A day in the life: Greg Mendez
Greg Mendez' breakthrough success over the past couple of years as felt as wholesome as it has surprising. Which is meant as no reflection on the quality of the music, more that it's heartening to know that there's still a space in this busy and ugly world for beautifully quiet songs.
Those songs, raw and heavy as they are lyrically, finally found a wider audience following the release of Greg's self-titled LP, a nine-song collection that followed a slew of DIY Bandcamp releases; a small world he'd crafted out for himself and a space where so many similar artists tend to remain.
But success followed, these weary, aching songs as gripping in their stark prettiness as those songwriters Greg's often compared to: Elliott Smith, primarily, and also Nick Drake, early Alex G et al.
Then, a little earlier this year, came the news that Greg had stepped out of his own shadowy walls and signed to the Dead Oceans label, the news coming in tandem with both a new 4-song EP and a reissue of the aforementioned self-titled album.
That album remains one of the most affecting pocket of songs released by one-man-and-his-guitar in recent memory, one of those moments where the songs don't feel like outliers of his personality but one and the same; interwoven depictions of his soul, if you want to get really deep. Which we do and we will.
Read on for Greg's A Day In The Life feature and check out all the music as soon as you can, as soon as you find a quiet corner of the night to step inside of it.
What's the first song or album you reach for in the quiet of the morning?
I don't find myself listening to much music in the morning, but if I do it's pretty random, usually something I woke up thinking about or went to sleep thinking about. This morning it was Ram by Paul & Linda McCartney, which I love. Veronica and I were listening to it late last night for the first time in a while and getting so pumped on it. So I came back to it alone early this morning.
What's the one song you play to wake you up and embrace the day ahead?
"I Wish It Would Rain," the version by The Techniques. Maybe a strange pick lyrically but I dunno, it's got this complex feeling to me where it makes me feel good even though it's sad and it pumps me up while also calming me down. I think this is the kind of stuff I gravitate towards most, where it's like - there's something in there for me no matter how I'm feeling. Instead of wrapping me up in its own feeling, it draws whatever I'm feeling out of me and then wraps me up in it, and I think that's a really cool and hard thing to accomplish with a song.
What's your favourite song or album to drive to/accompany you on a road trip?
Lately it's been The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society. I think I do most of my music listening while driving. Our car has a CD player that works now and I found my old book of CDs recently and I've really been into listening to albums this way. Streaming services are stressful for me while driving because of the overwhelming options, the temptation to keep shuffling between songs that I'm craving in the moment is too great. I think it actually makes me a dangerous driver. I'm an addict at heart. Before the CD player, I found myself driving in silence a lot of the time.
What's a song or album that sounds best just as the sun begins to go down?
27 Demos by Margo Guryan. I love these songs so much at any time of day but I guess if i had to pick it'd be dusk. The melodies and chord changes in these songs really captivate me. There's an eternal itch in my brain that gets scratched by stuff like this. This isn't the first time I've talked about this itch, and it probably won't be the last. I guess I listen to a lot of pretty old music, all my picks so far are from before my time, not sure what that says about me but it's probably something. This is another CD we have in the car and I return to it often.
What's your favourite song or album for when the dark of night has arrived?
I've been really into "White Fire" by Angel Olsen since we played some shows opening for her recently. This one really knocked me over and it's got this really specific feel to it that I love. It's a very long song with almost nothing going on arrangement-wise, but it's so true and sure of itself that it doesn't lose my interest at all. This is kind of the opposite of "I Wish It Would Rain" in that no matter what I'm feeling when I put it on, this one will fill my eyes with tears. This is also a really cool and hard thing to accomplish with a song.
And finally, what's the last song you play in the late-night quiet, when the day is over?
"Forever" by Shannen Moser. It's just a beautiful song, to me it's filled with longing but in a way that isn't just sad. I feel like I could say more about it, but maybe I would just be doing it a disservice. It gives me a feeling of hope, which is something I consistently search for in music, as it seems harder and harder to find elsewhere.
Stream the First Time / Alone EP via Bandcamp here
The reissue of Greg Mendez LP is out in December
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three / six / five is a daily music-sharing project from gold flake paint; read more about the idea here
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