Barnwell

Barnwell is a band of consummate pop-smiths who melt strong hooks with deep philosophical treatises about faith and love. “Talk Me Down,”—off their debut album Motel Art--is a frantic pop song where lead singer Tyler Gordon croons “call my name, / oh won’t you talk me down?” between Ross Swinson’s snaggletooth Telecaster lines. Tyler joined me for a brief chat about writing, inspiration, and the Columbia, SC music scene.

Pick up a copy of Motel Art here and do yourself the good favor of seeing them at New Brookland Tavern on April 26th.

SC: The character in this song is engaging because the chorus is a strong plea towards a lover “Stop—I swear I want to be around / call my name won’t you talk me down?”—whereas the verses present a much more ambivalent character sketch. The speaker describes the other character in the song “aren’t you just so bright / and are you just like fire”? And earlier “You were a quiet son / and I see right through you”. How do you see these two tensions working in “Talk Me Down”? Are they from the perspective of one character? Or do they change between verse and chorus?

TG: The song switches perspectives from section to section. It's definitely between two people who have a strained situation; but not necessarily a lover, or romantic situation. Although, it absolutely could be, if that's what anyone wants to read into it.
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SC: What was your writing process like for "Talk Me Down"?

TG: The chorus of Talk Me Down came first, specifically the "Stop," part, and the rest of the song built around that. Our guitar player Ross wrote all the lead guitar lines. It was a few months actually, before every part of the song was done.

SC: How often do you write? Do you keep a songwriting schedule or do you wait to be inspired?

I don't keep a super strict writing schedule, but I sit down to intentionally try and write a few times a week. The rest of the time is filling my phone with notes and voice memos of lyrics or vocal melodies as they come to mind- usually at the least convenient time to try and write something.

SC: How does your community of songwriters influence your writing?

TG: Within the band I generally write out the basic structure of the song and then we all work it out together. It changes a lot once everyone brings what they do best to the table. As far as the local community: We're in South Carolina (Columbia specifically) which has always had a whole lot of incredible bands and songwriters. Right now especially, it feels like there's so much incredible music being made here that you have to keep writing stronger songs to be noticed. I guess it's more that we just all encourage each other to keep growing as artists, more so than musical styles rubbing off on each other or anything. - The Sound Connector

Columbia’s Tyler Gordon and company take the rootsy Americana tendencies apparent on their earlier material and polish them to great effect on this stellar set of shimmering songs that deliver on the promise of hook-laden, guitar-slinging pop-rock practitioners everywhere. - The Free Times

Although he started just a few years after Chaz Bundick (Toro Y Moi) and Aaron Graves (Those Lavender Whales) at Ridge View High School and achieved some local success during that time in groups like The Safe & Sound, he abruptly disappeared, despite attending the University of South Carolina.

“I got to college and I started doing a lot of campus ministry stuff,” he explains. “I was very — embarrassing as it is to admit it — very conservative Christian, evangelical-type thing for the first part of college. So I only played church music for a long time.”

According to Gordon, the Barnwell project emerged after he began rejecting the strictures of fundamentalist thinking and longed for the gritty DIY days of opening up for groups like Bundick’s The Heist and the Accomplice.

“I just hated writing church music,” he says a bit ruefully. “I still play with a church, and it’s a ton of fun, but I’m really bad at writing it and it’s not something I enjoy. That combined with the whole shift in belief structure made me realize that I needed to go back and do what I love to do. I don’t like the clean, pristine aspect of praise music. I started out playing in garages just like everyone else.”

The first Barnwell EP, The First Ghost, was recorded mostly by Gordon alone and pushed out quickly in 2014. A searching indie folk record with just a few players, Ben Cantrell and Tweito’s Seth Ely among them, its barebones aesthetic limited its appeal — despite the obvious songwriting talent.

Released last month, the group’s new record, Motel Art, is a different beast. Recorded with a solid band, the soaring rock hinted at by The First Ghost’s skeletal traces arrives fully realized, with big melodies and aching alt-rock choruses bolstering the jangly murk and existential musings that define Gordon’s songs.

“This record is kind of what I wanted to play from the beginning, I just didn’t have the resources or the people,” Gordon admits. He credits his bandmates — Ely, who engineered much of the record, along with guitarist Ross Swinson (Release the Dog) and bassist Nick Fogle. Swinson, in particular, is key on Motel Art, offering kinetic, often thundering leads that dominate and define the album’s more rocking efforts.

“He’s a very, very good guitar player,” Gordon effuses. “Some of the songs were kind of like, ‘This is how the song goes, what do you have?’ And Ross would turn it into something ridiculous, in a good way. It was just one of those things where I knew to just get out of the way.”

Lyrically, Motel Art stays in a similar space, and two songs from the first EP are reprised here. Gordon tends towards vague, often elliptical pronouncements, but with a deep sense of spiritual longing, not unlike the similarly minded former local Austin Crane (Valley Maker).

“The first EP was a lot of just trying to put into words my breakup with [fundamentalist] Christianity. The second is a bit more just can’t-get-out-of-my-head sort of stuff.” Gordon says. “I had a couple of major life shifts about two years ago that I had never really dealt with mentally.”

The result resembles a toothier Band of Horses, but with the palpable edge of someone who has wandered back from the brink, unsure of where to go next. Regardless of the destination, Barnwell’s journey is worth your attention. - The Free Times

Not too many bands can straddle the chasm between classic rock and indie pop as nimbly as Columbia’s Barnwell, which has grown from quieter acoustic beginnings into a powerful live act. On 2016’s Motel Art, the band combines Neil Young stridency and early Band of Horses intensity with Tyler Gordon’s narrative, post-evangelical songwriting. Like The Hold Steady or Echosmith, it’s commercially accessible music for the cool kids - The Free Times

The year 2016 was many things, but for Columbia band Barnwell it was the year they grew into a potent combo with a definite identity on their March release “Motel Art,” something singer/guitarist and primary songwriter Tyler Gordon acknowledges was a collaborative process that had been a long time coming.

“The first EP we released in 2014 was the first time I’d written in five or six years and it wasn’t originally going to be an official thing,” he admitted. “It came out good enough to put it out there.”

That effort, “The First Ghost,” was essentially Gordon alone with a friend or two helping on drum and guitar parts. Thinking on it two years and another recording session later, he likes where the band is now much more compared to then.

“The band now with Ross Swinson and Nick Fogle is a much more collaborative process,” Gordon said. “I still write ahead of any sessions and bring it to them, but they had a big part in how their own parts came out around that.”

Those results, as captured on the latest album and perfected in live performance since then, showcase a tightly constructed sound that’s part power pop, part spacey indie roots rock, and full of hooks and choruses.

“I gravitate to writing around really defined choruses,” Gordon said of his songwriting style. “It isn’t necessarily pop music, but I do try to write something people can latch on to in every song.”

“Talk Me Down” is a perfect example, a bright, catchy tune with guitar hooks big enough to land a whale and an easily digested chorus that’s darker than the sunny songcraft surrounding it might imply: “Stop! I swear I wanna be around; call my name, oh won’t you talk me down.”

Gordon comes by that less-than-happy subject matter honestly, as he spent his collegiate years involved with an evangelical Christian community he’s since distanced himself from after questioning and confirming his own views on faith and religion.

“I don’t sit down intending to write sad songs,” Gordon said. “They’re not really narratives, as songwriting is more of an introspective thing for me. The new album expanded the topics I wrote about – there are some relationship songs, existential spiritual songs, it just comes out stern and melancholy because I find it hard to write an up-front narrative without being cheesy.”

Gordon credited his different experiences, from playing in church to writing in solitude, with giving him the freedom to write until he found his own voice.

“We’ve swapped out drummers a few times, and even something like that helped me realize how much I write to a rhythm with my words, and how it can be affected by who’s playing what in the band,” Gordon said. “Ross, our guitarist, looks at songs from a different perspective than me and he came up with ideas on the new material that were better than mine in some cases.”

Look for Gordon, and Barnwell by extension, to head into 2017 with a purpose and intention borne of their experiences this year.

“We took a break from playing live because we didn’t have a consistent drummer, but we are already working on new stuff for next year that will be different but still sound like Barnwell,” Gordon said.

“What this year did for me is that I know that I have a wheelhouse now for Barnwell, one that will allow us to expand without breaking it. There are bands out there that change what they do record to record, swapping out styles or instruments but it all still sounds like them – Toro Y Moi is a great example. Push what you want to do, while being who you are. For me, I like where we’re at and I want to expand on it and add to it.” - Cola Daily

Hailing from Columbia, SC, Barnwell is an alt-rock band with a dash of country crooning. Barnwell’s lead singer, Tyler Gordon, answered a few questions about the development of the band, their first two albums and the future.

Q: How was the band formed?

TG: Barnwell started in 2014 when I had a set of songs I'd written and wanted to record. I hadn't really done much in the way of writing or playing live in a few years and I was very eager to get back at it. I recorded them with the help of a couple friends, and it became The First Ghost. From there we started playing live with some rotating people and now it's a set lineup with Ross Swinson, Nick Fogle, and Nate Puza.

In Motel Art, your voice seems to take on different personas, from protective in “Some One” to vulnerable in “Talk Me Down.” Were your inspirations for these tracks different?

Yes, they're about two totally different things. “Talk Me Down” has a lot more uncertainty to it, so much so that there's multiple people talking in that song. It's pretty common for a song I write to end up being about a feeling, or a broader concept rather than an event, or a specific person, or something like that. But both types of songs do happen.

In an interview with the Free Times, you said that “faith in God” was a major theme of The First Ghost. Do you see that influence in your present work as well?

Not nearly as much. The First Ghost was, unbeknownst to me at the time, my processing religion through songs. Motel Art has some of that in there, but not a ton. My feelings about religion shifted drastically about 5 years ago, and The First Ghost was a reflection of that. It's still something that ends up in the writing sometimes, but I've never really sat down and intended on a theme for a record, or anything like that.

Is Barnwell working on new music?

Yes, we're writing a new record right now. It's much more collaborative as far as the actual songwriting process this time around, and it's really fun. It also makes for better songs than were on The First Ghost or Motel Art because Ross, Nate, and Nick are great musicians, and humans, and we all work well together. I like to think I know when to get out of their way at this point and let them take the song sketches I show up to practice with to a way better place.

Should listeners expect a departure from The First Ghost and Motel Art?

--There's definitely a different feel to the new material we're writing now. I'd say the new record will still sound like a Barnwell record, but so far it's got a lot of elements to the songs that we didn't really use much on Motel Art, which is exciting for us.

Barnwell has a concert this Thursday at NBT, what should listeners expect from the set?

We're going to be playing some new songs (3 of them, I think) that we expect will be on the new record, whenever we end up recording. So we hope people will come out to have a listen to where the new material is going. But of course we're also still going to be playing a lot of the songs from Motel Art, and probably a couple off The First Ghost as well. Listeners should also expect to be super disappointed if they don't get there early enough to see the whole bill, because Mel Washington, Danny Black, and The Gardener and the Willow are all really great. We're excited to be on the bill with all those guys. - Jasper Magazine

The Free Times: THE PLAYLIST

Album Review: Barnwell’s The First Ghost

Columbia-Based Folk-Rock Project Arrives With Fearless, Jangly Crescendos

By Kyle Petersen
Friday, October 3, 2014 | 0 Comments

Barnwell- The First Ghost (self-released)

Tyler Gordon, leader of the Columbia-based folk-rock outfit Barnwell, is remarkably earnest. He puts his convictions — economic, musical and spiritual — front and center.


The First Ghost, his debut EP, is available as a pay-what-you-want Bandcamp download with all proceeds benefitting Aaron Graves, a local musician battling brain cancer. It’s tempting, then, to compare Barnwell to Graves’ quirky-yet-profound folk-pop band Those Lavender Whales, particularly since Gordon contributed to an all-covers benefit compilation for the ailing singer earlier this year. But Barnwell owes more to two other regionally relevant songwriters — Columbia expat Austin Crane of Valley Maker and Charlotte's John Mark McMillan. Gordon’s vocal cadence and lyrical inspirations mirror those of Crane, particularly on tracks like “Cap Too” and “Soon,” where internal rhymes build upon one another in elliptical ruminations on the personal nature of faith. McMillon, on the other hand, provides a model for Gordon’s worship-based songwriting and the cinematic sweep that pervades even his most obviously home-recorded efforts.

Gordon and collaborators Ben Cantrell and Seth Ely show real promise in their ability to leverage a minimal collection of rag-tag instruments to capture crisp and jangly songs that crescendo fearlessly toward the emotional payoffs the lyrics demand.

A few more hooks would be welcomed, and the overt religiosity might drive some away. But many others will find a spirit-affirming salve in Gordon’s humble offerings. - The Free Times

Although Ross Swinson and Tyler Gordon have only been playing guitars together in the indie rock group Barnwell for a couple of years, their six-string history goes back a bit further.

“Our families went to the same church. I kind of played guitar there because I was basically the only person that went to that church that played and they were starting a church band,” recalls Gordon. “Ross started playing guitar not long after I did, a couple of years probably, and he started playing there, too. So we’ve known each other for a really long time.”

And while their paths wandered and diverged a bit, since 2016 they’ve found another, more secular simpatico relationship in Barnwell, a moniker that started as Gordon’s indie folk-leaning solo project and which has gradually turned into one of the more sure-footed rock bands in Columbia. Almost in the same time frame, Swinson gradually pulled the plug on his fun, frolicking slacker-rock band Release the Dog and delved into solo recordings under the name Flower Shopping, a neat inverse of Barnwell’s trajectory.

“It’s not really [that] weird,” Swinson says of playing sideman in Barnwell and turning his own songwriting into a side project. “It’s just two different outlets basically. At this point in my life I actually teach music, that’s my full-time thing, so everything I do is kind of a music outlet in a way. Wth these guys [in Barnwell], it’s really fun and collaborative. These guys are like some of my best friends, you know, so going to band practice isn’t just a music outlet, it’s also just hanging out with them. [But] it’s also really fun to create something entirely by yourself too.”

For its part, Flower Shopping trades in the same kind of wide-ranging but guitar-centric ’90s indie rock vibes of Release the Dog, but with a greater sense of concision and intensity, whether veering into post-punk fury (“Consequence”) or twangy balladeering (“Waste,” “Good Reason”).

“These [songs] were written over a long period of time and are just kind of these things where I’ll be sitting on the couch and you know, sort of noodling,” explains Swinson. “And then I’ll play something and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s kinda cool.’ And I’ll try and expand on it a little bit and then I might record it or I’ll just keep it in my head. And these four songs are just sort of the result of four ideas that I really liked. So it’s a very slow digestion with that [project].”

“It’s almost like a test to myself. I just want to see how good I can make songs by myself, and it’s not necessarily more than that. It’s like an exercise, almost.”

By contrast, the new music Barnwell has been making seems to be built more sturdily and seamlessly, particularly since the group added Nate Puza (sandcastles., Small Sanctions) as its permanent drummer. Their new EP Lose Your Teeth crackles with a well-honed balance of polished, nuanced instrumentals and soaring live energy, with merely a hint of the jangly strumming that defined Gordon’s early efforts.

“I feel like what we’re doing, what we’ve done now with this record, is kind of what I’ve always been hoping get to, but just the circumstances surrounding the way Barnwell had to function for a long time prevented it,” Gordon offers. “I’ve been wanting to write indie rock records since I started the band, it was just the only thing I could do at the time was, you know, strum-along alt-country songs.”

And while Gordon’s knack for melancholy melodies and Stipe-tinged vocals remain, Barnwell feels more than ever like a genuine rock band, something the EP, mostly recorded in a single day at Columbia’s Archer Avenue Studio, accentuates.

“We knew we could only afford one day of studio time,” Gordon admits. “We spent two months just practicing [the songs] to death. And when you do that stuff starts to get concrete and flushed out and becomes very intentional. We also wanted to keep this record very kind of live-feeling. There’s like a sweet spot for me — when I listened to an album that sounds like just live enough, but it still feels like a studio-produced record.”

This is especially apparent on songs like lead single “The Nice Boys,” a song with an intentionally woozy vibe that complements the late-night lament. Horns, recorded remotely by Charleston’s Clay White, drag drunkenly across the beat as the band sways and swings with practiced precision.

“The Nice Boys” is also indicative of the turn in Gordon’s writing, as he seems to trade some of his spiritual longing on past records for romantic longing here. He also pushes his voice, relying less on a sing-song cadence and reaching for his falsetto to match the dramatic intensity, as he does on the winding, Band of Horses-style ballad “Certainty.”

Still, the story of this record is very much about a band that’s found its sea legs.

“We’re a pretty egoless band,” Gordon concludes. “Part of what allows us to do that is the stakes are low. I mean, at this point in our lives, we’re all good friends [and] we also all have full-time jobs. If this EP comes out and people don’t like it, that’s literally the only consequence.” - The Free Times

....Barnwell also makes a big shift with its newest EP. The band trades the shuffling, twangy melodies of 2016’s Motel Art for pop-spiked indie rock with comfortably frayed edges and nervy propulsion on Lose Your Teeth. Songs like the opening “Either Way” pack a wallop of infectious melody and dynamic tritones.

Singer and guitarist Tyler Gordon believes Barnwell’s tight-knit lineup keeps its identity intact despite the sonic alterations.

“To be able to have the same four people instead of constantly cycling drummers in and out like we used to,” he explains, has “made for a lot more consistency and the live shows have gotten better.”

“I just have gotten more comfortable with the way I write songs,” Gordon adds. “Once you get comfortable with the way you do it you can kind of branch out"............

...........Barnwell singer and guitarist Tyler Gordon feels similarly, describing the local rock community as a friendly space that provides ample opportunity for cross-pollination. For him, the quality of the acts playing in town — and the variety of sounds they explore — is a constant motivator.

“Columbia has so many good bands right now,” he says. “I mean, it’s absurd that I have so many friends in so many bands that are just legitimately great.”

“I always make jokes that I just want to be good enough that I don’t hate my friends for how good they are,” Gordon deadpans.

The caliber of local live acts has pushed Gordon to be a better showman.

“It’s important that you always got something to offer people who are going to come out to your live show,” he notes. “They’re gonna come out, they’re gonna pay, they’re gonna try to find parking, they’re gonna have to go to work the next day sometimes. They’re putting forth an effort to see you play. So make it worth it for them.” - The Free Times

Although Ross Swinson and Tyler Gordon have only been playing guitars together in the indie rock group Barnwell for a couple of years, their six-string history goes back a bit further.

“Our families went to the same church. I kind of played guitar there because I was basically the only person that went to that church that played and they were starting a church band,” recalls Gordon. “Ross started playing guitar not long after I did, a couple of years probably, and he started playing there, too. So we’ve known each other for a really long time.”


And while their paths wandered and diverged a bit, since 2016 they’ve found another, more secular simpatico relationship in Barnwell, a moniker that started as Gordon’s indie folk-leaning solo project and which has gradually turned into one of the more sure-footed rock bands in Columbia. Almost in the same time frame, Swinson gradually pulled the plug on his fun, frolicking slacker-rock band Release the Dog and delved into solo recordings under the name Flower Shopping, a neat inverse of Barnwell’s trajectory.



“It’s not really [that] weird,” Swinson says of playing sideman in Barnwell and turning his own songwriting into a side project. “It’s just two different outlets basically. At this point in my life I actually teach music, that’s my full-time thing, so everything I do is kind of a music outlet in a way. With these guys [in Barnwell], it’s really fun and collaborative. These guys are like some of my best friends, you know, so going to band practice isn’t just a music outlet, it’s also just hanging out with them. [But] it’s also really fun to create something entirely by yourself too.”

For its part, Flower Shopping trades in the same kind of wide-ranging but guitar-centric ’90s indie rock vibes of Release the Dog, but with a greater sense of concision and intensity, whether veering into post-punk fury (“Consequence”) or twangy balladeering (“Waste,” “Good Reason”).

“These [songs] were written over a long period of time and are just kind of these things where I’ll be sitting on the couch and you know, sort of noodling,” explains Swinson. “And then I’ll play something and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s kinda cool.’ And I’ll try and expand on it a little bit and then I might record it or I’ll just keep it in my head. And these four songs are just sort of the result of four ideas that I really liked. So it’s a very slow digestion with that [project].”

“It’s almost like a test to myself. I just want to see how good I can make songs by myself, and it’s not necessarily more than that. It’s like an exercise, almost.”

By contrast, the new music Barnwell has been making seems to be built more sturdily and seamlessly, particularly since the group added Nate Puza (sandcastles., Small Sanctions) as its permanent drummer. Their new EP Lose Your Teeth crackles with a well-honed balance of polished, nuanced instrumentals and soaring live energy, with merely a hint of the jangly strumming that defined Gordon’s early efforts.

“I feel like what we’re doing, what we’ve done now with this record, is kind of what I’ve always been hoping get to, but just the circumstances surrounding the way Barnwell had to function for a long time prevented it,” Gordon offers. “I’ve been wanting to write indie rock records since I started the band, it was just the only thing I could do at the time was, you know, strum-along alt-country songs.”

And while Gordon’s knack for melancholy melodies and Stipe-tinged vocals remain, Barnwell feels more than ever like a genuine rock band, something the EP, mostly recorded in a single day at Columbia’s Archer Avenue Studio, accentuates.

“We knew we could only afford one day of studio time,” Gordon admits. “We spent two months just practicing [the songs] to death. And when you do that stuff starts to get concrete and flushed out and becomes very intentional. We also wanted to keep this record very kind of live-feeling. There’s like a sweet spot for me — when I listened to an album that sounds like just live enough, but it still feels like a studio-produced record.”



This is especially apparent on songs like lead single “The Nice Boys,” a song with an intentionally woozy vibe that complements the late-night lament. Horns, recorded remotely by Charleston’s Clay White, drag drunkenly across the beat as the band sways and swings with practiced precision.

“The Nice Boys” is also indicative of the turn in Gordon’s writing, as he seems to trade some of his spiritual longing on past records for romantic longing here. He also pushes his voice, relying less on a sing-song cadence and reaching for his falsetto to match the dramatic intensity, as he does on the winding, Band of Horses-style ballad “Certainty.”

Still, the story of this record is very much about a band that’s found its sea legs. - The Free Times