July 3, 2009 - The Austin Chronicle

MUSIC STYLER CONTINUED FROM P.48The Band Played On: credits for Duke Jupiter’s 1982 LP, You Make It Look Easy. Styler at far right.SCARBOROUGH CONTINUED FROM P.48Texas TrilogyYou have to see Marshall Styler in his1980s glory to get the full picture of what hewalked away from and to appreciate what hebecame. Click to the video of “Little Lady”(www.dukejupiter.com/whiteknuckle.html).Styler appears on the left at the 30-secondmark, dressed as a gas-station attendant,lip-syncing with the other band members.At the 1:45 mark, he’s dressed as a cop likethe rest of the band, but the big payoff isabout the 2:10 mark, when he comes intoframe behind the keyboards and microphone.In the video for “I’ll Drink to You”(www.dukejupiter.com/duke-1.html), Stylersports Robert Plant hair, and there’s no mistakingwho was Duke Jupiter’s golden god.Once in Austin, however, Styler’s lifetook on a new dimension. He married,had children, and along the way, his musicsnaked through changes and shed its rockskin. Birthed were tunes of a more cerebralnature, ones without words. In 1991 camethe release of Camden Road, and the formerrock star became, for lack of a better term, aNew Age icon.New Age music is an easy target, secondonly to disco for the negative reactions itelicits. Dismissed as the tuneless drivel heardin reception areas and doctors’ offices, NewAge is a much more complex term for anendless variety of ambient music, often of aspiritual or meditative nature. Not surprisingly,Styler found the label restricting, sincehis compositions weren’t of the plant mistvariety often associated with New Age, norwere they noodling soundscapes.Instead, Styler creates melodies and buildsinstrumentals around them, an atmosphericgroove he perfected during years of writingrock songs. Not being beholden to words hasleft Styler free to layer aural color with hiskeyboards, much like the impressionist artistswhose elegant work he compares his music to.Impressionism isn’t the first thing youthink of when seeing Styler’s Silent NightCDs of Christmas classics at the checkoutcounters in stores like the Famous ChristmasStore or spotting his name on Time Warner’sambient music TV channel, Soundscapes.Nor might you recognize his music at the spaor in a therapist’s office, yet his Texas trilogy(Jericho, Mockingbird Station, Bluefields), thenTwilight Concertos, and A Face in the Cloudsare wordless successes.“I played around Austin in hotels andrestaurants for years,” he says. “Around thetime the trilogy was finished, I didn’t have todo it anymore, so I stopped playing for a longtime. We’d sold 100,000 or so copies of thetrilogy, so I was able to stop and just composeand record for about five years. Last year, afterFace in the Clouds, I decided it was time I wentout and played, started performing again.“I spent a year rehearsing the 60, 70pieces I’d written, and by the time I got itready to go, nobody wanted to hear it. Theywere like: ‘What the hell is this? You don’tplay any jazz?!’“I set up a gig at Finn & Porter at theHilton, and about a half-hour into the gig,the general manager says: ‘You don’t play anyjazz? I’m sorry, we can’t use you.’ So they gaveme my contract, but they gave me the boot.“That was my reintroduction to the Austinmusic scene.”You have tosee Styler inhis 1980s gloryto get the fullpicture of whathe walked awayfrom and toappreciate whathe became.South Austin Train 4amStyler cares about the dynamic of live performancebut feels it’s been diminished overthe decades. He’s a self-proclaimed personanon grata and believes “something got reallycorporate” in the way talent is booked inAustin. Fortunately, his recordings have a fanbase beyond a live audience, and selling hisCDs has become a mom-and-pop businessfor he and his wife, Kate. Piano is key.“Everything gets put together and writtenon piano, basic arrangements and melodies.My studio looks like Night at the Museum –all Eighties and Nineties analog synthesizers.Everybody’s trying to get me to use a computer,use Pro Tools. ‘What are you using this oldcrap for?’ my son says. But it’s the way I work.It’s slow and meticulous and goes to tape.“I don’t even really know how to use acomputer as far as music goes.“The pianos I use I have to dig up oneBay. They’re old Rolands, before they wentdigital. I buy ’em for $300, $400. I’ve got ahalf-dozen, and they weigh a ton, but it’s aparticular piano sound, and I’ve got thesenice warm analog synthesizers. The computerizedstuff is so cold.”“Warm” and “synthesizer” aren’t wordsmost people like using together, yet in Styler’smusic, his melodies are blanketed in warmth.Like A Face in the Clouds, his newest CD,Seven Falls, draws inspiration from his Texashome. The dreamy “Flight of the Great Blue(South Padre Island)” is one such composition.Less obvious is a piece whose evocativetitle was trimmed at Kate’s suggestion.“‘Welcome Back to Dreamland’ was originally‘(South Austin Train 4am) WelcomeBack to Dreamland.’ I love that sound atnight. I’ve written descriptions of each songfor the website to give folks some historybehind each piece.“It doesn’t occur to me to put lyrics in. Theclosest I come are my titles, which I spend alot of time on, to get the mood of the piece. Idid lyrics for so long. They were so time-consuming.I got to the point where I just didn’thave much to say. My dream was to put simplemelodies together and touch people that way.“I just say I write folk songs withoutwords.”“I’d done my Laura Scarborough solothing in Austin,” she recounts. “Whenyou’re responsible for writing all the music,being the bandleader, doing all your promotion,doing all your publicity, you getreally worn out. I wasn’t enjoying it, and Iwanted to be part of something else.”Scarborough joined Choffel’s band onthe condition that she play only vibraphoneand accordion. Occasionally, she hoops.“I wanted to play other instruments[besides keyboards] in her band,” acknowledgesScarborough. “Suzanna’s the firstperson I’ve been a side person for, andshe’s really fun. She’s got a killer band,but ultimately it comes back to her. She’sgot that voice and that songwriting talent.She’s very confident – and goes for it.”Of course, Scarborough ended up playingkeyboards for Suzanna Choffel in additionto vibes and accordion, deliberatelychoosing the synthesizer over the traditional88 keys.“The piano is a very melancholy instrumentfor me. I wanted to get away fromthat, to write lighter music, and that’show I got into electronic music. [When] Iwrote from a computer and started buildingbeats and different synthesizer sounds,it helped push me in a different directionand away from the heaviness that thepiano felt to me.“When you say ‘88 keys,’ that’s typicallyreferring to the piano, a full keyboardinstrument, and I rarely play on 88 keys.Using a computer is such a differentapproach to writing than sitting at a pianoor with a guitar in creating a chord progressionor melody. Give me a groove or a coolbeat; I write from more rhythmic places.Even with vocal stuff, it’s about rhythm.“I’m not into being a ripping-fast,chops-oriented keyboard player. That’snot my bag. Do a four-hour jazz gig playingcovers for $100? I’d rather play in atheatre in a big production every threemonths or so and be able to share the joyof hooping.”Of course, Scarboroughended up playingkeyboards for SuzannaChoffel in addition tovibes and accordion,deliberately choosingthe synthesizer overthe traditional 88 keys.50 T H E A U S T I N C H R O N I C L E JULY 3, 2009 a u s t i n c h r o n i c l e . c o m