It all sounded very nonchalant, as if Lytle was just filling our prescribed interview time with inane small talk. Yet there’s nothing nonchalant about Lytle’s approach. Long a recluse in terms of giving interviews, Lytle has found a new, benign headspace thanks to his recent move from the celebrity-saturated California to the untamed wilderness of Montana. Amongst the Grandaddy reunion shows, Lytle found time to write and release Dept. of Disappearance, his fourth full-length solo release. There’s an intricate, winding nature to Dept. of Disappearance. Each of the 11 tracks find their footing and land in a place of determined poignancy. The songs may start small, but Lytle always has an idea of where they’ll end up.
For Jason Lytle, writing songs isn’t something he takes lightly. Nor is running errands, either.
“More than anything else, I’m really in love with the idea of a journey,” he says of his songwriting approach. “And it applies to every part of my life. Even when I’m out running errands I really put a lot of thought what order the errands are going to happen in. I try to start out with some easy stuff and graduate to something more important and difficult. I’ve had the temptation to write unbalanced music, but for me it’s all about reaching a point after you start somewhere.
“Once you have an idea about a song,” he continues, “I just try to get somewhere interesting. I wish I had more of an intellectual way of breaking it down, but I don’t.”
There’s a blatant honesty to the way Lytle speaks, as if he truly has nothing to hide. He’s always been something of a lone wolf in the music industry, comfortable sticking to his artistic vision, regardless of critical appeal or financial success. He attained a cult following as the man behind Grandaddy and has largely continued that cultish personality since Grandaddy split in 2006.
In that sense, Dept. of Disappearance is a rather telling title. Is Lytle, who has long been openly critical of the music industry, hell-bent on fading away or are his solo releases smoke signals, reminding onlookers that he’s still a vital, truly independent-minded presence?
“I think I just really like making records,” he says. “I’ve had some great people behind me as of late, my management company and my record label. I’ve been really reluctant with the whole promo thing lately. But the people I work with convinced me that there’s a certain amount of work that I have to do to ensure these albums of mine even exist.
“That being said,” he continues, “I’d have no problem making these albums on the down-low and watching my bank account shrink. I’d be OK with that. It’s an art form, these albums, and I’m just here to make the best of it.”
And if he’s going to make the best of his time, then Jason Lytle is going to do so on his own terms. Namely, he plans on writing and recording in the near future in his newfound place of residence, Montana.
While Montana may not have the sex appeal of California, it does feature the sort of living conditions that suit Lytle’s personality and his approach to songwriting. If Dept. of Disappearance is any indication, Lytle made the right move.
“I don’t have to worry about crime and I’m not super stressed out. I require a lot of outdoor, recreation activities. I have to blow off a lot of steam. I have to get out into areas and not see a lot of people and reset my own compass. I’m able to do that here. I’m able to come back to the studio and just think a little bit more clearly.
“When I’m out and about I’m figuring out a lot of my own problems,” he says. “I’m drawing correlations between these problems, whatever they may be, and everything else in my life. Being outdoors so often has allowed me to relax and focus on the music. My creative process hasn’t been poisoned by all kinds of ill intentions.”
Happy in the place he now is, Lytle still has no intentions of slowing down. Dept. of Disappearance, like most of his output, both solo and with Grandaddy, is best suited to road-trips, a notion Lytle gladly endorses. The idea of movement is an omnipresent one for Jason Lytle. In that regard, he won’t be disappearing anytime soon.
“I’m proud of the stories and I truly believe that it’s not about the destination, it’s about the journey. That’s more there than just a clichéd line; life is all about the journey and how you get to places. How you get work done is really important, and I’ve always tried to have that come across in my music. It’s always made sense to me on that level.”
BY JOSHUA KLOKE
