mr. Gnome – Connecting With This World, and Beyond

Very few artists would consider recording two seven-plus minute songs, let alone releasing them as the lead singles from an album, but mr. Gnome has been doing things their own way for the better part of 20 years, and their radical, outside the box decision making coincides perfectly with their equally radical, outside the box music.

The aforementioned seven-plus minute songs – “Nothing and Everything,” and “Fader” – introduce listeners to the Cleveland duo’s upcoming album, A Sliver of Space, which is due out September 27th via El Marko Records. They’ll follow this with a fall tour that kicks off the evening of the album’s release, and as of now runs through early November.

Musically, mr. Gnome, which consists of married couple Nicole Barille and Sam Meister, defies categorization, as evidenced by the tags on Bandcamp for A Sliver of Space, which include electronic, psychedelic, punk, and stoner rock. In addition to the myriad of musical genres, the duo also poured a heck of a lot of heart and soul into the album.

I caught up with Nicole and Sam to find out about the inspirations behind A Sliver of Space, as well as the major change they made to their writing process, and the artists they turned each other on to way back when they first met.

Let’s get started by talking about the new album, A Sliver of Space. I feel like that title could have quite a few meanings – a sliver of space, meaning a small bit of space of your own, or a sliver of space, meaning a sliver of the entire universe. Am I onto something here? Is this is a multi-layered project? 

Nicole: It’s definitely a multi-layered meaning.

“A Sliver of Space” was a song that we wrote like ten years ago that never really saw the light of day, but we always loved that title.

This album, unfortunately, is a lot about loss. We lost two people right when we started writing it, so when we went to name the album, we thought the last couple of years are always us trying to (cope with) with grief, and loss – it’s like you’re searching for that connection back to the people that you lost. So we felt like that title was like how there’s like a sliver of space between you and the other side, or where we are when we leave.

We’ve both had some interesting experiences having lost people, and having things happen where we can feel them in certain ways … can feel their presence still there. So when we were naming this, that was the main meaning behind it, it was like this sliver of space between you, and whatever world you’re trying to communicate with.

That’s very heavy. While you were writing this album with all of that on your mind, did it provide a perfect outlet to help get through things? 

Nicole: Yeah, for sure.

Sam: It was the outlet. I mean, we lost ourselves in the creative process for a long time just to kind of get through life a little bit.

We used it as like a therapy session, and a way to connect with each other, and just to get through things.

Do you think that some of the loss comes through in the lyrics in such a way where you’re going to have people coming up to you telling you their own stories of loss? 

Nicole: Yeah, quite possibly.

The last record we did was called The Day You Flew Away. We released that right during COVID, and that record was all about me losing my dad, and then two weeks later finding out I was pregnant. So it was these two colossal life moments – one being so gut-wrenchingly ripping your heart out, and the other providing this whole new perspective, whole new life.

When we put out The Day You Flew Away, my cousin passed away right at the beginning of COVID, and then two months later Sam’s brother passed away. These were people that were our people. They were two of our best friends, like they defined who we were growing up. That was a really hard moment, because we were isolated from everyone, too.

So to answer your question, I feel like with the last record we got so many letters from people that had lost someone where the album helped them, it helped them get through that moment, which means the world to us, because when you’re going through a hard time, you don’t know what to do with yourself. To be able to pour yourself into any type of art form, and then have it resonate with people, it’s the greatest thing ever. It’s a really cool connection.

I hope people feel that on this one, too, and I hope that if anyone’s having a hard time, I know music, for me, all growing up, it got me through so many moments where you don’t feel as alone. It’s such a beautiful art form that’s so immediate, and it could just break through without you ever meeting that person, through their lyrics, and just the feeling. We shall see if people get that out of this record, too.

We’ve talked quite a bit about loss, but let’s just state for the record, the album’s not a bummer. How did you make sure of that? 

Sam: When we were writing we were being drawn to different types of music that were kind of the opposite of the way we were feeling, things that lean a little more pop, or just a little more upbeat. It probably had to do with the fact that we were so down while we were doing it, and we didn’t want to get completely lost in that, because it’s easy to. I think we were kind of drawn towards those elements of the music because of that, because we were trying to escape the darkness.

Nicole: Yeah, and lyrically, it’s always like I’m freaking out, but everything’s going to be OK. I think that was probably just me needing a therapist, and trying to be my own. You know what I mean? It was me always trying to find the light in those moments where it didn’t seem like there was much light going on.

The first two singles are the two longest songs on the album, “Nothing and Everything,” and “Fader,” both clocking in at over seven minutes. That’s not a traditional length for a single. So what made you want to release those two songs first? 

Nicole: When we were ordering the record we spent like a month trying to figure it out, and we have a bunch of other songs that didn’t make the record. We were just trying to figure out, like, how do we present this thing?

It was the same with the last record, we’re just like – do we tell a story? Do we just go with our favorite songs? How exactly do we do it?

Those two songs, “Nothing and Everything,” and “Fader,” they just stuck out for us where we really enjoyed the journey that they were providing for the listener.

I think we understood that it was maybe a risky move, but we also understood that we never really cared about things like that. Also, we felt like it was presenting the album in the best way to start with those two.

No one song represents the whole record. I feel like they’re all really different, and we realized that when we were putting it together, but I feel like these two songs do show the light and dark side of electronic, and then also just like the more heavy rock that we’ve been since we started. We wanted to represent all of that, and we felt like those two songs did it.

I know you're also very big on creating visuals, so what do you have in store for A Sliver of Space and the upcoming tour? 

Sam: We’re still making things right now. We plan on putting a couple videos out before we hit the road, and as far as a live visual thing, we’re pretty much a punk rock band. We kind of just show up and play, and we sweat all over everybody, spit, and all that good stuff. We’re pretty raw that way, and I think a lot of people really enjoy that aspect of our live performance. It’s real, you know, and and it’s all about the energy. I think if you can tune into that, and have a good time, then that’s all we could ask for.

Nicole: Yeah, we’re really DIY to where we do everything ourselves. It’s just the three of us on the road – me, Sam, and his brother Jonah – so setting up a whole light show, and stuff like that, is just not really an option.

Also, 2016 was our last tour, which is pretty crazy. You can imagine how much we’re freaking out.

So this specific tour we are trying to play really small clubs, just have fun, like more punk rock vibes, still doing the electronic stuff, but just more like reconnecting with all the people that we haven’t seen in forever, or that we’ve only been talking to on the internet.

You have been making music together for nearly 20 years. What have been some of the most gratifying aspects of your musical evolution – be it sound, songwriting, or even the process? 

Sam: I just appreciate the fact that we’re still doing it. I appreciate the fact that we do it together, and that we still enjoy it, and it means everything to us, and we put our whole hearts into it, and the fact that we still want to do it, and still care about it. Then on top of that, that other people care about it, it means everything to us.

The creative process, it’s evolved in so many ways for us since we had our son.

Before, we used to just lock ourselves in a practice spot, and play for hours, and just write songs live, and things would come together that way. When we had our son, we couldn’t do that anymore. We had to write separately, or write in pieces, or write in moments. That kind of dictated almost the styles of songs that we ended up writing, because we couldn’t just jam on a riff for two hours anymore. We had to be like, “OK, I wrote a riff, check it out. Does this inspire you in your moment while I go watch the baby?” That kind of made us evolve a certain way.

Nicole: Yeah. I mean, the whole experience has been amazing.

We met when we were really young, and we were both such music fans. We were already playing instruments when we met, but not very well, so we went on this growing process together. We were in each other’s first bands.

We were really young when we started, so I think what we’ve done has just been such an adventure, and we’ve met so many amazing people.

When we started practicing again, getting ready for this tour, I just remembered how much I missed playing live. There’s nothing else that feels like the connection in a room like that, where people are just giving you all their good energy, and you’re giving it back. You can’t really recreate that in any other way.

So, yeah, I think we both just feel so lucky that we’ve been able to do it for a long time.

With you having changed your writing style, and your production style since the birth of your son, does he get a production credit on this album? 

Nicole: He is in the liner notes. We did a thank you.

Sam: He’s like, “Don’t put me in there.” We tried to put him on the record. We kept recording him doing these things, and he’s like, “Don’t put me on the record.”

Nicole: But he does talk about mr. Gnome as us. He’ll be like, “Are we not doing that?” or “Are we going on to it?”

He thinks he’s part of the band.

He will be. 

Nicole: Yeah. Now that he’s in school, our writing process is going to be … we can do a good mix of what we’ve been doing, but then go back to the roots where we get hours and hours to play again. So that’s very exciting.

Finally, you’ve been together forever as a couple, and as musicians. With that in mind, give me one artist or band that you wouldn’t be into if it wasn’t for the person sitting next to you. 

Sam: {turning to Nicole} I mean, you kind of introduced me to Portishead in high school, and that was a big moment for me musically. I was like – I love this. I still do.

That was so long ago.

Nicole: And Sam played me Ziggy Stardust on one of our first dates. I had never heard David Bowie outside of like “Fame,” and some radio hits, and I was mind blown. I thought it was so amazing.

Even like Otis Redding, and Sam Cooke, Sam’s dad raised him on so many old classics, (and) my parents didn’t listen to a lot of music like that. My dad was like The Beatles, and Roy Orbison, that whole side of things, so it was exciting when I started listening to stuff like that.

 

For more mr. Gnome, check out mrgnome.com.