courtesy photo

by Chance Solem-Pfeifer

At a time when David Bowie was “shedding tens of thousands of fans,” John Vanderslice had never been more enthralled with him.

In 1974, at a moment of great transition, Bowie gave his final farewell to glam rock with the album Diamond Dogs. This deeper-cut Bowie effort ushered in the subsequent soul album Young Americans and the singer never looked back. This past year, that intense moment of musical change attracted Vanderslice, a veteran indie songwriter and owner of Tiny Telephone. Perhaps because he was experiencing his own.

“It does feel transitional for me right now in the best sense of the word,” Vanderslice says of his new Kickstarter-funded, self-produced record Dagger Beach. After amicably parting ways with the Dead Oceans label, Vanderslice claimed utter creative control over Dagger Beach and simultaneously released a cover of Bowie’s 1974 album in its entirety.

And while he feels an artistic kinsmanship with mid-’70s Bowie, public perception of Vanderslice’s decade of albums is anything but that of a pop idol. Even if Vanderslice takes issue with the in-crowd implications of one of his most common labels — “songwriter’s songwriter” — through 10 full-length albums, he’s maintained the qualities of a singer-songwriter interested in disorienting soundscapes and lyrical detail.

Vanderslice will play Saturday, Oct. 26 at Slowdown with John Klemmensen & The Party. Tickets are available here.

But first, Vanderslice spoke to Hear Nebraska from his San Francisco home about “replacing songbirds with pornographers,” the act of killing of an undeserving song and how listening to a record enough becomes a chunk of his lifespan.

Listen to our interview with John Vanderslice here:

Chance Solem-Pfeifer is Hear Nebraska’s staff writer. John may not be a songwriter’s songwriter, but he’s definitely an interviewer’s interviewee. Reach Chance at chancesp@hearnebraska.org.