With a new album, Goodbye Dreampop Troubadour just around the corner, I sat down with Kramies to find out about his journey through music, the musical mythologies that inform the new album, and what the future holds in store for him.
Let’s start with a bit of musical background and talk about how you got into music and the journey that has brought you to where you are today.
Kramies: I think it all began in those strange in-between hours of dusk and dawn. As a kid, I always felt like the veil to the world was thinner then, and my imagination could slip through into weird stories I’d create. My parents had these old Dutch and German Christmas choir records, and I’d listen to them endlessly. I also had a haunted house record from Disney in the late ’70s, which I played so much it practically lived in my bones. Those sounds, alongside these old ‘choose your own ending’ Dracula books and eventually The Hobbit when I was eleven, were what first cracked open the door to creativity for me.
I always knew I was some sort of artist, even before I knew what that meant. My attention span was too restless for writing books or paintings, but writing lyrics came easily for me; they were fleeting and immediate. I got my first guitar at about twelve and made up songs instead of learning covers, which drove my friends mad. Someone even scratched ‘you suck’ into my guitar once… and I probably did suck then, but I was enchanted by making up my own tunings and writing melodies.
I started playing bass, and from there it was a winding path playing bass in junior high school bands. I was actually the only bass player around, so old kids would ask me to join their bands. But one day I had to sing Patience by Guns N’ Roses at a school gig when I was 16 years old, and after people walked up to me and said “Wow, you can sing”. So I was easily convinced I was a singer, and I got an acoustic and just took off from there. That was the spark. In my twenties, I was touring, recording, and even opening for bands like Spiritualized and Red House Painters and other cool bands. But I also fell into addiction, and by 2004, I had to start all over again sober.
That restart became the most important part of my journey. I began working with Todd Tobias from Guided By Voices, later Jason Lytle from Grandaddy, and found myself in Ireland recording little EPs. I stumbled across an old wooden toy shop in Galway called The Wooden Heart, which inspired an entire EP called The Wooden Heart with Jason Lytle and Todd Tobias involved & producing.
That release pulled me back into the public light. I remember I signed onto Hidden Shoal Records, which released it, the day after it came out. I remember waking up and seeing bands like The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev sharing it on their social media. I was blown away.
So from haunted records, ghostly toy shops, and a fair amount of falling down and climbing back up again. It’s never been straightforward, but I think that’s what makes the songs sound like me. And it was along that path, following these subtle currents, that I began noticing the influences that shape me. I couldn’t have imagined how far this would take me and to all the places I’ve traveled. It’s been pretty amazing.
And who would you say are the influences, musical and otherwise, who have guided you on such a journey?
Kramies: It’s mostly been a feeling rather than any single person or band. I’ve always tried to follow that strange current that runs between the heart, the mind, and the spirit. Books were my earliest guides, the ones that cracked open the door to other worlds. Things like the warped warble sounds of a classroom projector and the eerie tones of old choir records, those textures seem to have stayed with me as much as any melody.
I’m also drawn to things larger than life, old architecture, fading nostalgia, the moments that light people up when memory suddenly stirs. I’ve always been fascinated by how art can trigger an emotion that is both happy and sad at once, but the ‘good sadness.’
Of course, along the way I was moved by early Bowie, especially Hunky Dory and Jane’s Addiction’s first album XXX, and by artists who seemed unafraid to build entire worlds inside their lyrics. But more than anything, I’ve come to believe that being an artist is about tapping into something that’s just beyond music itself. Sometimes it’s a book, a building, or the way the air and light dim at dusk. Everyone knows those feelings and moments. So that’s become my truest influences now. That stuff is what eventually led me to “Perfectly Dreadful”, the song that opened the door to my latest album.
Your new track, “Perfectly Dreadful,” a dark, folky ballad, is a taste of an album to come, Goodbye Dreampop Troubadour. Is this representative of the music found there? And if not, what else can the listener expect?
Kramies: I tend to, and I’m known for writing albums like little mythologies, each song is part of a larger folklore. “Perfectly Dreadful” carries the darker, more haunted side of the record, but the album isn’t all dark. It moves kind of like a journey through peaks and canyons: moments that dissolve into light, and light that drifts back toward mystery. That cycle is the thread that runs through everything I seem to make. It has to be the influence of J.R.R. Tolkien and Charles Dickens and those early records.
A few years ago, as my music started reaching more people and I was getting noticed internationally, I was coined ‘the dreampop troubadour’ by Billboard Magazine and now a ton of other blogs and magazines. I liked the poetry of it, and in some ways this album feels like both a farewell to that name and a deeper exploration of what it meant. The songs are theatrical, emotional, sometimes bleak, sometimes radiant, but all coming from the same stardust, just different angles.
So yes, “Perfectly Dreadful” is a doorway into the album, but it’s only one side of the house. If you step through, you’ll also find rooms filled with brightness, strange beauty, and a kind of storytelling that lives between fairytale and confession. And the evolution of that storytelling brings me to thinking about how my sound has changed over the years.
And the title of that album suggests a conscious move away from a sound that you have been labelled with. How much has your sound evolved over the years, and has this evolution been deliberate?
Kramies: I think I’ve evolved both as a person and as a creative force. My music has shifted and grown over the years, in large part because of the extraordinary people who have appeared along the way. Jason Lytle from Grandaddy, Jerry Becker from Train, Pat Carney of The Black Keys, and now Mario J. McNulty — they’ve all taken what I would write and record and spun it into something larger than my own imagination.
Those collaborations have taught me how to move from album to album & how to shape songs that breathe and resonate beyond my own feelings.
The title Goodbye Dreampop Troubadour is a bit of a playful nod, but it’s also literal. For years, that nickname — first coined by Billboard and echoed by other magazines — became a character that lingered around my music. On this album, I decided to kind of write from that character’s head on, to take it by the hand, and run with it into new territories. I’ve watched it all evolve naturally and sort of embraced it while the folklore of my music continues to unfold. It’s always such a crazy thing to see so many people write about it because it takes on a life of its own, which always helps create the next album.
As you mentioned, you’ve recently been working with producer Mario McNulty. What was that like, and what did he bring to the process, perhaps technically and in a not-so-tangible way, that might not have been there otherwise?
Kramies: Working with Mario has been nothing short of revelatory. After the success of my 2021–2022 album, a few top 10 radio hits, a number one, recognition all over the place, I definitely thought I had reached some sort of peak. I felt satisfied, even a little boxed in, as if the magic had already happened. I didn’t know what to do next. I’d lost touch a bit with myself & my instincts. I’d even forgotten that I could push myself wherever I wanted.
Then I started sending demos to Mario, and it was like opening a door I didn’t know was there. The guy hears everything, a second too long, a note slightly off, and he pulls out the best of every part. Working with him made me remember that I could be better than I was yesterday and that I could grow beyond the personal level of ‘success’ I thought was it for me. He would have me iPhone demo each song he was working on to different tempos, even just the slightest off.
As everything went on, it became clear that this album was going to revolve around the myth of the “dream pop troubadour,” but I didn’t talk about that with anyone. Mario helped refine the songs he worked on technically, which quietly helped me see the story and the story I was writing. Mario made the songs sound magical and exciting for me again. You know, this album took the longest for me to make. I wasn’t used to taking a “break”.
For 9 years, I was just dropping music left and right, and things kept growing and growing. So this one was hard for me to piece together. I am really grateful to have Mario join in. As well as the wonderful team of fellas who pushed me back into shape – Chris Keffer, David Goodheim, John Panza & Derek LaJoie – all had their hands in this one. Also, Mario is really funny and was really ok with my lack of knowledge on how things work in the real world, so that always makes things so much better!
Are there any plans to tour the new album, and if so, where are you looking forward to playing?
Kramies: I’m taking a bit of a wait-and-see approach this time, letting the album find its own path before mapping out a tour this time or feeling pressure. I’ve always preferred special, unique shows in singular places — five magical nights scattered across the map feel more alive to me than a long, uniform run. Europe tends to call me back with these one-off moments, and I never say no to those.
I’m happy to stay home these days. I absolutely love writing, recording, and crafting the next album. There’s a kind of quiet magic in being in the studio, in the corners of the world I’m invited into, without the distractions of what everyone else is doing to look cool or be popular. Touring will come when the right moments appear this time, and I’ve been to a lot of places and done some really unbelievable stuff already, so for now, I’m letting the album breathe and see where it leads. I mean, there are some plans happening hahaha, but I can’t mention anything yet.
And beyond this latest album, what does the future hold, and what plans do you have musically and personally?
Kramies: I’ve already recorded an acoustic version of this album at Wilco’s studio in Chicago, with a few new songs tucked in, so that will be coming soon. I’ve also started a new EP, which promises some surprises — both in collaborators and sounds — and I’ll be diving into soundtrack work as well. There’s music rolling out all the way through 2026, which makes me really happy.
Beyond that, I’m looking forward to traveling, but not for music work. I want to wander, to see things without deadlines or little show schedules, to let the world open me up again. These days, to me, the world feels strange and unpredictable, and stepping into new sights and experiences will help me return with new stories and lyrics, so I can do this till I’m 74 years old because I love making records.
Thank you so much for taking the time to talk to me and let me into your wonderful and creative musical world.
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