For many musicians, sometimes the hardest challenge to overcome is finishing a song or an album. Reaching the point where there are no more choices can take longer than expected. For Alexander Sheppard, the restless spirit behind Pageant Boys, songwriting is ultimately a decision-making process. And to create his newest work, Haunted, those decisions took nearly ten years.
Much like indie-greats like Robert Pollard or Will Oldham, Sheppard sees his various side projects and bands as all extensions of himself Since leaving his small hometown in Kansas, Sheppard has traveled to Istanbul, and ultimately settled in Kansas City. As he has moved through the world, he has honed in his skills in writing and recording on his own. Recalling his small-town days, Sheppard says, “There weren’t many people that had specialized skills in music or production or anything creative. So, I had to learn all the skills adjacent to songwriting--recording, mixing, mastering, design, videography, photography, etc.” It’s this drive towards self-reliance that makes Pageant Boys, and the whole of Sheppard’s output, truly singular.
When asked about influences, Sheppard replied “The short answer is everything.” Though certainly, artists like Bon Iver, FKA Twigs, and George Harrison influenced the sound of Haunted, Sheppard lists W. B. Yeats is the primary influence on the album. His song “Vultures” is a reworking of Yeats’ classic “The Second Coming.” The song “Icarus” is another literary reference from Greek mythology. Just as Sheppard’s creation process is solipsistic, the songs on Haunted feel lonely and isolated. When talking about the album, Sheppard says, “There’s a resignation to the truism, that ‘wherever you go, there you are.’” In the US, musical style and genre is too often tied to what coast you call home. We talk endlessly about that West Coast sound, or East Coast punk. Sheppard is content to separate personality from location, making his songs defy categorization.
Haunted blurs the lines between soundscapes and pop songs. Sheppard knows how to write a melody, and places those melodies often over unsettling, sometimes Lynchian atmospheres. Moments of the record feel like they were lifted from a sci-fi film. Others feel intimate, like Sheppard’s soul is speaking to us directly.
The Sisyphean task of Haunted was marrying what Sheppard envisioned with what was coming out of the speakers. He says, “The problem I encountered in the writing and recording process was never writer’s block. The album was in a finished state for years, but I was unsatisfied with it. It took me years to be able to learn the skills that allowed me to reproduce the internal versions of the songs externally.” We know these stories all too well. Bruce Springsteen taking six months to finally stop working on his first hit single “Born to Run.” Or Lucinda Williams painfully going over and over every detail on her celebrated record Car Wheels on a Gravel Road. For fans of Pageant Boys, Haunted is well worth the wait.
Sampling, writing, painting, living -- these are all somehow meshed together through these songs. If Sheppard can teach modern writers and musicians one thing, it’s to find some freedom in the process. Too often, bands feel compelled to focus on the album cycle; writing, recording, then releasing. Sheppard created a record he knows he is satisfied with not through deadlines and a tight schedule, but by leaning into what could be possible. What if you waited another year to release a song? What if you took your time and dissected your song from every angle? Pageant Boys’ Haunted invites us to slow down and to take joy in the endless decisions that a project presents to its creator.
