*Article by Maisie Sackett — buzz Music Writer*
Washed Out, fronted by Ernest Greene, the band’s songwriter and producer, is headed to Pygmalion Music Festival to support headliner Cut Copy at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. After releasing the Life and Leisure EP, which Greene created in his own bedroom, Washed Out’s psychedelic sound blew up, bringing Greene to a level of popularity that landed him spots in well-known music festivals like Pygmalion and Pitchfork. This summer, he released his latest album, Within and Without, which he was able to create in a professional studio. I had the chance to sit down and talk to him about Pygmalion, playing live shows and the changes he’s made in his music.
buzz: Are you excited to be playing at Pygmalion Music Festival?
Ernest Greene: Yeah, Yeah, definitely. We’ve been in the UK and Europe for the past month and a half. We just got back, and we’re really looking forward to it. We’re going out with Cut Copy for the next couple months. We’re excited.
buzz: How do you think it will be different from other music festivals you’ve played, like Pitchfork?
EG: This round I have a band together, which is quite different from most of the festivals I’ve done in the past where I was playing by myself. So it’s much more fun for me because there are portions of the set that are improvised; we kind of change things every night. And it’s much more interesting for a crowd having so many people on stage. It’s kind of an organic thing that’s happening between us, and hopefully it’s more entertaining.
buzz: How did you come up with the name “Washed Out”?
EG: I really don’t have a great answer for that. Part of it is I just kind of thought that it sounded good. I take a lot of photographs and read a lot about photography, and that’s a phrase that’s used quite a bit in the photography world. You know, if an image is under-exposed or over-exposed, then it’s called “washed out.” I guess it sort of fit in what I was working with because it’s low fidelity, worn out kind of sounds.
buzz: How have you been dealing with the switch from working out of your bedroom?
EG: I’m getting used to it, I guess. I didn’t know what to think at first. I was kind of nervous about it because there is a certain quality about my music that sounds sort of bedroom-y and intimate; I didn’t want that to change. I just wanted to have a more balanced mix. It’s much easier to do that in a studio with much nicer equipment. So luckily, I found a couple years of experience in between working on my first couple of EPs and this new album, so I was much better prepared and educated about using the equipment. So the transition wasn’t that bad, as bad as I thought it would be. That turned out to be a great experience.
buzz: How do you think your music transfers to a live setting?
EG: It’s not the easiest transition. I’m so indie as a band. You know, like the Strokes, or something with just guitars and bass, where the live set is pretty much exactly what’s happening on their records. ‘Cause there’s a lot of kind of pre-production planning that goes into it, into translating our songs, because there is so much of the electronic elements and stuff that I’ve done on the computer that aren’t very easy to play live. So in the end, there are songs that are stripped down a bit. Some of the parts are taken out, and then some of the parts [that] happen are kind of sequenced on the computer, parts that are just impossible for us to play. But it’s fun. That’s kind of what makes it fun and interesting. At the end of the pre-production stage, we’re kind of planning everything out, experimenting with what works and what doesn’t.
buzz: Will you be doing more shows in Illinois throughout the year?
EG: Yeah, I think the plan is to do this run of shows and then maybe do another tour early next year, like a headlining tour of clubs … So yeah, hopefully we’re back fairly soon afterwards.
buzz: How would you say your most recent album is different from the previous ones?
EG: Well, I think, just sonically, it’s much more produced, and I think the mix is just much more balanced. That’s mainly because I was working in a studio with much nicer equipment. That’s the first thing that kind of comes to mind. Another thing would probably be that I was trying to avoid too many kind of straight-ahead 80s references. Those were kind of there in my earlier material, and I felt like a lot of people had done that since I had been out. So I was trying to do something different…
Who: Washed Out, Midnight Magic, Cut Copy
Where: The Canopy Club
When: Friday, Sept. 23 @ 6:30 p.m. (Washed Out @ 7:30)
Ages: 18+
Cost: $20; free with festival wristband
Buy tickets here
Download:
“Amor Fati” mp3 via Sub Pop
“Eyes be Closed” mp3 via Sub Pop
buzz Magazine: Music 
Posted on September 14, 2011
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