“I love the smell of vinyl. The polymers. The fresh crisp clean of card stock. It’s like the smell reaches out to remind you ‘this is real.’”
“My first time with vinyl was when I was 22. I didn’t grow up in a musically active household (though discs where frequently being played on the stereo). I had a girlfriend who had a Crosley turntable from Target. Within a few weeks I had quickly become someone who would add to her vinyl collection. Living in Washington, DC at the time Mobius was my favorite stomping grounds. That and sometimes Crooked Beat.
I’ve always been highly inspired by the songwriters of the ’70s. Carole King’s Tapestry, Jackson Browne’s Running On Empty, Springsteen’s Darkness On the Edge of Town, and of course Randy Newman’s Little Criminals. This was my opportunity to get the real thing. I stared deeply at Joni Mitchell’s Blue album cover and tried to understand why songs were like tattoos and how she’d been to sea before. Blue made me a better songwriter. Miles’ Kind of Blue made me a better cook—the soundtrack to many meals in our small Alexandria, VA kitchen.
My favorite thing about the process of listening to vinyl is that after 20 minutes I have to stop what I’m doing and I’m forced to actively re-engage with the experience I’m having by flipping it over. In a world where everything is becoming automated, the interruption can seem like a radical act. As an artist, rituals are deeply important to me and I believe the whole physicality of vinyl makes listening to music a more intimate experience. I do not take it for granted. There is a power hidden in the process.
I was so excited when my label decided to press my last record, Birds, on vinyl and my latest two singles on 7-inch. When my master test pressings came in the mail I felt like a kid again racing home to listen to it. The initial excitement was quickly replaced with fear and dismay when I heard distortion and crackle come from the speakers.
After examining the cardboard box they came in and noticing a discoloration and a sticky residue I began to study the vinyl itself. Through the polymers the 7-inch smelled sweet like old sugar. I licked the vinyl and discovered the unforgettable taste of my childhood. Grape soda! Someone had spilled grape soda on the test pressing. Once giving it a good cleaning, and replacing the needle, it sounded exactly how I imagined it would. Can’t do that with digital.”
—Seth Glier
“Stages,” the current single from Seth Glier, is in stores now.
