In 2022, I visited Paris, New York, Tuscany, Tehran, Tokyo, New Orleans… Oh, no, not literally. Literarily! (Hit your kit drums all you want, I laughed!) In years past, my reading list was a meandering recitation of whims. I read anything that sounded somewhat appealing. I totally judged books by their cover but not very discerningly. (You can check out last year's list, here.) In 2022, my reading list was more closely curated. I opted for geography-oriented novels. I wanted to read books that were tour guides for other places and times, and this list reflects that. Here are my recommendations as a literary traveler. 📍 New York, New York THE MUTUAL FRIEND by Carter Bays Let’s start the list with my all-purpose recommendation. If you asked me for a book recommendation in 2022, I likely gave you this one. I think most people will love it. But, fine, some of you are exceptions. I will not recommend this book to you if you … Have a short attention span with no desire to read anything longer than a TikTok transcript. Have trouble keeping track of more than three characters. Do not like fun. Most of the criticisms of the book seem to be because people fall into one of those categories. If you do not fall into those categories, good, I have a book recommendation for you. In August, I read an excerpt for The Mutual Friend after learning that Carter Bays (co-creator of How I Met Your Mother) wrote it. I went in knowing my love for How I Met Your Mother (immense) but keenly aware that it might be difficult for a TV writer to write a compelling debut novel. I probably had rows and rows of open tabs and windows on my computer, Spotify playing, and Instagram open on my phone before I read the first sentence. I started reading with my usual split-screen attention span, and I finished reading completely consumed and ready to re-read. As I would later tell Carter Bays himself, "I loved, adored, ate up, devoured, and any other-relevant-synonym-ed The Mutual Friend." Kirkus Review sums up the experience well: "This is a rare thing: an original, intelligent novel that's not just a perfect summer beach read, but one that deserves serious awards consideration as well. Put down your phone and pick it up. . . . A major accomplishment." ​ Here are a few lines I loved: - "It was like browsing the world." - Bob describing the world before social media - "He led her to the powder room, the one with the chinoiserie pastoral wallpaper that looked so great on the website but was ultimately unmistakably racist up close." - "...one not-worth-it forever..." (I've been using this as a unit of measurement) - "He put his phone down, bowed his head, and prayed. Dust particles danced in the cool air above him like angels unobserved." - "They'd play something sweet and sad and unknowable, something that remembers and forgets all at once." - "The drafts folder is honesty's dregs, the thickest part of the brew, the stuff that gets stuck to the pot." ​ I reached out to Carter Bays after reading The Mutual Friend, and we did an Absolutely Anything Zoom interview with him in September. I never realized “Zoom with My Favorite TV Show Co-Creator and Novelist of 2022 from My Airbnb in Quebec City with My Best Friend” was on my bucket list, but it was AND I got to cross it off. I believe social media can be an incredible connector, knotting invisible strings between people who may otherwise never have met. That's one of the many cruxes of The Mutual Friend. Maybe you're reading this recommendation list right now because we connected online. While we Zoomed with Carter, I posited the question "Do you think we have a mutual friend?" We all laughed and were like, "Sure! Probably! Why not!" Fast-forward half a year later, and I found our mutual friend on Instagram. Let me explain. On 2-2-22, it was $2 margarita night at Rosa Mexicano, and we went out with our roommates afterward for $2 Insomnia cookies. It was midnight in Midtown and Liza and Gabby took a selfie with this couple leaving a drag show. We started chatting and followed one of the guys on Instagram. Nearly one year after that first encounter, I see his anniversary post on Instagram. It was liked by Carter Bays. Turns out the guy we met on 2-22-22 is one of Carter's sister's best friends. ​ I'm always fascinated when one medium contemplates another. In this case, the novel contemplates social media/the internet stratosphere. As Carter said in our interview, he wanted to write something that showed what life was like in that moment of 2015, and I think he did a perfect job. I had so much fun reading it—the kind of fun that makes me want to tell people about my experience while reading as if it were an intertextual book. I remember reading the opening that discusses "Stardust" and then later that day getting a text from New Orleans photographer Matt Anderson that he heard "stardust" on NPR and thought of Gabby and me. Later in the book, there's a whole banana subplot. While reading that, my family group chat was quite animated over my brother Campbell's banana costume for Halloween. "Coincidental!" a cynic might retort. "I don't care!" I'd say back. "I think it's all pretty wonderful!" 📍Old New York, New York THE AGE OF INNOCENCE By Edith Wharton I first read this book while I was in Ms. Ballard’s AP Language class in 2016. I remember buying it from the River Oaks Barnes and Noble, and the cashier told me, “The book is always better than the movie. Unless it’s The Age of Innocence. Then the movie is better than the book.” I remember visiting New York in April 2017 for my short play and emailing Ms. Ballard, “I’m where The Age of Innocence took place!” when I missed three days worth of her class. There are a lot of memories attached to this book from 1920. Nearly five years later, I finally got around to watching the film after having lived in New York. I thought of the bookseller’s previous adage, but I realized it had been so long since I last read the book, I had to give it a reread this year. I’m glad I did because I relived all of Wharton’s sumptuous prose again. Here are some favorite lines: -“In reality they all lived in a kind of hieroglyphic world, where the real thing was never said or done or even thought, but only represented by a set of arbitrary signs.” - “When he thought of [her] it was abstractly, serenely, as one might think of some imaginary beloved in a book or a picture: she had become the composite vision of all that he had missed.” Also notable from that Barnes and Noble--I remember talking to my mom about how I wanted to go to Paris one day. In 2022, we planned a trip to Paris… I don’t know if I’m out of my age of innocence yet, but the whole situation does seem very bildungs roman, no? 📍 Paris, France THE DUD AVOCADO by Elaine Dundy Ahead of my January 2023 Paris trip, I gorged on Paris-centric books. Through an excellent Messy Nessy Chic review, I found out about The Dud Avocado for the first time. I really, really loved it. Someone described this as Catcher in the Rye for the girls. Don’t let that scare you, Catcher in the Rye haters! (I’m not one of you, but I know many of you.) Let me break that comparison down. The writing feels like a blend of J.D. Salinger and F. Scott Fitzgerald with feminine intel and whimsy. I really love Elaine Dundy’s voice and style. If she had been more prolific, I bet I would even call her one of my favorite writers. Her voice is zany but smart. This is a book I’m glad I first read at 22 before going to Paris for the first time. I feel like if I were any older and more well-traveled, I'd be a little jaded. The main character Sally Jay Gorce is so beyond Emily Cooper and Carrie Bradshaw. If I took my daily vitamins with a hit of laughing gas growing up, maybe I’d be more like Sally Jay. Lines I loved: -"I love you. If you hadn't existed I would have had to invent you." (This reminds me of one of my favorite lines from Joseph Arthur’s “Honey and the Moon” that goes, “If you weren’t real, I’d make you up.”) -“The world is wide, wide, wide, and I am young, young, young, and we’re all going to live forever!” - “I’ve never wanted to meet anyone I’ve been introduced to. I want to meet all the other people.” - “‘I want my freedom!’ I said, tears stinging my eyes at the word. “Your freedom? Ah yes, of course. What are you planning to do with it?” I hesitated. I had to think for a moment. I hadn’t really put it into words before. “I want to stay out as late as I like and eat whatever I like any time I want to,” I said finally.” - “I find I always have to write something on a steamed mirror. Only this time, I couldn't think of anything to write. So I just wrote my own name, over and over again." - "What was I getting so worked up about? The vehemence of my moral indignation surprised me. Was I beginning to have standards and principles, and, oh dear, scruples? What were they, and what would I do with them, and how much were they going to get in my way?" (I’m about to turn 23 and feel this all too completely. What am I going to do with all of these scruples? Apply them to my daily life?) -“Everything seemed to fall into place. Here was all the gaiety and glory and sparkle I knew was going to be life if I could just grasp it." - “It's just that I know the world is so wide and full of people and exciting things that I just go crazy every day stuck in these institutions. I mean if I don't get started soon, how will I get the chance to sharpen my wits? It takes lots of training. You have to start very young. I want them to be so sharp that I'm always able to guess right. Not be right- that's much different- that means you're going to do something about it. No. Just guessing. You know, more on the wing." - “One shoelace had been badly tied and I was trying to retie it in my mind." - “It's amazing how right you can be about a person you don't know; it's only the people you do know who confuse you.” - “It was hard to believe that it was the beginning of July, not the end of summer. I thought: is summer only a state of mind? Is it always only two months long from whenever you start it?” - “Frequently, walking down the streets in Paris alone, I've suddenly come upon myself in a store window grinning foolishly away at the thought that no one in the world knew where I was at just that moment.” - “I mean, the question actors most often get asked is how they can bear saying the same things over and over again night after night, but God knows the answer to that is, don't we all anyway; might as well get paid for it.” - “I drifted into the street lit with love and began turning imaginary handsprings.” - “So he gave up. And in a way, I kind of gave up myself. I gave up wondering if anyone was ever going to understand me at all. If I was ever going to understand myself even. Why was it so difficult anyway? Was I some kind of a nut or something? Don't answer that.” The book is just filled with knock-out lines like this. I’m off to read the lesser-known sequel, The Old Man and Me. 📍 Tokyo, Japan BEFORE THE COFFEE GETS COLD by Toshikazu Kawaguchi Oh, I completely adore this premise: “It tells of a café in Tokyo that allows its customers to travel back in time, as long as they return before their coffee gets cold.” Another time travel stipulation: "At the end of the day, whether one returns to the past or travels to the future, the present doesn't change." It’s such a beautiful idea. You travel in time to understand the present better. If you and I have been to a cool cafe together, I likely have said, “This cool cafe could totally be the cool cafe from Before The Coffee Gets Cold.” I will also add that this book to me years to finish. (The coffee definitely cooled multiple times for me.) But, golly, do I love this premise. Those are the most substantial recommendations from my reading list. Consider the above with my two thumbs-up seal of approval and five-star Trip Advisor review. Really enjoy and savor your stay with these settings. Now, I do have a few more recommendations. Consider the below to be day trip recommendations. You don’t need to languish on these. They can be quick detours from your main reading list. DAY TRIP RECOMMENDATIONS​ For a book you could rip the pages out and turn into cool wallpaper (after reading it, of course) 📍 BE HERE NOW By Ram Dass I don’t have much to say about this other than---great fonts. This is very 1971. Don’t take it too seriously. It’s a hippie picture book that’s pretty to look at. Have fun. You know what? I do have something else to say. I went to a hippie day camp in the summer before third grade. We played a giant spy game where everyone was assigned different roles. Someone was a double agent; another, the envoy; another, Secret Service. It was kind of like Capture The Flag but espionage. There were rules, too, that, while I don’t remember, were complex. In a sense, it sort of reminds me of the elusive tennis game from Infinite Jest. Couple this with the fact that the campgrounds were in an old Victorian house and church. We were a bunch of 8, 9, and 10-year-olds pretending to be instruments of a nation’s most covert operations with free range of the property. I LOVED it. I also have no idea what the game is called. To this day, I haven’t met anyone else who knows what I’m talking about. Every six months I remember this mystery and try Googling. The internet’s no help. I’ve even asked one of my friends from that camp about the game, but she doesn’t even remember it. What if I made it up? Surely I didn’t. But… Maybe? No. Anyway, I bring up this side story for two reasons. 1. Maybe someone reading this will know the name of the game. 2. This hippie camp felt the way Be Here Now looks. For a book that will probably become a film that stars Diane Keaton 📍 AMGASH, ILLINOIS Oh, William! by Elizabeth Stout Strout won a Pulitzer, too. 📍Florence, Italy STILL LIFE By Sarah Winman This book covers four decades of a group of friends/chosen family unit. Lauren Fox’s New York Times review sums it up well. This is a book of beauty, of art, of long-lasting friendship, of all the stuff that makes life worthwhile. One of my favorite lines from the book is “Happy new year. I hope it’s worthy of you.” I’ve used it to wish my friends a happy 2023. If you’re on an Italy kick, I recommend another book from my 2022 list: Sicily in Shadow and in Sun; The Earthquake and the American Relief Work by Maud Howe Elliott. She wrote this in 1910, and it still feels relevant (and interesting) today.

I think it’s nice that we’re all on the same page ahead of this brave, new year: The 2020 and 2021 blur was really, really tough. If these past two years could be succinctly described, I think I would forgo words altogether and just use a :/ with three exclamation points at the end. Everybody is commiserating over the last two years, but at least we’re commiserating together. Sure, it’s not a great spin, but I’m trying to read in between the black and white lines to find any possible silver lining. The pandemic also brought me back to reading. It’s not like I never read in high school or college–au contraire! I read a lot! I was reading books from a syllabus, though, with an objective of memorizing plot or factoids that would help in group discussions. Sometimes I’d find a book I loved, but none were read for the joy of reading. Not like I used to. Back in the day, (the “day” coinciding with Obama’s presidency) I could whiz through four books at once. If I blinked, by the time I opened my eyes, I would have already read three chapters. Time moved differently in 2011, and I bent it to my reading whims. Gosh, what a way to live. Boy, Snow, Bird by Helen Oyeyemi brought me back to the joy of reading for reading’s sake. In September 2020, I saw something online about her writing style and wanted to witness it for myself. Purchasing the book would take money and time, but then it struck me! The greatest revelation I had that day! Society’s most underrated facet! The library! Harris County Public Online Library, I am your newest #1 fan. You’re my most visited tab, and my favorite app. Between September 2020 and December 31, 2020 alone, I read 32 books… Most of these were e-books. If we’re in the business of looking for silver linings, then I’d point out that it actually took a global pandemic for me to read an e-book instead of a hard copy. Now I’m hooked. E-books are great. They don’t weigh a thing! You can zoom in! Plus, no paper cuts! I finished 49 books between January 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021. If you’re still reading this article, that means you’re willing to read absolutely anything. So, start 2022 with a book haul. Let me help. Instead of reviewing all 49 books, I’ll give you customized recommendations. The older I get, the more I realize we all like different things for different reasons. I’m going to (attempt to) offer the most well-rounded yet pointed suggestions for the general public. These aren’t necessarily my favorites, but rather books I think you might like. You’ll see what I mean. For Those Who Appreciate the Little Things Kitchen and Moonlight Shadow by Banana Yoshimoto I’m fairly certain these are side-by-side novellas that come together in one book. You will inhale these stories. I read them during an especially tumultuous week in 2021, and it felt like taking a literary chill pill. There’s a line from the Kitchen/Moonlight Shadow double feature that I used as the dedication in a play I wrote: “...but we’re all brothers and sisters when in trouble.” There was never a more appropriate time for me to read that. Banana Yoshimoto is a wonderful writer. These stories are touching. If you like these two, then definitely keep reading Yoshimoto. My friend and pen pal during the pandemic, El, recommended Banana Yoshimoto to me. Thank you, El! It’s a recommendation that keeps giving. For Nonfiction Readers Who Like the Outdoors Underland: A Deep Time Journey by Robert Macfarlane I’m not technically finished with this book, but that doesn’t mean I am not a huge fan of it. I am taking my sweet time on purpose. Macfarlane is such an incredible writer and thinker. The way this book operates spatially is just marvelous. He is not remotely pedantic, so anyone will understand the geologic ideas he discusses as you embark on this literary journey through time. There’s something for everybody in this. Biology, geology, archaeology, physics, environmentalism, history, adventure, poetry! 5/5 stars. (Which could be given to one of the starless rivers Macfarlane mentions…) For Everyone The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green This is the universal book I can wholeheartedly recommend to anyone. John Green writes small essay reviews of different things from the Anthropocene epoch. These synthesized essays are brilliant. They do everything a good comedy special does, but instead of being uproariously funny, this collection is endearingly tender and so human. My favorite chapters/reviews were Diet Dr. Pepper, the Internet, Piggly Wiggly, Harvey, and Googling Strangers. ​ Now hear me out. I also recommend you try this as an audiobook. John Green narrates, and there’s something so special about hearing him tell you why “Auld Lang Syne” is worthy of 5 stars. For Someone Disillusioned by Life and Wondering “What’s the Point Anymore?” but Specifically for Romantics Going through a Rough Patch and Aren’t Normally this Bummed Out The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwabb So I loved this book. I didn’t expect to. But I did. And I love it even more because the people I’ve talked to about it, did NOT like it. What can I say? I’m drawn to the controversial and smitten with the scorned. These people’s criticisms stem from the fact that they didn’t like the characters. To which I say, “Okay, fair, fine.” The reason I really enjoyed this book is because I adore the idea of living forever…without anyone remembering you. That makes you think! What would you do? Where do you go? At what point would you give into the darkness? My other favorite part of this book is its veneration of art. Addie LaRue is practically immortal, and the one thing that has made her life worthwhile is art. Ahem. “And this is what she’s settled on: she can go without food (she will not wither.) She can go without heat (the cold will not kill her.) But a life without art, without wonder, without beautiful things--she would go mad.” Also, “So much of life becomes routine, but food is like music, like art, replete with the promise of something new.” This book spans centuries. I’m a fan of epics, so that’s right up my alley. I also love the “Come live with me and be my love” poem and went down a rabbit hole on JSTOR, reading Harvard grad students’ theses on Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love.” Anyway. Please, if any of the above seems appealing, read this book and let me know what you think. Even if you don’t like it. Especially then. For Anyone Disillusioned by Life and Wondering “What’s the Point Anymore?” but Specifically Someone who is Experiencing a Religious Dilemma OR Someone who Just Really Likes Greek Mythology Till We Have Faces by C.S. Lewis This book surprised me. First off, I LOVE the myth of Cupid and Psyche. I will consume any adaptation of this myth. Secondly, I have never been a C.S. Lewis fan. I saw The Magician’s Nephew on a field trip in elementary school and was like, “I can write a better play.” I think I have watched the first ten minutes of Narnia on five different occasions. Just didn’t get into it. So when I found out Lewis has a book about the myth of Cupid and Psyche, I was at odds. It’s about Cupid and Psyche, so I have to read it. But it’s by C.S. Lewis, so…? Despite my Narnia indifference, I started reading anyway. Well, it’s brilliant. Probably one of my all-time favorite books. I think I cried. If I didn’t, I will the next time I read it. This re-telling is from the perspective of one of Istra/Psyche’s sisters. (Names are different than the myth in the book.) The POV is so tender, you understand why Psyche’s sister betrayed her. While reading, I was struck by Lewis's writing. Orual, Psyche’s sister, is so well-developed and thoughtful and fleshed out, and this is abundantly evident because the whole book is from her point of view. I couldn’t believe a man wrote it. I felt this way when I was nine years old reading Dear Dumb Diary. “The female protagonist is just so good, how could a man know what it’s like to think like a girl?!” was my basic nine-year-old craft question about the series. I echoed that sentiment again with Till We Have Faces. Turns out Lewis had some help from his wife, Joy Davidman. Let me backtrack. Lewis started writing a version of this book in college because he also saw the beauty of the Cupid and Psyche myth. (Good taste.) He was an atheist at this point in time and, unrelatedly, stopped working on the book. Decades later, after his conversion to Christianity, he revisited this project. His wife (at the time, very close friend) Joy workshops the book. I think she really helped make this book so wonderful, and C.S. Lewis agrees. He believed this was his best book. This book is told in two parts. The first part reflects the period of C.S. Lewis’s atheism/Orual’s angst against the gods. The second part is a stunning reconciliation with the gods. Just like in Lewis’s life. Seriously, it’s just gorgeous. I’m convincing myself to re-read Till We Have Faces as I write. If the theological interpretation isn’t of interest, I still think anyone who likes the myth will enjoy this book. For those who Liked Percy Jackson and Want Something More Serious and Grown Up Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller and Circe by Madeline Miller I read these at the same time. It took around 70 pages for me to really get hooked. Up until that point, I liked the book(s). But after I hit the 70 page stride, I was enamored. Madeline Miller is a fantastic writer. All of the hype is worth it. I rarely admit that about popular things because I only say that when it’s true. I struggle to pick a favorite between the two. I change my mind often. I’m going to say, right now, Song of Achilles is my favorite. I was very familiar with the myth of Circe, but I’m not sure if I knew about Achilles and Patroclus. It doesn’t matter. I feel like I know them too well now. Let me share this casually brilliant line from Song of Achilles. It’s one of many. “He said what he meant; he was puzzled if you didn’t. Some people might have mistaken this for simplicity. But is it not a sort of genius to cut always to the heart?” I believe an HBO adaptation of Circe is under way. I’m surprised there isn’t one for Song of Achilles, though. For Anyone Coming of Age and Has A Lot of Feelings About It Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky I had seen the movie version with Logan Lerman and Emma Watson, but I didn’t read the book until this year. I treasured it. If you like Catcher in the Rye, you will like this. If you didn’t like Catcher in the Rye, I still believe you’ll also like this. I recognize that a lot of you have already read Perks of Being a Wallflower, but I think you’d benefit from a re-read. To reference a line from the book, you might even discover that, “It really was a great one. I think I’ll even think so when I’m older.” For Dark Academia Fans The Secret History by Donna Tartt Also a fairly well-known book, so I’m probably just another person telling you to give it a go. I loved the reading experience because I was so immersed. I felt like I was in middle school again, waking up early to finish a book I started the day before and neglecting dinner because I was so focused on the next chapter. For the Nosy Last Chance Texaco: Chronicles of an American Troubadour by Rickie Lee Jones My grandfather always said that when you read biographies or memoirs, you live another life. It’s a way to experience someone else’s world. In that case, I lived a life as the legendary hippie Grammy-winning singer-songwriter (triple) double-hyphenate Rickie Lee Jones. Last Chance Texaco might be my favorite memoir ever. Jones is an incredible songwriter and, as it appears here, memoir writer. Her life is excellent fodder, sure, but I was taken aback by her honeyed prose. I think I’m going to play her song “Woody and Dutch on the Slow Train to Peking,” which, if anyone can find her version of it on SNL, please let me know. For Those Who Like New Fiction and Texas Authors Olympus, Texas by Stacey Swann This is yet another myth-inspired read. Imagine the Roman gods as an old-money Texas family in a fictional town outside of Houston. That’s Olympus, Texas. I had so much fun reading this and lost my mind when I figured out the names. (I.e. “Peter” = “Jupiter,” Say it to yourself. Ha! Yeah, I know!) On this note, I wrote a TV pilot script earlier in 2021 about the Greek gods in a family comedy. I’m going to recommend anyone who’s interested read this, too 😎 For Those Who Like New Fiction and British Authors You People by Nikita Lalwani A short book about immigrants and outsiders “seeking asylum in a pizzeria,” among so much more. I like The Guardian’s review of the book and Lalwani. “...this is a writer who is very interested in compassion, how it manifests, and the nature of its limits.” This definitely comes across. For Those Who Want to Read My Favorite Author and Won’t Tell Me if They Don’t Like It Helen Oyeyemi I technically didn’t finish a Helen Oyeyemi novel in 2021. (I’m reading Peaces slowly and trying to soak it up.) But I’m such a sucker for her writing that I want to mention her anyway. I want my love for Helen Oyeyemi’s writing to be well documented and known by all. Now, before I continue, let me explicitly say this. Not everyone is going to like her work. In fact, you might not like it. Don’t let me know. I think Boy, Snow, Bird is her most accessible book, but you still might not dig it. (My favorite book of hers is Gingerbread.) One of my favorite pastimes is listening to Helen Oyeyemi interviews where the interviewer does not understand her writing. There was this one interview where the interviewer said something like, “In White is for Witching, you meant…” and then said whatever they thought the scene was supposed to be about. And Helen cut them off and said, “No. That’s not what I meant.” They moved onto the next question. For Healing by Means of Magic, Words, and Flowers The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart by Holly Ringland Not only is there an Amazon Studios adaptation of this novel that will star Sigourney Weaver, Absolutely Anything has also interviewed the author of The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart! This is a book of trauma, healing, and bushels of flowers wrapped with the most gorgeous string of words. I could go on, but I think our interview with Holly Ringland herself will be enough to convince you. Find the interview here!

CATHLEEN FREEDMAN I first heard your song, “Velvet,” through my Spotify Discover Weekly back in, well, I can't even think of the months from 2020. But “Velvet” was a highlight of that period for me. It's such an interesting song lyrically and musically, and I continue playing all your songs because I’m really impressed with your lyrics. I don't say that lightly, it’s a huge compliment. So we're going to begin with some questions for you, and we're going to break it into two sections. Our first section is going to be craft-based and background based to learn more about you. The second section is going to be our “Absolutely Anything” questions, which are a bunch of questions that we guarantee you will have never been asked before, or ever again. CARTER VAIL Okay, I'm ready. FREEDMAN Where are you from, and where are you based today? VAIL I'm from Connecticut. Originally Wilton, Connecticut. Just kind of a pretty normal suburban town. I moved to Nashville about three years ago. FREEDMAN So this is, of course, a little naive. I'm from Houston and when I think of Nashville, and especially its music scene, I think of country music. GABBY ETZEL So... what genre do you feel like your music resides? VAIL That's always such a tricky question. Because I'm sure people can probably place me pretty easily into something like indie rock. But it's always difficult to place yourself in one genre because I like a lot of different kinds of music. I feel like I'm always trying to do a bunch of different genres, whether it actually comes across is that who knows? Probably limited by my skills on different instruments. So it probably always ends up sounding more similar than I anticipate. But it's probably not a bad thing. FREEDMAN No, I will say that every single one of your songs are really distinctive. ETZEL Kind of on that note, will you tell us more about your music journey and what musical instruments you play. VAIL In terms of music journey, I went to school for music at University of Miami. I am primarily an audio engineer and producer. That means I am just “okay” at all of the instruments. I'm not great at anything. But I like doing the mixing and the production side of stuff. I ended up forming a band with three other guys, Andre Bernier (keys), Garrett Fracol (drums), and Reed Gaines (bass). We actually all live together in Nashville. FREEDMAN “And they were roommates!” VAIL And we were roommates! We all run a studio in Nashville. The “day job” is producing for other people and making other people's music. But we also are a band and make our own stuff. We were going to go out on tour at one point, but then COVID hit and so that has stunted the whole live show thing. Musical journey… That's it so far, just from Miami to here. And I like writing music. FREEDMAN Any plans to do some live shows? Or is that still a later discussion? VAIL Oh, yeah, definitely. I don't know if you know the band Kid Sistr. They're an LA-based band, and they’ve blown up right now. I'm doing a show with them in northern Connecticut over the Thanksgiving time-frame. I'll also be playing in New York around that time. FREEDMAN Continuing on your musical journey process... I really love how some of your songs sound like confessionals, like interior dialogue with yourself. Would you expand upon how you go about your songwriting process? VAIL I think the songwriting process is so interesting because everyone's stuff is so different. I have a bunch of great Nashville songwriting friends, and seeing how they work, I'm always like, “Well, how did that happen?” But for me, I like to do the music and the lyrics kind of at the same time. I never know what the song is going to be about. I just come up with phrases that feel really cool. VAIL With a song like “Velvet,” actually, it was me and my friend Reed in our kitchen. We had just gotten a cassette recorder that we got for free, and we were trying to figure out what it sounded like, like recording through it. We started playing this one chord progression. As we played it back, I think we slowed it down accidentally. It was the finished version of “Velvet,” essentially. And then, the lyrics just started springing up. That doesn't really give much insight into the process, but I think I really like that you can make something sound really vague and still connect with people. I think that what I'm trying to do most of the time in my songs is not make it too specific, but still feel really emotional to me. Or make it hyper-specific and not make any sense to anyone else! I have a few songs like that, like “Love-15.” [It] just gets way too in the weeds of my own bullshit. ETZEL We all had to go through quarantine at the start of 2020, obviously, which was something that was somehow both exhausting and also left us with a lot of time on our hands. So how did you use your quarantine both artistically and personally? VAIL Artistically, I was going crazy, and that's when I came up with the whole premise for my EP, the Interstellar Tennis Championship. It's about a space tennis championship, so not something I'd normally write about. I was just kind of losing my mind and not feeling any inspiration to do more serious music, and so that's what came out. Personally, I was just in my room for way too long. I work out of my house because that's where my studio is, and so I'm pretty much always there anyway. But the quarantine was definitely the uptick of, “Oh, no, I'm alone all the time. This is gonna be a problem.” ETZEL I also feel like there's a difference between being somewhere all the time by choice and being somewhere all the time because you have to be. VAIL I got to the point where I would floss a bunch of times a day just to have something else to do. FREEDMAN Your dentist probably loved that. VAIL Oh, yeah. FREEDMAN I'm off TikTok, but I have been seeing that you've been doing some Tik Tok videos. How has that been an avenue for you to reach out to, maybe a different audience than your music because the [TikTok] songs are pretty comical and fun. VAIL Thank you very much. I'm going for comical and fun. That's the goal. VAIL I don't know if there's any overlap. I don't think anyone goes from my TikTok shit, and goes, “I wonder what his normal music is like,” so I don't think there's any overlap, and I was expecting there to be some. I have gotten some cool opportunities from it... I'm actually going to be releasing one of the TikTok songs as a full song because kind of a cool opportunity happened that I can't go into, so it's been good for career stuff. But also, it's just a lot of fun because as soon as you take the pressure off a song to be emotional or interesting, it's more about having a fun bass line, and the words can be anything. It's been good practice to be creating and not have it be super intentional. FREEDMAN I try to compose like little listening guides for my friends when I'm trying to get them into a new artist, and I'd be curious to hear what your listening guide would be for your own music. So what are five songs that you would give to somebody who's like, “I want to know what Carter Vail’s music is like!” VAIL See, I have such a hard time listening to my own music, so I don't really know what I've released. Anytime I hear it, I'm like, “Oh, why is that kick drum so loud?” I think probably “Melatonin” because that seems to be the one that people like the most. I really like “Rocket Guy,” and no one likes “Rocket Guy.” FREEDMAN I like “Rocket Guy!” VAIL Ha! I think [“Rocket Guy”] has got such a goofy, like, weird bossa nova thing. And I think that's cool. I would also say “On/Off” because it's a more recent song, and I think it's lyrically kind of cool. “Space is Lonely, That's Okay.” And probably something off of Red Eyes. Oh, “Andrew.” “Andrew” was one of the first songs I wrote that I was like, “Oh, that feels really good.” So I think those. FREEDMAN There's your listening guide! FREEDMAN Most of the songs off of Red Eyes and Interstellar Tennis Championship are very coming of age. So how would you kind of differentiate between the two pieces of work? Like thematically and motif-wise? VAIL Red Eyes was more of a compilation of all the songs that I had written in college. Granted, I recorded it and produced them a lot later, but I felt like I needed to have a centralized album. So I took all the songs that still felt like a story with a through-line to them. [Red Eyes] wasn't a concept album at all, whereas Interstellar Tennis Championship, even if the through-line is kind of hard to pick out, is about a person being beamed up from Earth and competing in a tennis championship in foreign galaxies. So it's different, although the coming of age thing is a through-line through all of my work because I feel like I'm just out here coming of age, you know. Freedman and Etzel nod, knowingly. VAIL I think that Interstellar Tennis Championship is a story about a character, and Red Eyes is just songs that I wrote about myself at different periods throughout college. FREEDMAN I kind of gathered that with Interstellar, but I didn't know that about Red Eyes. It was just kind of, “These happen to work together?” VAIL Yes! FREEDMAN You mention your parents a lot in your music, which I think is wonderful. It sounds like a very healthy relationship. What do they think of your music? VAIL They hate it. FREEDMAN and ETZEL ! VAIL No, they're big fans! That's so funny. I'm impressed that you have picked up this kind of stuff from my music. I don't think people listen to stuff that intently, which is very cool that you did. I talk about my parents all the time. I think that one of the big hurdles that a lot of people go through, something that a lot of people do in the kind of place that I grew up in, is the “moving away from the parents.” The classic coming of age thing is [to be] alone and figure out how to be alone. I think I have a fucking awesome relationship with my parents. I'm super close with them, I'm very lucky. But I think it's just such an interesting part of life, not just separating from them, but separation in general. Be it a breakup or just finding yourself alone. There are two routes that you can take from that. One being, “I'm alone, and I'm okay with being alone,” or, “I'm alone, and I have no idea why this is happening.” I think that's fun to write about. FREEDMAN Like in “Space is Lonely, That's OK!” VAIL Exactly. That's what I feel all good indie music is. It's saying that “Things are kind of fucked up, but I think we're gonna be alright.” And I think that's the best sentiment. There's this song by Bruce Springsteen called “Atlantic City,” and it's the ultimate “This isn't going well, but I think we're gonna be alright” song. FREEDMAN We should put them on a t-shirt. As for your parents and friends...Do they ever have any special requests for you when it comes to your music? A song that they like best? VAIL I think the people that see me live usually ask for “Drive Home,” which I don't think is my best recorded song. But when we play with the band, it hits pretty hard. FREEDMAN I have a deep appreciation for robust vocabularies, and the word bank in your songs are particularly rich. So what's your favorite word that you've used in one of your songs? VAIL I have two. But first, it's really funny that you say that because my brother's a little bit older than me and just a real intellect. After listening to a few of my songs, he said, “You know, you should really read more books.” That's the most brutal feedback I've ever gotten about anything. I think my two favorite words to use in songs are “cigarette” and “Cadillac.” Oh, they just sound great. FREEDMAN Yeah, and they have the double letter situation going on! So they look nice too! VAIL Absolutely right! It's great phonetically. FREEDMAN On that same coin, what's your favorite line from one of your songs? VAIL It's probably from “Space is Lonely, That’s OK!” because I think that song is just really interesting lyrically, like, a little bit selfishly. “Later on, in your compartment, you draw the shades and sit in darkness, reading screens on aeronautics measure space and time.” I just think using “aeronautics” in a song was a fun, fun little thing. FREEDMAN That's a good line. ETZEL When you look at your different albums, there's a really large variety of themes and motifs. So can you tell us more about your sources of creative inspiration? VAIL I find that I get really emotionally invested in stuff that I just shouldn't. Well, I’m not sure. I get easily distraught from movies. I remember watching Booksmart, and I was torn up about that movie. A lot of times when I'm driving around, or if I'm walking, lines will come up, and I won't have a reason for that. Or I will have a story behind them. It'll just be a line that I'll be like, “I don't know what that's going to mean, but I like that.” It'll just evolve from there, and although I can't point to a specific thing that is inspiring, all of life is conspiring to make me come up with some bullshit lines. FREEDMAN Well, this is a little fun fact. On the day I asked you to do this interview and I was telling Gabby that we were doing this, you posted on your story a picture of you training in a jiu jitsu gi. It just so happens that Gabby's a professional athlete. VAIL Really? Wow! ETZEL So I was excited to see that, and I would love to know more about how you got into the sport. VAIL Oh my God. Wait, I need to hear about... What? So how long have you been doing it? You're a professional? That's fucking nuts. ETZEL I've been competing since I was 13 years old. It's been like seven, coming up on eight years. VAIL You're NoGi or both? ETZEL I do both. Funnily enough, I just love the gi. I'm a sucker for the gi. But most of my matches are nogi because that's where the matches are. So most of my matches are NoGi, but I just competed at pans. And now I'm hoping to get out there for Worlds. But we'll see how it goes because that's finals week. VAIL Dude, that is so sick. I'm so glad you told me. That's fucking awesome. ETZEL I'm so glad to hear that you're in it… So how did you get into it? VAIL I'm blown away, that's really interesting. I've been doing it for three months. So I'm brand new, as green as they come. But I love it. It's so fun. I’ve got some awesome coaches. I just got my first stripe. ETZEL and FREEDMAN Congratulations! VAIL I'm feeling like a baby that just got a nice piece of candy or something. Because I work for myself, I have no end to my workday. So I'll wake up, go to sleep thinking about the shit I'm doing, like the mixes I have to do, and I found that doing jiu jitsu... for that hour-and-a-half, I don't think about anything except doing that, which is amazing. I needed something to get me out of music all the time. It was nice. I'm 6’4 and 220 pounds, so I'm a pretty big guy. Getting tied into knots by people that are literally half my size has been such an eye-opening experience! Also, everyone at the gym is so cool. The reason I got into it was because I was like, “I need something to do that's not just like weightlifting because I'm losing my mind here.” ETZEL Do you have a preference for NoGi? VAIL I'm not proud of this reason. I like NoGi because it hurts my fingers. With the gi, I don't like the little bone spurs and stuff. I try to go every day. At the gym I go to, they alternate gi and NoGi every other day. So I'll go to the gi, but I always come away and my fingers hurt. So, yeah, I prefer NoGi. ETZEL I always say that I like the pace of NoGi with the creativity of the gi because I'm a sucker for lapel guards. So yeah, that's kind of I'm always playing worm or anything like that. I'm sure it annoys my training partners plenty. But I do enjoy the pace of Nogi, and there is still creativity there with the leg locks and everything. It opens you up to a new rule set. Now we're actually going to move into our Absolutely Anything questions. So these are going to be more fun, unique questions. FREEDMAN Okay, so first one, we're going to get into some hypotheticals. Somebody just made a playlist that features one of your songs. VAIL Okay. FREEDMAN And your song is going to be placed between two great songs, which two great songs would you be most flattered by? VAIL Most flattered by? Well, I think that's an interesting question because if there were two songs that were mixed really well, I'd be like, “Oh, this is gonna be a problem because throw one of my songs betwixt two songs that are done really well might be an issue.” But I think anything by the National because I'm such a fanboy of the National and... Huh, hold on. Let's think... FREEDMAN Yes! This is an important question. VAIL Vampire Weekend as well. I think I'm a big Vampire Weekend fan. Kind of the standard indie stuff. FREEDMAN Speaking of placement with songs, you are geographically all over the place in your music. I feel like every time I listen to your songs I'm like, “Oh wait, that's another state, that's another city.” Are you aware of this? VAIL I am! I'm just blown away that you've listened to this stuff deep enough to know that! FREEDMAN Off the top of your head and as quickly as possible, name the states that you have not visited. VAIL Oh, a ton! Nevada. I've never been to Texas. FREEDMAN Boo! VAIL I was supposed to go for SXSW, and then, yeah... I'm going to need to look at a map! Anything in the middle of the country. Minnesota. Nope. Missouri. I've been to everything in the northeast, for sure. Anything East Coast I've been to because I've driven from Maine to Florida... Fuck, I don't know the states, which is embarrassing. Ohio, I've never been to. A ton of them! Middle of the country. No idea. I know it's beautiful. Arizona. Not been. New Mexico. Ah! FREEDMAN Well, you need to go visit these places, so you can name-drop more cities in your songs. A Short and By No Means Comprehensive List of the Places Mentioned in Carter Vail’s Songs “Oh my darling Arizona.” - Milk Carton “I think I’ll head on down to Reno.” - Silent Movies “This isn’t like you, San Francisco.” - Space is Lonely, That’s OK! “Don’t know where you’re going. California or Japan.” - Space is Lonely, That’s OK! “Houston tells me how you’re feeling.” - Space is Lonely, That’s OK! “Going back to Telluride…” - Computer Love Song “Wake up, Virginia, is your daddy home?” - Drive Home “Carolina treat you better…” - Velvet *Note: Some of these may be used as proper noun names! Still counts! FREEDMAN Considering your line in “Computer Love Song” (“You’re Gwyneth Paltrow, I'm Richie Tenenbaum”) and your penchant for bathrobes, I'm going to go out on a limb and say you're a fan of Wes Anderson. VAIL In love with him. FREEDMAN I'm also a fan. Fun fact, I'm drinking from my little French Dispatch mug right now. I got to go to the premiere at the New York Film Festival and I have to say it's my favorite Wes Anderson movie. VAIL Really? It's got a great cast. FREEDMAN Oh, yeah, but this story is so cool. It's like all the best features of Wes Anderson put into a movie. VAIL I’m such a fan of The Life Aquatic. FREEDMAN I love that one. And that's one that I don't think people like as much. VAIL Yeah, it kind of meanders a lot. There's a lot of meandering in that one. I watch The Royal Tenenbaums pretty consistently because I kind of jack the whole fucking persona of Richie Tenenbaum-- I wear the headband all the time. And it wasn't intended to be ripped off of him. I wasn't thinking about that. But then I rewatched the movie, and I was like, “Well, fuck.” My guitar’s not up here, [but] I have a bunch of stickers of Richie Tenenbaum on my guitar now because I was like, “We're gonna send it! This is our thing now.” Yes, love, love, love, love. FREEDMAN Well, my follow-up question was going to be, “What's your favorite Wes Anderson movie?” but it's safe to say Life Aquatic or Tenenbaums. VAIL A favorite right now is Darjeeling Limited. Yeah, that one's really good. Because that's the one I rewatched the most recently. Grand Budapest is amazing as well. ETZEL Um, so you're not gonna believe this. But Wes Anderson totally just texted us. And he says that he wants to use one of your songs in his next movie. And he even wants you to decide what the scene should be like. His words, not ours. FREEDMAN So what songs would you choose? And what would be like the ideal Wes Anderson scene? Oh, wait, Wes also just texted and said that we should clarify. You can either make up the scene or use a pre-existing one. VAIL Wow, that would be the best thing in the world! That would be sick. I would say that one of the best scenes in any Wes Anderson movie is… Well, there are two fantastic song moments. One of them is when Richie Tenenbaum is attempting to take his life, which is dark. They play “Needle in the Hay'' by Elliott Smith. That is one of the best musical moments in a movie I've ever seen. I remember seeing that and just being entirely blown away. VAIL The other [musical moment] is “Les Champs-Elysees” at the end of Darjeeling. Literally as the credits are rolling, they play this amazing French song. I think it would be so cool to have that spot, even though that song is fantastic. Probably “Tigers on Trains.” FREEDMAN That's a good one! Well, Wes Anderson has a new movie that he's working on right now in Spain. So if you want to start thinking of musical influences for the soundtrack... VAIL Incredible! We'll have to coordinate that. ETZEL Jumping around a little bit… This is very important. What is your zodiac sign? VAIL Oh, my zodiac sign? I am a Capricorn, Capricorn, Capricorn. Are y'all into the [zodiac stuff]? ETZEL Yeah, yeah. FREEDMAN I don't know... I know that I'm a Pisces, and that's about it. I feel like a scientist when I go about [this question], though. I'm always curious about how people feel about their zodiac sign and if they feel like it even applies to them. So based on whatever you know about Capricorns, do you feel like a “Capricorn?” VAIL My girlfriend is not “into” it, but she likes anything that's premonition-related or that stuff. She thinks that I'm the most Capricorn-Capricorn. That being said, I'm sure there are multiple definitions of what a “Capricorn-Capricorn” is. So, you know, I'm not sure. [When she read] the definition to me, I was like, “That does sound exactly like me.” So I think it could be accurate, but also, I'm not someone that particularly buys into any of it. ETZEL Very cool. FREEDMAN to ETZEL So, um, okay, how do we feel about this last question? ETZEL Okay, we're just gonna go into it. So my favorite song of yours is “Love-15,” which, as you know, is about puppets. VAIL Hell, yeah. Well done picking that up. That's dope. FREEDMAN Yeah, okay. Well, let's see about that… ETZEL We’re going to close off this interview not with a question, but with an introduction. FREEDMAN We were saving this question to the end because we have to kind of read the vibes of the interview. We can’t bring this on just anyone. ETZEL This is Kenny. He is our puppet. He doesn't like to hear that because we fully believe that he has taken on a personality of his own. But we've had him since freshman year. We knew each other for like two months, and I don't know what possessed us to go out and buy a puppet together. But puppets are very special to us because Kenny has brought us closer together. Okay. So yeah, we just love “Love-15,” and we wanted to close out this interview by saying goodbye via Kenny, and thank you so much! VAIL On the puppet thing, that's hilarious because I was assuming one of you brought the puppet from the past. But like you guys buying a puppet together? That's cool like that you invested in this puppet. If you were like, “We've known each other for two months. I gotta show you my puppet!” And that's the end of me knowing them. But that's awesome. I love collaboration. FREEDMAN Well, thank you so much for being game for this interview multiple times. And for being so much fun to interview with! VAIL Oh, no problem. Thanks so much for listening to the music. I really appreciate that. And for wanting to talk to me. That's super cool. I had a great time! Check out Carter’s upcoming shows here!