Paul Chastain
musician/songwriter
The Small Square is building on its 2015 self-titled album with second collection Ours & Others, arriving from Farm to Label Records. The duo of multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Paul Chastain and drummer, percussionist, and vocalist John Louis Richardson recorded Ours & Others at Richardson’s Drum Farm Studio, returning to the same studio space in a modified 18th century granary in which they created their first offering. The Small Square are also planning a rerelease of their debut album with wider reach in 2023.
Chastain is the songwriter and co-founder of Rock group Velvet Crush and has worked both live and in the studio with Matthew Sweet, Mitch Easter, Roger McGuinn, Susanna Hoffs, Tommy Keene, and more. Richardson has recorded and performed with the likes of Joey Molland (Badfinger), Gin Blossoms, Jay Bennett (Wilco), Tommy Keene, and many others.
Chastain and Richardson have a long association and their collaboration pre-dates The Small Square Small, where recording at Richardson’s Drum Farm Studio sees Chastain traveling from his home in Japan to work with contributing musicians for a week or more at a time, and then continuing to hone and expand tracks from his home studio.
Musical differences between Chastain and Richardson are also a source of productivity as each might suggest new directions for material that either has generated. Chastain and Richardson share producing duties, with production playing a major role in the songwriting process and in finalizing songs.
Key collaborators on the album include Adam Ollendorff (lap steel, 12 string guitar) and R. Walt Vincent (bass, keyboard, engineering), while many more, like the band Shoes, also added their personal touch to the individual songs on Ours & Others.
Chastain often works on possible lyrics for quite some time, and is comfortable with this ongoing process which leaves some unfinished. The key element for him continues to be a particular phrase that captures a feeling, and he often assigns a phrase to a song fragment to act as a kind of signpost for future development.
The song “Insta” from the new album was an example of close collaboration where Chastain’s original version was inspired by a Small Faces vibe, but Richardson suggested a new direction in-person and they developed a new version in an immediate way whereas “Days Inn” had a very intricate genesis as Richardson explored an idea based on a cigar-box guitar sound using open tuning and was joined by Cory Wong to nail down the sound. Chastain then received the material and set to work.
While Chastain prefers to leave his lyrics open to interpretation, “N. Main Blues” and its lyrics were inspired by his time in Providence, Rhode Island during the foundational period for Velvet Crush, including small lyrical details in an “otherwise straightforward Rock song” that suggest truth can be stranger than fiction.
A major through-line for the album Ours & Others was shaped by life-events due to the passing of longtime mutual friend and bandmate Tommy Keene. As an inspirational figure who opened for The Matthew Sweet band, toured with Velvet Crush, and played in Richardson’s band, the impact of his loss was significant. This led to the inclusion of Keene’s song “Baby Face” on the album, as well as aiding in the completion of the track “Can’t Let Go (Oh Tommy)”.
