Alison Stewart: You're listening to All Of It on WNYC. I'm Alison Stewart. The indie rock band, The Ophelias, formed in Cincinnati, and its lead singer and songwriter, Spencer Peppet, now lives here in New York. The Ophelias fourth album, Spring Grove, is out today. It was produced by Boygenius member Julian Baker. We were excited to get an album preview a few days early at our Get Lit with All Of It book club event. We were joined by band members Spencer Peppet, oe Shaffer, Mic Adams, and Kate Goddard.

Tomorrow, The Ophelias kick off a North American tour with the show at the Broadway in Brooklyn. In just a bit, you'll hear my interview with Spencer Peppett, the band's lead singer. First, here are The Ophelias with a special live performance of their new song, Cumulonimbus.

[applause]

[MUSIC - The Ophelias: Cumulonimbus]

Not like I could have told the future but it makes sense

You say that in the years to come you wish me all the best

And I don't doubt it for a second that you know it's cruel

You are already prematurely grey so you can choose the rules

I know that you are going to miss me more than you say you

Will, the memories you locked into the trunk of the car are going to

Start to bang on the back window, cursing at nothing

Smashing the taillights and waving hello, saying "You better pull over"

Not like I'm blissful, being stuck in here

My palpitations last so long that I can overhear

The next decisions being made without me in the room

These things are predetermined and I'm doomed

I know that you are going to miss me more than you say you

Will, the things that I didn't say are always going to

Hang above you like a cumulonimbus

I am on your heels, I'm running like it's nothing

Cling to the shadow of a doubt

Without it, everything is clear

I am sorry I didn't talk

Looking back, a skittish deer

I've been forcing my way through

Like a high school kid

Expecting everything to

Work out on the other end

I know that you are going to miss me more than you know you

Will, the sweetness of being young and unaware

Spring was clear and bright, we drove down to the river

I thought I could see the end but it all disappeared.

Spencer Peppet: Thank you.

[applause]

Alison Stewart: All right. I read that a bunch of your demos you recorded in 2020 and used like a rank choice voting for what would end up on the album. How did that work?

Spencer Peppet: Yes, so it was me, my three bandmates, and our producer, Julian Baker of Boygenius, et cetera. I sent her a Google Drive folder of, I think, 20-something songs. Everyone made a rank choice list of their favorites. It was like three absolute non-negotiables and then the rest that we would like to do. It was cool. A lot of people had the same favorites, which ended up-- The one we just played was the first single from the record, and that was on everyone's list, I think.

Alison Stewart: The new album is called Spring Grove.

Spencer Peppet: It is.

Alison Stewart: I understand that's the name of a funeral home.

Spencer Peppet: Cemetery.

Alison Stewart: Cemetery. A cemetery in Cincinnati. How did it become the right title for the album?

Spencer Peppet: That is also a song on the record. We didn't know what the record was going to be called when we recorded it. We did that song and we were driving home and Mic, our drummer, and Andrea, our violinist, who is in grad school right now, so she's not here with us, but the two of them said that has to be the title for the record. I don't know. I like it when they tell me what the title should be. I liked that.

Alison Stewart: As you said, Julian Baker produced this record. What did it mean to you? This is the first record she's produced. What did it mean to you that she decided to produce your band?

Spencer Peppet: It was a huge honor. I can't even accurately express that. She had sung harmonies on another song of ours from our previous record. We got a call a couple weeks after she did that, and they said, "She wants to produce your next record." We're like, "Okay." I mean, of course. She's a wonderful producer. I can't believe she hadn't done it before. She's so well suited for it and made the recording experience and the studio experience just so welcoming and warm. She knows so much about recording. I think she got an engineering degree, like music engineering.

Alison Stewart: I was going to ask, what was different about recording with her?

Spencer Peppet: We've been joking. She can kind of control time a little bit.

Alison Stewart: [laughs]

Spencer Peppet: I don't know if anyone has made a record before, but you always feel like you're running out of time because you have the studio for a set amount of days. You're trying to, most of the time, do more songs than you probably can or should in the time that you have. Working with JB, it always felt like we were on the right side of the clock somehow, even when we definitely weren't. I think that she has a really wonderful temperament for it.

We also kept everything set up so we could move between different stations. If something wasn't working or we were getting frustrated and couldn't play a part, or for whatever reason, we would just move around. It felt very fluid. I think, yes, she can control time, I guess.

Alison Stewart: [laughs] When you go on your Instagram, there's a little description of your music as moth music.

Spencer Peppet: Yes.

Alison Stewart: What is moth music?

Spencer Peppet: Andrea coined that term when we started the band in high school, which is crazy. I think I know now what it means 10 years later. I would say it means cathartic, orchestral indie rock.

Alison Stewart: Okay.

[laughter]

Alison Stewart: Our book this month follows this man who is trying to figure out his identity, who he is, what he wants to be, what he wants his relationship with his mother to be. He has questions about his own queerness. The last years, you've explored a lot of identity in your own music and in the band. Where did ideas about identity fit into the music you make?

Spencer Peppet: I feel like all music is about identity, whoever is writing it. As we started to explore these other facets-- For context, Joe, our bassist, and Mic, our drummer, are both trans. Mic is a trans man. Joe is a trans woman. That stuff bubbled up over the last few years, and they both came out. I don't know, hearing them talk about it in this press cycle has been so wonderful and so illuminating. I feel like you don't often get to have trans people in conversation with each other, talking about something like a record that we have made together.

I'll just parrot what they said, which is it feels like we've all gotten a lot more confident in ourselves, and I think that is reflected in the music that we've made. I think that you can hear our voices more strongly, and I think that the choices that we've made musically have also been informed by the choices that we've made in an identity kind of way.

Alison Stewart: That sounds like a happy place to be.

Spencer Peppet: Absolutely. It's amazing. It's great.

Alison Stewart: The album comes out on Friday.

Spencer Peppet: It does.

Alison Stewart: You have a release show in Brooklyn this weekend.

Spencer Peppet: We do, yes.

Alison Stewart: What are you most excited about? You've had albums out before, but what are you really excited about, this tour and around this album?

Spencer Peppet: It took a long time for this album to come out. We've been sitting on it for three years. Mixing it took a long time. Getting it ready to enter the world just took longer. I have been joking. I feel like I've been pregnant for three years, so I'm really thrilled to birth, I guess, the record into the world. Yes, I'm really excited about these shows. I feel like our live set has gotten-- you wouldn't be able to tell from this, but a lot louder.

Alison Stewart: [whispers] We're in a library.

Spencer Peppet: We're in a library, so we're being very quiet. I feel like our live set has definitely gotten tighter and louder and more complex over the last few years. I'm excited to play a lot of these songs live for the first time at these shows.

Alison Stewart: Let's welcome The Ophelias.

Spencer Peppet: Thank you so much.

[applause]

Spencer Peppet: This song is called Open Sky. Ready?

[MUSIC - The Ophelias: Open Sky]

Control me

In your back pocket again

I'm sorry

For everything he said

I don't see you anymore

It's been three years

I'm better off

But I had heard what's going on and

I have got a single thought it's

Good for you

I'm really happy for you

You can take it how you want to take it

No need for reciprocation

Maybe on the other side

The dust will settle down to open sky

Above me

At least you took the dog

He's 40

I think you're better off

I know I was part of this

And I know I'm not holding my breath

Things have changed

I don't have interest in rehashing

But I'll say this

Good for you

I'm really happy for you

You can take it how you want to take it

No need for reciprocation

Maybe on the other side

The dust will settle down to open sky.

[applause]

Spencer Peppet: All right. This is our final song. Thanks again for having us. I'm so excited to read Mothers and Sons. What a wonderful Q&A. I'm so excited to read it. Thank you again for having us. This song is called Vulture Tree, and our album comes out on Friday. Just so crazy to me.

[applause]

Spencer Peppet: Thanks. All right, ready?

[MUSIC - The Ophelias: Vulture Tree]

Reconvene at the vulture tree

Count 117

Days I scrubbed at the stains in the corners

What did you clearly say?

Facing south at the river edge

Pulling a sword from between

The rock and the hardest player

They tell me to get rid of you

I have to burn an effigy.

But it didn't work on the vultures

So why would it work for me?

The experts say to clear the pain

I set your memory up in flames

But the birds in the tree are laughing

They know it's a game

Reconvene on the corner of Elm

Tell me I don't look sick anymore

I'm walking like someone clicked autopilot

Every car is a mirror now

Every street light is blinding

Snuff me out like a fun house and leave me to climb

They tell me to get rid of you

I have to burn an effigy

But it didn't work on the vultures

So why would it work for me?

The experts say to clear the pain

I set your memory up in flames

But the birds in the tree are laughing

They know it's a game.

Spencer Peppet: Thank you so much. We're The Ophelias.

[applause]

Alison Stewart: That was The Ophelias with songs from their new album Spring Grove. It's out today. Tomorrow night, they are playing the Broadway in Brooklyn. That performance was part of our Get Lit with All Of It book club event. That is All Of It for this hour. Coming up next hour, we'll talk about the new Broadway play Purpose with Tony award-winning playwright Branden Jacobs Jenkins and actors Harry Lennix and Jon Michael Hill. Plus, we'll talk about the recent New York Times article, The Gen X Career Meltdown. That's coming up after a break. This is All Of It.