Interview: We talk to The Rentals' Matt Sharp about Songs About Time (Hint: Read if you like fantastic photographs and/or quality music)

http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/10/16/interview-we-talk-to-the-rentals-matt-sharp-about-songs-about-time-hint-read-if-you-like-fantastic-photographs-andor-quality-music/

Current fans of the band know that it's been working on a yearlong project known as Songs About Time. Rather than going through the standard rigamarole of recording an album in a secluded studio, then touring to support it (not to mention dealing with the apparently crazy record labels), Sharp and Co. came up with a different idea: how about, instead of one big album, which is so start-stop, we sprinkle a few EPs throughout the year, and document our days together for our fans in the form of short movies and frequent photographs?

 Or, in Matt's own words: The project is one year in photography, film, and music that's all coming, in real time, on our Web site. There's not a better word for it than a multimedia project, but we have one element of the site that deals with photography, one part that deals with film, and one part that deals with music. At times they intersect and feed off each other, and have a cyclical, creative rhythm.

That is, calling Songs About Time a multimedia project (which sounds like something you'd do in 6th grade) somewhat misses the point; it doesn't describe the spirit of its intentions. It's about using different forms of media to better involve fans with the creative process. It sure beats the old, "here's out album, now buy it and a t-shirt and we'll see you guys in three years" mentality.

Two things I think are interesting about this: 1) It is an example of a portfolio of sorts, where all the pieces together, and how they inter-relate, form something greater than the whole. There is an expression here that transcends composition, film, visual, music. 2) The work is released piecemeal over time. It is not a finished product. It is being released as it is created.

Both of these points have a bearing on the new scholarship I see being hashed out around me.