The Color Study brings art-rock to Bend

Published 12:00 am Thursday, November 14, 2019

Scott Oliphant seemed at a loss for words deep into a recent hourlong interview with his band, The Color Study.

The singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and recording engineer had bristled with energy throughout most of the conversation, laughing and cracking jokes as he discussed his 20-year history in the Austin, Texas, music scene and the art- and indie-rock influences that led to The Color Study’s self-titled debut album. But then the conversation shifted to the actual subjects of his songs.

Like many a pop music album that came before it, “The Color Study” was born out of pain: specifically, a failed relationship and its aftermath. While the album released last year, the band is prepping a reissue for early next year in conjunction with Portland public relations company Public Display PR; it will play a single-release show for one of the album’s tracks, “Dead Leaves,” at The Brown Owl on Friday.

“I was going through a thing personally that was a big change in my life — end of a relationship and just trying to channel that into something productive, I guess,” Oliphant said, after a push from bandmates Andy Jacobs (drums) and Melissa Atillo (keyboards).

For the first time in the conversation, Oliphant seemed to mince words as his bandmates encouraged him to go deeper.

“I remember when you told me, man,” bassist Matt Jackson said. “You were helping me move, and you were like, yeah. I could see the pain on your face.”

“All I had to do was hear the songs,” Jacobs added.

Oliphant arrived in Bend in 2013 and opened Parkway Sounds about five years ago. Since then, he’s recorded local groups such as Bony Chanterelle, Trailer 31 and The Chin-Ups in the studio, one of the few in the country (never mind Bend) that still uses analog tape instead of digital recording methods.

“It’s kind of close to the Parkway, so sometimes, you hear it in the recordings, which is why it’s called Parkway Sounds,” Oliphant said.

Before moving to Bend, Oliphant worked out of Ohm Recording Facility and his house in Austin, recording groups including Possessed by Paul James. He started playing guitar when he was 13, moving to drums when he was 19. But despite this long musical history, he never attempted to write a song until he began working on the material that would become The Color Study album as a way of “processing loss and stuff, relationship stuff.”

“I actually moved in here (the studio) for six months and was living here,” Oliphant said. “And then I had the drums set up and mic’d, and I had guitars mic’d, and I was like, ‘Oh.’ It was too easy to just start (messing) around and doing stuff. And after two or three ideas came about, I was like, ‘Oh, I could maybe make an album,’ and that suddenly became a thing that seemed real.”

The songs grew out of the recording process as Oliphant began layering instruments: usually acoustic guitar and drums first, followed by bass, electric guitar, keyboards, horns and more. The finished album features nine songs that bridge the gap between Animal Collective’s atmospheric dance-rock and Wilco’s muscular alt-country, with elements of Austin art-rock bands such as Spoon and Explosions in the Sky.

“Half of recording songs for me, it’s like accidental,” Oliphant said. “You play things and then I’ll hear a melody that I didn’t mean to do or something, and so there’s a lot of the songwriting process for me that’s studio-driven. … Even lyrics, I kind of mumble things and I listen back to it without headphones on and I’ll be like, ‘Oh, I hear these words,’ even though they’re not there.”

Oliphant had been playing with Jackson for a while when he started showing the bassist his early demos.

“I thought, ‘Holy crap,’ because I knew Scott as a drummer, but I didn’t know him as a songwriter yet,” Jackson said.

He accepted Oliphant’s invitation to play bass and also shared the demos with Jacobs.

Jacobs’ band Goodbye Dyna, which also features Jackson on bass, practiced at Parkway Sounds at the time.

“I remember song-by-song you showing me each one, and the time signatures — I couldn’t wrap my head around them initially,” Jacobs said. “… And I remember that feeling and I remember going like, ‘If I learn these parts, other people are gonna feel that way too when they hear these songs for the first time, and that’s an important thing to try and bottle.”

The trio played its first show at Spoken Moto in September 2018, but Oliphant wanted to get the live show closer to the dense, multilayered feel of the album. Atillo joined the band next, followed by trumpeter Miguel Mendoza. Lead guitarist Steve Reinhardt will make his debut at The Brown Owl on Friday.

“It’s the sound that I’ve always wanted to bring to Bend, and so here I am,” Reinhardt said.

The other members shared similar sentiments.

“I think that was the same feeling too when I heard the music, the feeling that you had,” Atillo said.

“It’s pretty undeniable,” Jacobs interjected. “Everyone I’ve shown it to, same reaction. … And you know how I know it’s good? Because my parents hate it.”