temporary day party
An interview with Whirlybird, more on the 12 Hour Party we're throwing this Saturday with 'Temporary State University'
In October, Avery Milner released their debut album “Dove is a Pigeon” under the name Whirlybird, chosen for a Count Basie song he loved as a teenager. Birds are a theme in Avery’s work, perhaps due to their love of nature’s sounds and because they migrated throughout their childhood. Born in Oregon, he moved through different suburbs of California in middle and high school, before his family settled in Atlanta. Then he went to New York for college and stayed.
The idea of a hometown is not something Avery has an association with, so it makes sense that he burrowed himself into his songs. “Dove is a Pigeon,” largely written on the brink of their 20s, is a record of physical and emotional development and discomfort. On “Ghosts in the Garden” he sings, “So I let you live in my garden/ But you put four walls up instead/ Built a big house in my garden/ And covered my body in cement,” and on “Hunting Song,” “Nothing sticks like glue/ But I still feel the heartache/ Of puddles I fell into/ A nervous clock rewinding.”
I spoke to Avery about making moves towards assurance in the sound of a new bird song. This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Do you think living in California as a teenager had a specific impact on your music?
I think Sacramento really kick started [playing music]. It is actually the most boring place in the entire world, and I just knew something was up with me from the beginning. It was a very conservative part of California, very flat, very much farm country, McMansion, and strip malls, and I struggled to find any peace or beauty in that. I really struggled to find a community, and the closest thing I got was the theater I was in, which was incredibly toxic. I turned to sitting in my room and fucking around on my guitar.
Was the act of moving isolating?
Definitely, but I was also the kind of kid who was really into the melancholy of it all. I have always been a huge romantic with those big sad feelings, so I hated moving, but part of me also kind of liked it. Didn’t have to stay in one place for too long, I could be a rolling stone, you know what I mean? [laughing]
Chronologically this brings us to “Dove is a Pigeon,” because you wrote a lot of that several years ago, right?
Yeah, 2020 and 2021, it was a split. I wrote some of it in Atlanta and most of it was in Brooklyn because I was hopping around apartments at the time. “Reciprocity” was written in 2021 or 2022 and that was the last one I wrote.
Was there any reason you were sitting on the album for so long, and how does it feel for it to be out now?
I had this grand idea of like, “This is my debut album and this could be it.” My collaborator was my friend Matt; he recorded and mixed it all in Atlanta. I was trying to go home and record it, but then we could only get so much done, and I was never home for long enough. It ended up being arduous, which I think doesn’t work against the feeling of the songs and how I was feeling when I wrote them. I do think I was naive about how much of a difference it would make for me, at least, but I think that just speaks to how hard it is to get people to listen to something after you put it out. Everything moves so fast that you feel you have to move at the same pace and I’m slow. Like, “Oh, I can’t get the TikTokers to talk about this for New Music Friday because it came out a week ago, so actually it’s over.”
What is next?
We [Avery and Michael Schwartz, his drummer/engineer and boyfriend] are going to do an EP, but it’s pretty different. None of the songs are about me-- they are story-based songs, which I’ve been having a lot of fun with. They are going to be shorter and I want to put it out quicker. It’s kind of a dedication to third places, there’s an art museum song, two bar songs, and a public park type of song. I wrote most of them in 2022, but they don’t feel as old because I don’t play them as much. Honestly, I’m really excited about these ones. I think I just want to try something a little less serious. I’m very much the type to catastrophize and really put a lot of weight on whatever I’m doing. I made the first EP within two weeks in my friend Matt’s basement, right before I went to college. It was so fast, he mixed them and sent them to me and I think we went through, like, two versions. I don’t like the way it sounds, but people do. I just think that that energy felt a lot more productive and exciting and just honored the work better. I don’t think that sitting and moping around on songs helps them. I think they need more life and urgency, and that’s what I’m trying to carry into this EP.
You’ve been playing a lot of solo acoustic shows recently, and I’m wondering how that feels in contrast to fronting a band?
It’s had an impact on my attitude towards stuff as a whole. There’s this polish you really need in a band, and I just felt between school, work, scheduling, and a rehearsal space it never really came through. Not to say my musicians aren’t awesome, it’s more on me that I never figured out how to wrangle the noise. When I played one of my first solo shows the response was overwhelming. People were talking about how much they connected to my songwriting and guitar playing and I kind of got some perspective on how people wanted to hear the music more than I had before. I didn’t realize I was allowed to just go up and play by myself, I thought people wanted noise and energy. But I think there’s a way to bring a lot of energy and presence without having all of those other people [on stage]. I think the energy of the songs was getting covered up with instrumentals and arrangements that I was really unsure about. With me and my guitar, I’m completely sure, I know exactly what I’m playing.
What songwriters do you look up to?
Joni Mitchell and Simon and Garfunkel are the two big folk writers I was exposed to [as a kid] and who I definitely still reference. I like a lot of poetry, people like Frank O’Hara and Mary Oliver who write about their surroundings. Current people like Hailey Hendrix and Joanna Sternberg. Norma Tanega is a big one for guitar playing. Anyone who had fucked up hands and had to play a little bit wrong is someone who I’m like, “Oh, I really like what you are doing.”
If you could play a four-band bill with anyone of your choosing, who would it be?
I would love to play with Connie Converse because I wanna say, “Hey girl, where’d you go? What happened to you? And were you a lesbian?” Andy Shauf. He’s probably so awkward in real life because he is so Canadian. I think that he is so cool, I love the way he talks. He has such a weird voice and it’s awesome. And then Broadcast. That’s a long-term electronic music inspiration for me, and just gone too soon.
What are three of your current obsessions?
These little juices from my work, grilling, and teaching music to little kids.
by JoJo Sommer
your last chance to listen to this excellent June playlist:
Soooo whats this 12 hour party about?
poster: Enne Goldstein
Jordan Michael, of GUNK’s famous Missed Connections post, used to run NYC’s Showpaper, which is a huge reference point for nyc’s indie community and something that Hannah and I have learned alot from in running GUNK. JM hit up Hannah about a year ago with this idea of starting a nonprofit that teaches and equips people how to throw shows and cultural events from scratch, and for the past few months the three of us have been grinding (meeting and talking at various venues around Ridgewood in orange hi-vis vests for reasons still kind of unclear to me mostly bc I never received one, grr..). You can learn more about Temporary State here. Our coming out party launch is this Saturday at Party Connection, which is a party hall on Woodward Ave. The fundraiser for Temporary State University is a 12 hour show, with 15 bands/solo acts and 3 demo workshops featuring Greg Rutkin, Jeanette Wall, and Nora Dabdoub. It’s been a huge pleasure working with Jordan Michael, and this is the first show Hannah and I have ever thrown! We’re learning so much! I think it’s going to be extremely, very fun. I even promise that.
okay see you there! and in JULY
xx
ceci and hannah
Love the idea of the 12-hour party! Not sure its in the cards this weekend but sending all the vibes for success. Will also check out Whirlybird.