Philo Q&A

Ellis Paul on Translucent Soul

Congratulations on the new recording. It's been over two years since the last release - What have you been doing since then?

I traveled around the entire country with my guitar...Alaska to Florida, dog sled to crocodiles, which is the great thing about my kind of music - you can get the record out to people by selling it from the back of your car, so to speak. I logged over 100,000 miles in my little Honda Civic. It's God's gift to the American folk musician. It ain't about MTV-it's all about Japanese engineering. I've done over four hundred shows with that car in the last two years, and it started after every one of them.

The new record is called Translucent Soul. Why the title?

Well, "Rubber Soul" was already taken. Actually it's named after a song on the record which says that the color of the skin shouldn't affect how we treat one another. I know that sounds obvious and even trite, but you only need to turn the TV on to Jerry Springer to see how far we have yet to go with the concept. I see racism all over the country still, and I'm white! Anyway, I think it comes down to soul. We are all born innocent. I pictured the soul as clear, colorless, pure, like glass-and each of the songs is really written from that place. The title kind of summed up the whole recording and songwriting process.

A lot of these songs seem to be about loss, or leaving...

Well, some people say that the best way to find yourself is to lose your way for a little while, and many of these songs are about that very thing happening. Like "Take Me Down," which I wrote about that lonely feeling of being in a place where nobody knows you-and you are wondering if you even know yourself. Most of the songs are about that first step of trying to get somewhere better... when you know you need a change and that any place would be better than where you presently are. This record is a set of songs about that first, scary step. The first one is always the most difficult. Every album I record feels like a step forward, and I'm not going to quit putting out records until I'm finally...somewhere. I've got lots of steps and many records to go, and that last one-maybe I'll call it "I'm Here," or "Oops, Wrong Shower," or maybe "Meet the Beatles"... I don't know. But someday I'm gonna have it all figured out-then maybe I'll start playing jazz.

You and your wife broke up since your last recording. Is this your break-up album, your "Blood on the Tracks?"

Well, it's not my "Saturday Night Fever"- I don't see a lot of sequins coming out of the closet. It's really a collection of songs about choices, about choosing to change your situation and then evaluating the departure. Change can be a tough thing, but in doing so, one might just discover hope, will power, faith. So the songs carry those things within the lines- in the invisible spaces between the words.

Are there any other themes besides loss and change that run through these songs?

All the songs are about love, one way or another...love as a learning opportunity. "She Loves a Girl" is about a family that cuts off their daughter when she reveals that she is involved with another woman. "The World Ain't Slowin' Down" is about the joy of freedom and the pain of loss that accompanies suddenly being out of a relationship. "Seven" is about forgiveness and loss after a separation. "Translucent Soul" is about loving someone regardless of color or social differences. "Angel in Manhattan" is about trying to keep the faith in a cynical world. "Live in the Now" is about enjoying what you have, and if you have some love in your life, maybe that's all you really need...

How was working with your producer and drummer Jerry Marotta different this time around?

We took our time with this one. Jerry and I spent a year working on the recording. I think we found the sweet spot on a high percentage of songs this time around. The players and I had more breathing room because we used Jerry's studio in Woodstock, N.Y. There was less financial pressure and less deadline pressure, and he was great in taking time to let the songs settle into being something before we started recording. I was going through some tough personal times, and Jerry, at times, really had to take over the project and carry it on his back for a while. He was really patient, supportive, and very creative. A full-service producer-therapist/drummer/philosopher.

Who else plays on the recording?

I had the thrill of working with basically the same team as the Carnival of Voices release. Bill Dillon was the principal guitar player. He drove in from Toronto in a blizzard and spent three weeks camping out with the tapes, making loops, layering guitars, drinking espresso, smoking Rothman cigarettes...come to think of it, I never did see him eat. Tony Levin came in with the bass tracks. He's really a genius. Most music people know that, I guess, but when you're in the studio, and he's creating right in front of you... it's like watching God make THURSDAY or something. He drives the music, fills in the holes, and brings in more melody all at the same time. Jerry Marotta played drums and really brought soul to all the songs. He deserves an award for the song "Take Me Down." It's strange when a drummer is playing the principal hook in the song-it's almost like a melody, his drum kits are so tonal. I can't imagine the album without him. Drummers will love this recording. Duke Levine, who has been on all four of my recordings, came to Woodstock and played second guitar, with Don Conoscenti, James Rotondi, and Chris Nekvinda playing padding guitars. Harvey Jones played keys, and Dar Williams-one of my favorite songwriters-and Brooke Burton did the backing vocals. I was in tremendous company...I got all of their autographs.

What's next for you?

Lots of touring ad writing. Applying for an opening spot on the Spice Girls' world tour. More songs and CD's to come. I'll hold off on the jazz career, and, I guess, it's back in the Honda for another year supporting this record-then trying to figure out how to make a crocodile pull a dog sled...

-From a July 29, 1998, interview at Club Passim, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass.