Today we’d like to introduce you to Andrew McFarland.
Andrew, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
Semicircle has always existed as the vehicle for my songwriting. The project spurred out of my band in high school in Decatur and formulated as “Semicircle” while I was in Athens. At first, it was just the name of an little EP project I did over winter break in 2010. For that project, I wanted to impose a set of limitations and just see what happened, so I set up with a single mic and a four-track cassette tape machine and spent about a month writing and slowly recording this set of songs. There are a ton of mistakes and it’s extremely lo-fi, but I like to think that’s its extremely sincere, almost like a dissected EP. This un-polished approach really resonates with me and has stayed an important part of Semicircle’s “sound.” I appreciate being able to hit pause in the whole process of recording a song and letting the imperfections become part of the life of the track.
After releasing the EP, I began curating performances in Athens. Since I had recorded the whole thing myself, there wasn’t a band to speak of necessarily. Instead of forming a band and rehearsing and all that, I thought it’d be more interesting to bring a bunch of instruments and invite anyone who wanted to play to perform the songs, seeing as how almost everyone I knew (and probably 80% of the population of Athens) were talented musicians and the songs weren’t particularly difficult. There were maybe about ten of these performances (which all took place on the half-moon because *magic*) and I’d say that half were total messes that just turned into noise, but half were really beautiful and inspiring moments where it just worked as if everyone in the room somehow started speaking some language no one knew they knew.
In 2012 I moved back to Atlanta and started working on the first full length, “Blown Breeze, Grown Grass and We are Part of the Earth,” which came out at the end of 2014. It was a slow process since during this whole time, I was also touring with a band called Reptar and I’m generally just an extremely slow songwriter anyways. I similarly played and recorded everything on “Blown Breeze” myself, but this time took it to Drew Vandenburg to mix at Chase Park in Athens. I released it myself on a label my friends and I had started in Athens called Quality Faucet Records, and did my best to plan a full-scale release including pressing vinyl, a full PR campaign, radio, touring, etc. It was definitely a learning experience and very expensive, but something I’m glad I did.
In the period after the release of “Blown Breeze,” I started working with Ryan Engelberger, who plays bass in Reptar and is an amazing songwriter. Together we formed a more solidified band and did two US tours that year. For the tours we did off that record, we played a mix of our two songs and were fortunate enough to play some cool stuff, like Audiotree in Chicago. Eventually, Ryan, who is a much more prolific songwriter than I, formed his own band called Curt Castle, which still plays around Atlanta and is definitely worth a listen.
After “Blown Breeze,” I focused on other projects for a while, including a second Reptar LP, joining and releasing Neighbor Lady’s first LP and finishing my bachelor’s at GSU. All the while, I had slowly been writing new Semicircle songs and finally decided to start playing again in 2017. The current lineup includes members of Neighbor Lady, Breathers, and Ryan on bass, although Gabe Seibel played bass on the forthcoming LP. This record is called “Changing Phase of Truth,” which I also recorded myself, though this time mostly with a live band, and was mixed by Jason Kingsland. It is currently available on Bandcamp and will be released for streaming this summer.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I have been more privileged than almost anyone in my opportunities to pursue music, first, with my parents who had me taking piano lessons from age five and then drum lessons from eight, and who still come to about 90% of my shows in Atlanta. Then with Reptar, meeting and being fortunate enough to be part of a group of people that are as driven and passionate about music as I am. Then with Neighbor Lady, being taken into a project with such a huge amount of potential. And with my girlfriend and all my friends sticking by me leaving on tour for two months at a time and spending such a huge amount of energy and time working on this stuff. So, sure, there are inconveniences and obstacles, but they do not begin to amount to the privilege and opportunity that has been offered to me through my life.
Can you give our readers some background on your music?
To me, Semicircle is inherently different than other bands because it’s my music that I’m really only writing for myself. Its always a compliment to me when someone hears someone else’s song and says it reminded them of my music since that insinuates that there is a perceptible quality about my songs that is recognizable. Semicircle has also been described to me as a “musician’s music,” which is a double-edged sword (and something I don’t really agree with). To me, they’re just songs that I find interesting and want to listen to.
One aspect of Semicircle I am proud of is that we/I record everything ourselves. I like having control over that part of the process. Mixing, to me, or more like editing, and I like to bring someone else in to mix, but the actual recording part I find to be a really creative piece of the process and is part and parcel to my songwriting process a lot of the time.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://semicirclemusic.bandcamp.com
- Email: semicircleathens@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/semicirclega/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/semicirclega/notifications/?notif_id=1586784093229647¬if_t=page_user_activity
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/semicirclega?lang=en
Image Credit:
All color photos: Rachel Eddy
All b&w: Sam Johnson
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