FOCUS ON FEELING
Tobin Sprout takes deliberately primitive approach on new album
Tobin Sprout took the long road for his latest album. Sprout — formerly of indie rock icons Guided by Voices — took seven years to put together his sixth solo album, “The Universe and Me.”
The process included Sprout digging through a treasure chest of memories in his home studio in Michigan, where he also recorded with his new band.
“It’s interesting the stuff that I will write,” he says in a recent phone interview. “I felt like being in this space really helped me push myself with music.”
Sprout says “The Universe and Me” takes a deliberately primitive approach that focuses on feeling, as opposed to production.
He says the result is a vague bridge between the ballads of psychedelicera Beatles and the haunting vulnerability of Daniel Johnston’s “Hi, How Are You?”
Feeling inspired, Sprout also penned and illustrated his own magical children’s books.
“Everything on this project felt completely different from what I’ve done before,” he says. “It’s like I had turned over a new leaf.”
As Sprout gears up for a new tour, he is putting together a set list that consists of music from throughout his career.
A self-taught musician, Sprout contributed to the unique lo-fi sound of the Dayton, Ohio, band Guided by Voices, which he was a member of from 1987 through 1997.
“It’s kind of nice to have that to pull from,” he says of the GBV songs. “A lot of those songs don’t work live that well, and I can pick them out. Sometimes you’re surprised when a song worked well live.”
Sprout says there are about 40 songs in the set list.
“After the first two legs of the tour, we have the set down to what flows well,” he says. “Each night is a little different but with the same vibe.”
After more than 30 years in the music industry, Sprout still writes daily.
“I write and put the ideas into the file,” he says. “I write the same way after all these years. I’ll start with the chord sequence. Then I’ll wrote a chorus and work backwards from there. It’s all about piecing it all back together.”