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BO STALOCH on his EP, The Garden
WORDS by Tessa Swantek TALENT Bo Staloch PHOTO Travis Bailey PR °1824
“At the front of the Minnesota farm where my dad grew up is a huge willow tree, and I remember playing in the tree and losing myself and finding myself there. WhenI write,I thinkI’m trying to recreate that feeling of being in the willow tree.”
Bo Staloch
The willow tree seems to hold stories, whether fermented or fresh, roots tangle underground, deeper and deeper. Its limbs don’t fight the wind, they bend gracefully to its whispers. The willow trusts it will still stand despite its bending boughs. It is fascinated by all who curl underneath its outstretched arms. The willow is a watchman, standing guard over memories.
As we talk to Bo Staloch, the day before his EP, The Garden, releases, our conversation is rooted in trusting himself and his intuition, and that he’ll withstand anything through that faith. He says, “If something feels right, then it’s probably right, and if you are hesitating, then there’s a reason it feels that way. Listen to yourself. I’m so lucky that I’ve trusted myself.” At the outro of the EP’s first track, “Give it a Break,” he sings, Someday, I'll be fine / I'll go on home where nothing's wrong / And I'll see the orange light / Someday, I'll be fine / I'll say my name, and I'll find its place / And I'll wake up with a smile / Someday, I'll be alright. He says, “For ‘Give it a Break,’ I was subconsciously thinking of a relationship I had gotten out of. Combined with the energy of being on tour, the energy of the second half of the song is a huge release and a declaration that, hopefully, one day I’ll be fine.” This declaration in particular feels like an acknowledgement that no matter how far we stray, we can always find ourselves again in a warm spot, shaded and shielded from everything else.
Bo, too, is a watcher. He says, “My inspiration comes from watching and noticing things, whether it’s at an airport or a coffee shop. There are stories around you all the time. The introspective piece is that I think everyone is a lot more similar than we give ourselves credit for.” He specifically mentions the moments he knew he wanted to be an artist: “Growing up in Texas, I went to Austin City Limits Festival every year. I went to one show at Stubb’s, and I couldn’t stop watching the crowd and how infatuated they were with the music. That’s something I want to chase for the rest of my life.” As a willow weeps for truths told underneath it, Bo has found himself struck by crowds of people he describes as “only truly being themselves for a moment.” He reflects on watching a father and son dancing and an older man crying at a Mt. Joy show. Bo seems to chase shared energy, a current that runs through all of us. He’ll be touring through July with his band and says he often likes the live version of his songs more than the recorded version. He shares, “These songs come from a very real and deep place,” and “letting loose and writing what I’m feeling helps me.” His music is so powerful live because of its truthful expression that invites others to sit under it and share in it. “Fault Line” and “Oh God, Were you Ever?” in particular hold an energy that demands a live stage.
"There are stories around you all the time."
The Garden by Bo Staloch
LIVE AT LAUREL CANYON
A common theme in his EP is in sharing or shouldering the burden and being a steady force to lean on. In the titular track, “The Garden,” he sings, When the sky falls down, give the pieces to me / I’ll hold you like the moon till you fall asleep. He shares, “‘The Garden’ was the first song I wrote for this project. I started writing it at our family home in Minnesota. I had my manager there and his daughter. I wrote it one morning at the piano and we were with his daughter. Her name is Lola and in the original demo you hear her laughing as I’m singing. The inspiration came from being surrounded by family and about future children and letting go of fear for them.” He recalls listening to “The Garden” for the first time and feeling, This is it. Most of the tracks following “The Garden” connect this idea of transferring weight and energy for a moment of stillness. In “Fault Line” and “The Blame” he bears the burden’s back as he sings, Pain is just an empty word / If no one ever takes the blame / It's fallen onto me / It's fallen onto me in “The Blame.” In the EP’s closing track, “Speak to Me,” he sings, Put your weight on me / So you can finally breathe / Don't you know, baby, it's an endless fight? / So fight it with me / Yeah, you need something to believe in / 'Cause you ain't leaving / Baby, put your faith in me / Let it be.
It strikes me when Bo shares that he’s been listening to East My Love by Current Joys as he says, “I listened to it for the first time last fall on tour and I literally broke down crying.” The second verse of the titular track goes, And I will bury all your tears / Because there's always use in crying / And I will consume all your fеars / So you'll never have to hidе 'em / What's it like to disappear / From everything you once relied on? / So when you're stuck out in the east / There will always be a light on. I like to think of music as the willow tree - a moment of solace that you can always come back to. In the same way that Current Joys’ music allowed Bo to truthfully express himself, Bo’s music does the same for others. It’s important to keep faith in connection; we all need to lean back once in a while and feel the garden grow beneath us.
"I listened to 'East My Love' by Current Joys and I literally broke down crying."
Fault Line by Bo Staloch
LIVE AT LAUREL CANYON
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