makes some big musical moves playing chess in a world that treats the earth with the flagrant folly of a checkers board. “End of the Start” arrives on the scene with a splash, delivering a fullness of sound like you have never heard before from Seraphin, but expected it was there this whole time. “Argument Stand” describes the squabbles, kerfuffles and trifles we find ourselves in that is delivered with an assured yet sassy style. That same exuberance carries onward with the super suave and chic “Expendable Man”, downplaying the ego with a certain kind of self-effacing charm and cool confidence. Ray lends a type of time learned wisdom that eschews absolutism and leaves room for human error with the glimmering grace of “Virtue of Being Wrong”, to the vulnerable sentimentality of searching for truths in situationships in heartbreaking ballads like “The Worst I’ve Ever Seen”.
The gorgeous and quintessential R.E. Seraphin sound can be experienced in full on the redux of “Clock Without Hands”. The chords mess with your emotions, the lyrics have you pondering the nature of time and free will while the arrangement whisks you away to the mythic clocktowers found in the townhall courtyards of consciousness. That spirit that only Seraphin and the gang can conjure rings true on the single “Bound” that exudes autonomy, righteous rhythms and catchy guitar hooks galore. “Contraband” keeps the party going that sails into the cosmos of the astral plane on a crystal ship of mind streaming memories. Desire and thoughts on becoming a new father can heard and felt on the autumnal expressions of amour and adoration with “Fall”, as “Somnia” sets course through the rivers and rollicking riffs of dreams. Ray stands with fascination at the precipice of the unknown on the penultimate jam “What We Don’t Know” that indulges in the notions of all the exciting possibilities that might be instore. Fool’s Mate concludes with “Jump in the River” that rocks with a sense of serious whimsy, a tribute to the tenets of happenstance, the kneejerk spontaneity that becomes the stuff of legend and the materials of which nostalgia worthy memories are made of. For those already in the know, Fool’s Mate is the quintessential R.E. Seraphin record we have been waiting, and for those late to the party the album stands as the perfect introduction to the catalog of the Bay Area’s modern saint of pop.
An Instax capture of R.E. Seraphin; photographed by Morgan Stanley.
Ray Seraphin provided some reflections on the paths taken and the things discovered on the process roadways that were part of the development of Fool’s Mate:
The impetus behind Fool’s Mate was the birth of my daughter and a desire to document the live band I had put together to support my last release, Swingshift. Before my kid was born, I wasn’t sure how long I’d be away from music or if I’d even return to it in the same capacity, so there was a lot of momentum behind the recordings. I needed to make this album—before it was too late. That may sound corny, but that's how I found motivation to write the songs—the majority of which were created in the span of about a month.
When my wife was pregnant, I was forced to consider the human body much more than usual—a generally foreign and unknowable concept to me. My lyrics are often impressionistic and sometimes lack a focal point, but references to the corporeal kept sneaking into the songs. In “End of the Start,” for instance, there are references to sweat and breath, to being so close to someone you can feel the dew of [their] skin. Maybe I was working through my discomfort with the changes my wife was experiencing.
Group glances with R.E. Seraphin; photographed by Morgan Stanley.
Similarly, there are moments of anticipation throughout the album. The chorus of “End of the Start” looks to the future: when the conversation dims, when the porch light finally dims. Elsewhere, there is the narrator waiting in an undisclosed location on “Argument Stand” and the urgency to address the baby crying on “Fall.”
Musically, I think I wanted to escape the power pop idiom a little bit by exploring some different textures and chord voicings. For better or worse, I’m a fairly automatic writer—I try not to limit the creative flow too much once I manage to put pen to paper. But I did try to challenge myself in spots. Throw in the occasional major 7th or diminished chord here. Add a vocal counterpoint there. That kind of thing.
On that note, I feel this album is a showcase for the band as much as my voice. The musicians—Joel Cusumano, Josh Miller, Luke Robbins, and Daniel Pearce—are all players I adore and, in some cases, have pestered to join me for years. My previous two releases were almost entirely recorded on my phone with a drum machine (Swingshift, A Room Forever); while I’m quite proud of those, I wanted to experience the dynamism of a rock band again (in the Joe Carducci sense). And I think being able to get such accomplished players for these sessions was a boon to the songs. There’s a level of sophistication that I don’t think I could have captured without them. And I think that’s the biggest takeaway from Fool’s Mate: an emphasis on a bigger, weirder, more rock-oriented sound.
Fool’s Mate will be available March 22 via Take a Turn Records / Safe Suburban Home Records.
