by Michael Todd
Dark clouds don't hang around Blake Christiana's head no matter what he tells us.
After meeting a "nasty weather day" in Lincoln the first time Christiana's band Yarn came through a few months ago, he and his East Coast, alt-country outfit released an EP, Dark Skies, for free recently. When he tells the story of when he wrote the EP's title track, it's no surprise the sun has little to do with anything.
Now as the late August warmth stands in stark opposition to the song examined below, here's hoping the clouds have forgotten their role in this story. Yarn returns to Lincoln on Thursday at The Zoo Bar for a concert with the Mike Dowty Band, starting at 9 p.m.
Hear Nebraska: How was your first time through Lincoln a couple months ago?
Blake Christiana: I loved it, man. We got to spend a day walking around downtown. It turned into a pretty nasty weather day, but we made the best of it.
HN: Where are you from originally?
BC: I grew up in Schenectady, N.Y., about 150 miles north of New York City.
HN: Yarn is based in New York now, but where do think your songs would live?
BC: Honestly, I live all over the place now. I live part-time in North Carolina, sometimes out in northern Pennsylvania, and for the most part, I live on the road now. I recently moved out of Brooklyn. There’s pretty much pieces of them all over the country right now, so that’s probably where they live.
HN: What do you think folks in bigger cities identify with in your songs?
BC: In the beginning, a lot of the songs were about the struggles of being a New York City musician, living the life of a poor person in an expensive town. I think we can all relate to that feeling, especially with the current times being as they are.
If they relate to them, that’s the key part: connecting with your fans, connecting with music listeners, finding the common ground. I’m just writing from my own heart. If people can relate to that, then we’re sharing a moment there. Hopefully, they get all they want from it.
HN: What does writing a good song do for you personally?
BC: It’s definitely a form of therapy, just sitting down and writing a song. Maybe that’s why I don’t go see a shrink every week. It changes from song to song. It all depends on the mood.
I definitely write a lot of dark themes, but it’s a strange world out there (laughs). It’s just one way for me to deal with that. Hopefully, people listen to it as their form of therapy, another way for them to get through life a little easier and a little more.
HN: I have a few questions about the song “Dark Skies.” First off, who is the speaker in the song?
BC: I guess that could be anybody at a really desperate point in their lives, someone who doesn't see any other options. That one’s a particularly dark song because the guy’s opting out of this life to move on to whatever the next one is.
We all have those days, though, so maybe you could read it a few ways. He’s a fictitious character; hopefully, I don’t meet anyone like that anytime soon. But you could read it one way that it’s just the feeling that you get in the morning: black clouds hanging over your head everywhere you step, just a bad luck day. But it could also mean the story of a man who couldn’t take it anymore.
HN: Tell me about where you were when you wrote “Dark Skies.”
BC: I recorded it the day I wrote it and posted it on YouTube. For that song, I was in my apartment in Brooklyn. I was supposed to go see my family and hang out with my nephew and I couldn’t go because I had gotten sick. I had a whole week off on the road, which is very uncommon, so I decided to write a song every morning since I was stuck in my apartment. I figured I’d do something with it.
I finished the songs and posted them online for people to listen to. I call them “morning songs,” and I’ve done that again since then. It’s just a little exercise and songwriting project. So that morning, the weather was pretty shitty up there, and it all came together.
HN: Do you usually sit down to write a song or does it come about more spontaneously? And do you try to write in the morning if you have time?
BC: The morning is a good time for me in particular. I haven’t thought a whole lot about the day. I haven’t had the stresses. It’s a clear-headed time for me to write. I like to try writing in the morning.
In reality, I’ll write anything, any hour of the day, any time of the night. But it seems to flow pretty quick in the morning. A lot of days, I’ll drive in my car and record them on my recorder. If it’s just a lyric, I’ll write them down.
The morning is good, though, because I haven’t started thinking about all the shit I have to do.
CHORDS
Capo on second fret
G
Good morning, my friends
C
Looks like cloudy, dark skies again
G
Been too long since it began
D
And I just don’t understand
G
Good afternoon, my love
C
Looks like cloudy dark skies above
G
It’s been too long tracking mud
D
And I just don’t understand
G
C
Why you hangin’ ‘round
G D
Why you keep on pouring down on me, on to me
G D7
When I’m almost drowned
C G
Why can’t you be brighter company
D
Blue skies, sunshine is what I need
G
Good evening, my dear
C
See those cloudy dark skies appear
G
Every time I come near
D
But I just don’t understand
G
Goodbye, my friends
C
I just can’t bear dark skies again
G
It seems I've hit wit's end
D
And I hope you’ll understand
G
C
Why you hangin’ ‘round
G D
Why you keep on pouring down on me, on to me
G D7
When I’m almost drowned
C G
Why can’t you be brighter company
D
Blue skies, sunshine is what I need
Verse instrumental
C
Why you hangin’ ‘round
G D
Why you keep on pouring down on me, on to me
G D7
When I’m almost drowned
C G
Why can’t you be brighter company
D
Blue skies, sunshine is what I need
G
C
Why you hangin’ ‘round
G D
Why you keep on pouring down on me, on to me
G D7
When I’m almost drowned
C G
Why can’t you be brighter company
D
Blue skies, sunshine is what I need
G
Download the Dark Skies EP for free here:
Michael Todd is Hear Nebraska's managing editor. Coffee is his sunshine on mornings like this. Reach him at michaeltodd@hearnebraska.org.
