Newworldson: Odd Band Out
By Christa A. Banister, senior music editor, gmclife.com
With a span-the-genres “speakeasy” approach to gospel music and compelling lyrics to boot, Newworldson’s Salvation Station was not only a critical favorite when it released two years ago, but the sort of album that was so good, it wasn’t exactly going to be easy to follow up.
But even in the wake of high expectations, Newworldson frontman Joel Parisien wasn’t particularly worried when it came time to record the band’s self-titled sophomore album. Instead, he found joy in what the group has always been – the proverbial square peg in a round hole. And now, just before the band heads back on the road and across the pond to Europe, we caught up with Parisien to learn more about his easygoing perspective on making music, who inspires him and what’s next for his band.
gmclife.com: After such a well-received debut, did you fear the dreaded sophomore slump, or were you just comfortable with whatever the next step was going to be?
Joel Parisien: We want to hold what we do artistically to a certain standard of excellence, but at the same time, it is just music so we don’t want to take ourselves too seriously. I feel like any studio endeavor is going to be more successful when we’re having fun. That’s what we bring to a live show. It’s important for us to just bring the same energy and playfulness into the studio because it can become a very long and drawn-out process depending on how you choose to record an album. Some people spend years and years on a record, but for us we are usually in and out of the studio, production-wise, in a couple of weeks. We try not to think about it too much. We didn’t want to recreate Salvation Station, and make part two. We wanted to record an album that reflected where we were right now in our lives.
gmclife.com: And maybe there’s freedom, too, because you’re not doing the traditional Christian music thing...
Parisien: I think because we are a little bit of a square peg with respect to what we do artistically and how it fits in the contemporary Christian music model, it’s already eclectic so I think that does give us freedom. We already know that what we are doing is different, so we just kind of go in and do our thing. If it’s meant to work it will, and if it is the last album we make as a group, and that is God’s will, then we’ll know it is. I think we’ve always had that attitude in the back of our heads. We never planned this whole thing. We’re just along for the ride so we just keep having fun and we can be a bit crazy about it in the studio.
Next: gmclife.com: In some of the reviews for your new album, there were a couple of critics who felt you went a little more pop. Did you feel that was the case?
