VIDEO PREMIERE: Archer Monk Crafts Dreamy Power Pop Collage with “Hidden Doors”

Photo credit: Matt Clarke

Artists never know when it will happen—and some check out before the miracle—but if they keep pushing, they have that clarifying breakthrough where their songwriting and their aesthetic meld into a singular expression. The forthcoming release from Archer Monk – pseudonym of artist T. Wold – is that epiphanic album, fittingly called Joy Ride Opus. The 12-song album was recorded, mixed and mastered by Adam Selzer (M. Ward, Peter Buck) and co-produced by Selzer and Wold.

Wold has coined the genre “tumbleweed pop” for this album to describe its vibrantly eclectic stylistic palette, which encompasses Dylan/Prine-style storyteller folk, gospel, alt-country, mid-tempo Americana, hot club-style jazz, and psychedelic folk-rock. He came up in a touring, singing family, and has previously issued three EPs and two albums. “You just keep throwing spaghetti at the walls and see what sticks. I feel like I’m finally reaching my stride as a songwriter. It’s been a joy ride writing these songs,” the Mill Valley-based artist details. Joy Ride Opus features an all-star cast of musicians, including Luke Ydstie on bass and piano (Blind Pilot), Rachel Blumberg on drums (The Decemberists, Califone) and Frank Orrall as guest vocalist on “Hey Bartender” (Poi Dog Pondering, Thievery Corporation).

Today Glide is excited to premiere the video for the album’s closer, “Hidden Doors,” a song based on a simple four chord groove and filled with psychedelic imagery. The first verse was written the day before a strong mediation session deep in the redwoods and became a prescient predictor of what was to come, and the video reflects this in its hazy imagery of T. Wold bathing in the sunset of a forest. It’s easy to hear the more slow and dreamy ruminations of Beck while we also get a distinctive power pop sound that is laced with catchy psychedelia. Layered strings and vibrant harmonies contribute to the magic carpet richness of the song, beckoning the listener to join T. Wold on this journey. The song makes perfect sense as the album closer in the way it ends on a high note and leaves you wanting more.

T. Wold describes the inspiration and process behind the song:

The song “Hidden Doors” is a simple song born out of a 4 chord groove which, right away, kind of reminded me of something off the early roster of Flying Nun Records, maybe The Chills cleaned up or The Clean with a bit of chill. It never leaves those 4 chords. For my day job, I’m mostly working in the verse – chorus – bridge tradition. That was never going to be the case with this one. Oh no. When I sang the “chorus” over those same chords, it just felt so good to lift the voice and hit ‘em with some empowering stadium pop.

Shortly after I began strumming the chords, I quickly wrote down the first verse of random words and thought, “hmmm….those are some lovely visuals”, not consciously thinking about the journey I was going to take the next day in the redwoods with an amphibious friend. To put it lightly, it was a very powerful experience, akin to sticking your head out of the sunroof of a car going 800mph. The main takeaways were of a profound oneness, that everything will be ok and that we all have the tools within ourselves to fix that blown radiator in our head…or at least patch it. After all the birds and squirrels had returned to their perspective homes, I woke up the next day and the last two verses came out all at once. These
were definitely defined by the experience but they synched so well with the first verse that I would’ve been a fool not to question any connection. I recorded it with the rest of the album in Portland with Adam Selzer a couple of months later. We laid down the acoustic guitar and my vocals, Luke’s (Ydstie) bass and Rachel’s (Blumberg) drums. Super simple. The B3 organ and the backing vocals were done after I headed home while the opening guitar riff, the middle “joy ride” vocal vamp and my dodgy violin playing, I did remotely here in my cottage near those same redwoods. Adam then sprinkled fairy dust all over it and turned it into a beautiful pop collage, pitch perfect as the album closer. Sneaky toad.

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