KATIE BROWN - 3 DEC 2021

Fathom’s Nancy Howie (also of folk trio Tweed) has never been one to let limitations stop her from achieving her vision. A piano tuner by trade, Auckland-based Howie found herself stuck at home unable to work when 2020’s lockdown struck, and hearing sounds in her head she didn’t have the instruments on hand to create, she began to construct her own versions of the necessary instruments in order to bring these sounds to life. This process of creative experimentation involving everything from fence posts and inflatable pool toys to pine resin and paint tins soon saw not just one song but a whole album spring to life, recorded from her own home.

“Mother Star” is the first single released from this upcoming album, named The World to Breathe, and it is Howie’s debut as a solo artist under the moniker Fathom. Themes of anxiety, self-discovery and uncertainty about life under COVID-19 run through the album, and the track, accompanied by an eclectic music video, is a beautiful example of the rich and colourful tapestry these themes are woven into. Speaking of the single, Howie says, “One of the few things that reassured me was looking out the window and watching as the sun rose and fell, every day, irrespective of what was happening in our daily lives. It felt like a reliable constant during a moment of frightening uncertainty.”

Packed to the brim with a warmth of expression and good will, “Mother Star” sees Howie employing her DIY instruments to perfection. Crafting her rhythm section around a paint tin and two stock pots fitted with the skins of the aforementioned inflatable pool toys, the kick represented by a fist pounding on the floor, the track also features three of her homemade saxophones, which she coins “ululophones”. The resulting sound is infused with a lo-fi folk charm, and its feel mimics the story of the instruments’ creation: it promises (and demonstrates!) that whatever life throws at us, there’ll be a way to move through it and still experience the warmth of sunlight rejuvenating our lives: we shift, grow and adapt around these changes that are forced upon us, and unexpected moments of magic can spring from this process of change.

It’s a joyful, hopeful and nourishing track, and acts as a delightful herald for what can only be good things to follow.

The World to Breathe is due for release in the summer of 2022, and follows on from a series of exhibitions and radio interviews around its unique instrumental backstory.

Watch the video for “Mother Star” and read our interview with Howie below.

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KATIE: ‘NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION’ IS CERTAINLY AN EXPRESSION THAT RINGS TRUE IN YOUR CASE! HAVE YOU ALWAYS BEEN A CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVER IN THIS WAY? 

Nancy: I spent a lot of my childhood living on a sailboat in Central America; I believe that this is where I learned to take unconventional approaches to challenges. I’ve always liked making things, but on a sailboat, you can’t nip out to the hardware store if you’re running low on materials. I had to make do with whatever was at hand (although I don’t think my father appreciated me liberating his soldering wire for my projects).

WHAT WAS YOUR MUSICAL BACKGROUND GROWING UP? WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR SOUND AND SONGWRITING?

There was a constant battle for stereo supremacy in my home growing up. When my mother wielded the power, we would listen to Latin American music; when my dad had control over the radio, it was Jimmy Buffett. I could occasionally curry favour with the overlords by doing extra washing up, and in this case, I always returned to the Beatles. I fell in love with the Beatles (and, consequently, with music) at 6, when my parents dropped the needle one night on an old compilation record they had dug out of storage. It kicked off an obsession that has yet to wear off. 

As a songwriter, I’m constantly trying to find albums that speak to me. When I lock into something musically, I start to hear echoes of it in my own writing, mingled with whatever else might be rattling around the brain-jukebox at that moment in time. The ones I always come back to, though, are Joni Mitchell and David Crosby. I feel that they stretch beauty to the brink of ugliness in their music, but stop just short. Some of their compositions are, to this day, the loveliest I’ve ever heard. 

Modern music I’m listening to at the moment includes Madison Cunningham, a brilliant singer-songwriter from California; Rodrigo Carazo, a jazz-tinged folk singer from Argentina; and Becca Stevens, a talented and prolific songwriter and jazz school alum. 

WHAT DRIVES YOU TO CREATE MUSIC?

I was asked this once, and in my reply, I detailed that feeling right before you vomit, where you realise it’s going to happen and you’re powerless to stop it. It’s like that, but nice. I didn’t realise until I’d finished explaining that the other person looked horrified.

AS A PIANO TUNER BY TRADE, YOU MUST HAVE SOMETHING OF A FASCINATION FOR HOW THINGS WORK! WHEN DID YOU START DOING THIS FOR WORK? 

This coming February will mark my 10th year as a piano tuner! I went into it because, after I graduated from university, I was a musician with a double major in English and Spanish, who had no interest in becoming a teacher or a translator. I wanted badly to make music, but I was aware that I was unlikely to be able to support myself financially in that field. While I was on my OE, it was suggested that I work with musical instruments instead. In many ways, it’s the ideal job: I love working with my hands, everyone I know is a musician to some degree, and I get to spend the rest of the time making music, either by myself as Fathom, or with my band, Tweed.

TELL US A LITTLE MORE ABOUT YOUR SONGWRITING APPROACH. WHAT’S YOUR PROCESS? HOW DID THAT LEAD TO CREATING YOUR OWN INSTRUMENTS?

I like to have thematic concept of a song before I begin writing. The songwriting itself will typically begin with guitar (occasionally with piano). I’ll call to mind the chosen theme, and try to illustrate it musically. This is one of my favourite parts of the process, because it’s like an open-ended puzzle, where my sole aim is to make the pieces fit into something that’s pleasing. Following that I’ll work on melody, before brainstorming lyrics and wrangling them into a logical form. 

At this stage I’ll brainstorm songs by other artists that have a similar feel to what I’m trying to achieve, and list the elements I like and would like to incorporate into my own arrangement. I’ll then begin multitracking, and build up from the guitar and lead vocal until I’m happy with the completed track.

I started building instruments during the first lockdown, when I was asked to participate in an event for New Zealand Music Month, involving covering a song by another NZ artist. The arrangement I was working on called for a cello. I didn’t have, nor had I ever had a cello. I couldn’t buy one, and I didn’t have access to a hardware store at level four, so I improvised one from a tin can, a fencepost and a guitar string. I made a bow from a small tree branch found in the garden, and nylon fishing string. I didn’t have rosin, so my partner and I harvested some resin from one of the pine trees at the nearest beach. It truly exceeded my expectations, and I had such a good time making it. Once we were out of lockdown and could visit demolition yards, junk stores, and Bunnings, I felt that I could improve on the design of the fencepost cello. Things escalated from there; at the moment I’ve made around 20 different instruments. I usually make instruments when I’m writing a song whose arrangement calls for a specific kind of sound. I try to create things to fill those niches.

DID YOU HAVE SOME IDEAS AROUND THE MECHANICS OF HOW TO CREATE THE SOUNDS YOU WERE WANTING INITIALLY, OR WAS IT A PROCESS OF TRIAL AND ERROR?

I suppose I had some sense of basic instrument mechanics from my work with pianos, but the most exciting projects were the ones that were nothing like pianos, for instance the hurdy gurdy or the wind instruments. There was a lot of trial and error involved in those particular creations, and for me the joy was in the complete unfamiliarity.

AS WELL AS THESE SELF-CREATED INSTRUMENTS, WHAT INSTRUMENTS DO YOU PLAY? 

I began with piano, which I learned from a number of different teachers over about seven years. I was a bit of a cheat at my lessons, though, as I was playing by ear rather than reading. To this day I can barely read music. In some ways I regret this, as I think reading music is probably one of those things that is easier to pick up with a child’s brain as opposed to an adult one. I fell in love with guitar at around 14, and received an electric guitar and practice amp for my 15th birthday. I saved up and bought myself the cheapest bass in the local music store a year later. I still play that bass today, having pulled out the frets and treated it to a complete overhaul by a luthier friend. I can find my way around a lot of percussion instruments, and, of course, I’m working up to proficiency on the experimental instruments.

DO YOU THINK ‘MOTHER STAR’ AND THE WORLD TO BREATHE WOULD HAVE COME INTO BEING IF IT WEREN’T FOR LOCKDOWN?

I would definitely have been writing music either way, but as a result of the lockdowns, I wasn’t able to work on new material with my folk trio, Tweed, and indeed a lot of our ongoing projects were put on hold as a result of the pandemic. This made The World to Breathe much more of a solo endeavour. I think I found an individual voice as an artist over the course of writing and recording the album, as I got to try out sounds, instrumentation and production techniques that might not have worked as well in a folk-trio format. Because “Mother Star” was the first track I wrote at the beginning of the pandemic, it sounds the most like a Tweed song to me. The track order of the album is almost the exact chronological order that the songs were written in, so as the album progresses, the songs begin to feature heavier sounds, like electric instrumentation and drums; the experimental instruments have a greater presence with each track, as I built new ones throughout the year.

IN RELATION TO ‘MOTHER STAR’, YOU SPEAK ABOUT FINDING THE CONSTANCY OF THE SUN RISING AND SETTING EACH DAY COMFORTING DURING THE UNCERTAINTY OVER THE LAST YEAR. DO YOU THINK BEING ABLE TO FIND PEACE IN THE MIDDLE OF DIFFICULT TIMES MAKES IT EASIER TO BE A KINDER, MORE COMPASSIONATE PERSON?

Being kind is something I try to actively remind myself to do, especially at the moment, where it can be difficult to find any sense of peace. It’s easy to be kind when life is straightforward and satisfying. I’m definitely carrying at least some level of discomfort with me all the time at the moment--it feels like every time I start to adjust, to new alert levels, to new variants, to changes in politics, etc., everything shifts again. I try not to give myself too much of a hard time if I have a hard time adapting, and I do my best to extend that charitability to the people around me.

WHAT WAS YOUR PROCESS IN PIECING TOGETHER THE VISUALS FOR THE TRACK? 

In both writing the lyrics and putting together the video, I envisioned a conversation between the song’s narrative voice and the sun, and it fell into place from there. When I was storyboarding the video, the imagery came to me as I considered the lyrics. I also thought that the best way to illustrate the “band” was to have multiple versions of myself in a frame, so there’s a fair amount of that in the finished product.

THERE’S A UNIQUE HONESTY AND SINCERITY TO YOUR WORK, BOTH THE MUSIC AND VISUAL ASPECTS OF IT, THAT MAKES IT REALLY ENGAGING. IS THIS SOMETHING YOU APPROACH INTENTIONALLY?

Not at all; I don’t know that I’d be able to achieve any kind of authenticity if it were my intention to do so. I follow what appeals to me most in the sounds. My goal is always to try to improve on what I’ve done previously. I take inspiration from others, but I try not to compare, because music is subjective, and that can can quickly mutate into an inferiority complex. When the lyrics start to sound too contrived to me, I try to let my conscious brain take a back seat, and watch what floats to the surface when I’m not monitoring the output so closely.

ONCE THINGS OPEN UP AGAIN, DO YOU HAVE PLANS TO TOUR AND GIVE YOUR AUDIENCE A REAL-LIFE EXPERIENCE OF THESE HOME-GROWN INSTRUMENTS?

It would be very difficult to tour the songs, as I’d have to put together an actual band of people willing to learn to play unconventional instruments! I have done a short exhibition tour where I showed the instruments and told their story. I had a gallery exhibition planned for November 2021, but it was delayed due to the lockdown. It has at this stage been tentatively rescheduled for April 2022.