Call & Response: Father Sky
(7 min)
Father Sky is the stage name of musician and nature enthusiast Anthony Deutsch. His lyrical heart songs make for a beautiful soundtrack for troubled times. Father Sky’s self-titled record of lyrical jazz pop has themes of peace, nature, and balance infused in the music. We were able to chat with Deutsch about his connection with nature and how it can help others, his work as Father Sky, and lending his talents to a TLL record.
Photo by: Jonny Urban
Lab Notes (LN): If you had to boil your musical journey into one sentence, what would it be? (Run-on sentences accepted and encouraged.)
Anthony Deutsch (AD): Music is a pursuit of truth amidst chaos - seeking joy in honest places.
LN: For those who have never heard the music of Father Sky, how do you describe it?
AD: Chill. Calm music, sometimes with a bark but mostly quite relaxed. Ideally introspective. Lyric-based heart songs. The instrumentation started out in a chamber trio setting, like the traditional jazz piano trio - though the music certainly isn't jazz. I have performed mostly as a soloist for the last couple years, which has led to some more pianistic/minimalist/space vibe sets of the music. Now I'm moving toward producing my own singles and thus the music is taking on subtle electronic vibes so it is ever changing. Ideally all of these manifestations build off of each other!
LN: Your music has a very genuine connection to nature. Have you always had that relationship with the outdoors? Why is it so important to you?
AD: I appreciate that you feel it is genuine. I think in this physical experience we are having as humans, nature is the largest tangible thing we can relate to. Once you leave Earth we aren't really able to relate to that, unless you spend a considerable amount of time staring at the Milky Way! Nature is mother, in a multitude of ways! It's simply important to get outdoors too. If everyone spent more time outside, honest time though, really convening with the large biome, I think they would find some relief and healthy perspective on life. Know your place in this ever complex process we call Earth! Sorry if that's a strange answer :P
LN: You helped create and played some fantastic keys on one our favorite License Lab releases, Filthy Funk. What was that process like?
AD: Well - that was a fun day of tracking that I had sort of lost track of. I just went on the website and am listening to it now - WOW - it sounds amazing. It was myself, Devin Drobka, and Matt Turner. A dream team. And then the great Angie Swan played some guitar over the top and it sounds like some great vocals were added. We just tracked out some very basic ideas and grooves. The rest was up to Daniel I suspect! I've got a big smile on my face listening to what became of the time in the studio. Nifty!
If everyone spent more time outside, honest time though, really convening with the large biome, I think they would find some relief and healthy perspective on life.
LN: The instrumentation on your self-titled record sticks to the traditional jazz trio with a lone vocal. With countless recording options available (overdubbing, etc), what made you stick with that minimal approach for those songs?
AD: It was just what I felt in the moment. I learned A LOT from the process. When I return to a studio of that caliber to record a record in that way, I will have more solid ideas of what I want and some more thought out arrangements. I definitely relied on the improvisational nature of the other two musicians I recorded that first record with (John Christensen & Devin Drobka). My intent was to try and let the music bubble up from below rather than come in guns blazing. So there's that!
LN: In spring of 2020 you released a single called “See Me.” It’s quite the sonic departure from the album, though the songwriting is still very much in line with what we’ve heard from Father Sky. What prompted this shift in instrumentation? How did the recording come about?
AD: Well, I've been playing more solo music and diving more into production. It's a very different process to sit down and record in your own room, on your own time, alone. The whole process becomes the song rather than simply telling some guys to play this or that. This particular song was written as part of a soundtrack I did for a short film called Deer Lights by Brian Klewin. At a later date, I decided to re-record the song as a single and in a new light. I think it took me 45 hours!
LN: What advice would you give to folks who want to be more connected to nature? How can they mentally prepare and what can they expect?
AD: Just get outside more. Go to larger areas. Get away from other humans. Turn off your phone or at least silence it, put it on "do not disturb" and put that thing in airplane mode! Go be alone - truly alone. Take some deep breaths. Talk to trees and birds and squirrels with such normalcy that people think you're really losing it. If it's nice out, lay down and put your face in the grass - take some deep breaths. A medicine man taught me that and it's really lovely. Most won't try it! Anyway, that's between you and you ;)
LN: What’s next for you? Will there be an album to follow “See Me”?
AD: I've got my fingers in a few projects - I think with Father Sky I'll keep doing singles. I have a lot of songs I need to whip up and get out there. I'm in the process of resizing my gear so very soon I'll be releasing more!
LN: What inspires you? What gives you hope these days?
AD: Kind people inspire me. Time inspires me. Deep time - the notion that regardless of what happens here, good and evil will both rise and fall. Eventually the planet returns to equanimity. There will always be something larger than you or I and there is always something larger returning to equanimity. I think that requires a bold trust in the great unknown but it is a worthy view. What gives me hope is that I can love and nourish those around me as best as I know how to right now.
LN: What music are you listening to right now (other than the beautiful sounds of nature, of course)?
AD: Very astute of you to note my preference for natural sounds ;) I've been listening to Ravi Shankar's Chants of India which was produced in George Harrisons home. Really transcendent record! Another record of his that I love is Ghanashyam: A Broken Branch. I have been revisiting Joni Mitchell's Blue and Both Sides Now also. Ooh and Bobby McFerrin. Love his record Medicine Music a lot lately - I sort of slept on his discography until late. What a talent.
There will always be something larger than you or I and there is always something larger returning to equanimity.
LN: What do you do when you’re not creating music?
AD: I drink a lot of yerba mate and coffee. Keeps me buzzing. Also I value food as medicine so I am always creating nourishing food - though I am guilty of eating indulgent food too :P Home cooked meals are important! I spend some time practicing sitting meditation and listening to dharma talks by the Venerable Ajahn Chah or Ajahn Sumedho. There's a wealth of wisdom in that lineage if anyone's looking :P Oh also during quarantine I got bit by the plant bug so my roommates and I are surrounded by a jungle of house plants. They really bring a lot of life into the day-to-day. I try to get out for walks, too. Walks with friends.
LN: If you were trapped on a desert island, what 5 albums could you not live without?
AD: Probably The Beatles White Album, Largo by Brad Mehldau, Walter Gieseking playing Debussy etudes, Chants of India by Ravi Shankar, Ram by Paul McCartney or Band On The Run by Wings. I suspect I'd answer that question differently each day but it would be that gist.
LN: What are three things about you that wouldn’t want left out of your Wikipedia page?
AD: Ooh. That's tough. Perhaps that my main instrument is piano. I think that I've grown up exclusively so close to Lake Michigan and in this region is important to me. Finally, I suppose my love and appreciation for nature/the larger organism is something valiant to concentrate. It is good for people to read about that in someone. It might inspire them.