The Farthest Forests, a two piece band featuring Anne Marple vocally and our old friend, Peter Squires, providing the music, were born of the lush woods and epic tides of the New England seacoast; two golden babies united musically by an artistic challenge: to write and record, Strange Wool, their first full-length album, in only 28 days.

Using imaginative lyrics and creative instrumentation including toy piano, trombone, and stomps & claps, the duo quickly forged a unique lo-fi sound that ranges from sparse and haunting to outright jubilant. Recently, Bestnewbands.com chatted with Squires about the origins of the band, how the duo met and their plans for the rest of 2011.

Daniel Kohn: How did the group begin? Whose idea was it?

Peter Squires: The group began because Anne and I had heard of a thing called the RPM Challenge, which is put on each year by our local weekly, The Wire .  The challenge is to write and record a full-length album during the month of February.  There’s no prize or entry fee, just an artistic challenge purely for the sake of creativity.  As artsy folks (I’m a singer-songwriter, Anne a visual artist and writer who had dabbled a very little bit in songwriting) we decided it would be a fun thing to try together.  We didn’t have lofty expectations, seeing as Anne had never been in a band before…we mainly just wanted something to do in the coldest month of Maine winter.  When the first few songs we made came out sounding good, we decided not to take it lightly, so we really stuck to a schedule, kept writing songs we liked, and didn’t settle for anything we didn’t think was good just because we were short on time.  That really made a big difference, and we’re both really proud of the finished product.

DK: When did you and Anne meet? Was it by chance or an introduction? How did you know that you were both interested in music?

PS: Anne and I met on Star Island, an island off the coast of the New Hampshire seacoast, where we both worked as employees of a summer hotel and conference center.  We became friends about a year ago and started dating not long after that.  She knew of my musical activity, and I knew of her artistic and writing ability, but didn’t hear her sing until October or November, when she played me a song she’d written (which was super simple…it literally had maybe 2 notes on the guitar)…but I could hear that she had a cool voice and I knew she had a lot to say and there was a lot of overlap in our musical taste, so when she proposed that we start a band it sounded fun.

 

DK: When did the project become less side and more full-time?

PS: The project became less of a side-project and more full-time pretty much as soon as we released the album digitally because the reaction we got to it was so positive.  So many people reached out to us for interviews, to play shows, and of course the record label wanting to release the album on CD…it became quickly apparent that the process wasn’t over (which is what we anticipated upon releasing it that our friends would hear it and that would be it, aside from MAYBE playing a show here and there).  I’ve still been playing solo shows (many of which were booked before the release of the FF album), but I haven’t written any new solo material since January.  I hope to release the songs I’ve written since my first album came out (in August of ’09) at some point this year, but right now my focus and excitement are definitely on the side of The Farthest Forests.

 

DK: What are some of your shared influences that have shaped the sound?

PS: In terms of artists we both like, I’d say  Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Neko Case, Chad VanGaalen, Smashing Pumpkins, Of Montreal and TV On The Radio to name a few.  For the most part our tastes overlap in the indie and folky realms, but we also have our own separate tastes.  Anne, for instance, really likes electronic music, dance music, and Latin music, which I’m not as into, whereas I like Billy Bragg, Ted Leo, early-Elton John, Billy Joel as well as heavier rock, which she’s not really as into.  There’s probably elements of all of these styles in our music.

 

DK: In you opinion, what does the album sound like? Is it a lot like your solo material or a collaborative effort?

PS: We’d basically describe our sound as lo-fi, percussive folk with a naturey flair.  The first song we wrote, “rocksnsticksntreesnbones” kind of sums it up to me.  A cool acoustic riff with a clapping rhythmic pattern and very illustrative lyrics having to do with a nature scene and the feelings that that scene evokes.  That song kind of nailed what we both felt connected to and it predicted the direction the band would go in.  It definitely shares elements with my solo stuff insofar as it’s me playing the music on both, but the songwriting is a lot different.  The Farthest Forests are a lot less beholden to the typical verse/chorus/verse/bridge/etc/etc structure than I am with my solo stuff.  Anne’s lyrics are much more poetic and imagery-based, whereas my solo songs are mostly just prose accounts of personal experiences that rhyme.  It is definitely a collaborative effort and a distinct experience from Peter Squires solo music.

DK: What are your plans for the rest of ’11? Any gigs beyond New England?

PS: As of right now our plans just include shows in New England, but we hope to do some touring later in the year, and also to release another album by the fall.  We already have a few songs in the works.  It remains super-exciting that this 4-week project is still going strong and looks like it will keep lasting into the future.

 

Check out The Farthest Forest’s website for info on their upcoming proper release and upcoming tourdates.