Interview: The Star Prairie Project
The Star Prairie Project's “When I Look at the World” Is a 60s Protest Song Reborn for a Burnt-Out Generation
by Jack Rush
The Star Prairie Project is the brainchild of Nolen R. Chew Jr., a song writer from Star Prairie, Wisconsin. The purpose of his recording project is to write original songs and make them into records. Nolen collaborates with musicians and producers from LA to London to bring his songs to life. The Star Prairie Project is named for the village of Star Prairie (50) miles NE of Minneapolis/St Paul and the Alan Parsons Project from back in the day.
We caught up with Nolen and he was kind enough to answer a few interview questions.
Writing a song that talks about humanity as a whole is a big swing. Did you ever worry about it sounding preachy, and how did you keep it grounded in real emotion instead of ideology?
Nolen: Interesting point. Yeah I am aware of sounding preachy but one person’s preaching is another person’s insights and advice. Addressing humanity as a whole is a big swing. But I think today’s music has a lot of artists bunting. Sometimes you need to swing for the fences and take a little risk. It seems to me this world does everything it can to avoid discussing oneness, wholeness and unity. Humanity is the sole aspect of reality we share together. Our great common denominator. This world specializes in separation and fragmentation and differences that can be exploited for monetary and political purposes. The world is another common denominator that is commonly ignored. “When I Look at the World” is a lament in song form like the psalms are a lament in biblical form. When you look around and see how absolutely fucked up this world is with all its death, pain and suffering and separation it beckons us to think deeper about the basic realities we take for granted. Who’s really running things. Who made these rules and why does it have to be this way. Change starts when enough of us cry bullshit and insist it doesn’t have to be this way and that together we can build a new world based on love, hope, unity and the common components we share as humans living together on a planet hurling through space waiting for us to awaken to new hopes, dreams and realities.
The track feels intimate even when it’s talking about global themes. Do you start from personal feelings and zoom out, or start with the big picture and work your way inward?
Nolen: I think there is a certain intimacy felt when we dive deep in contemplation. Contemplation prompts questioning and self examination and there’s a reported intimacy that mystics experience and speak about in this form of prayer. This spiritual aspect is the basis of every myth and religion. When I wrote “When I look at the World” I realized we are never alone in this world because we share our fears, doubts and our suffering. We are so immersed in our personal experiences we don’t stop and think every person in this world share these human experiences and there’s a whole world out there screaming into the wilderness. A lot of the fear and anxiety we feel we can’t even explain it seems almost pre-verbal in our consciousness. But, music has a way of breaking through our mental and emotional barriers. And the breakthroughs seem to start when you realize that we are not alone in our misery and suffering and that love is the answer after all. I believe music is a conduit of love and addressing universal themes through my songs is an intimate form of art, when it works. When it doesn’t work it can come across preachy.
The late addition of the acoustic version changed how people experience the song. Do you think alternate versions reveal different truths about a piece of music?
Nolen: I’ve never put two different versions of a song on an album before. The whole thing was very random and spontaneous. The first mix was actually the fully orchestrated rock version. I thought it was really good and was happy with it but on a whim I asked Rudiger to do a totally stripped down version with just his singing and an acoustic guitar. Rudiger then added the box drum to add a little dynamics and then I thought about adding Ivy’s vocals as backup and fills. Ivy sang a track where she sang all the way through and that’s what turned into the duet. Yes I do think different versions offer different truths for sure. I like the way the acoustic version adds a 60’s protest song vibe. I can picture sitting around a campfire with a bunch of friends and a guitar. Yeah I think it changes how people experience the song, definitely.
After eight albums, what still surprises you about the songwriting process? Is it harder now to say something new, or easier because you trust your voice more?
Nolen: What still surprises me is the thrill of writing new songs. I feel a sense of joy in creating something from nothing. It really is a sublime process for me. There’s a certain mood or feeling I feel coming on, a tickling by the soul. I sensed it first many years ago when I wrote a lot of poetry. It’s the inner lover beckoning to be heard. I open up my heart and mind and it just comes. It’s sort of like an athlete in the zone. When I first started writing songs I wondered if I’d just run out of songs to write. So far that hasn’t been the case. I’ve got two new finished albums on the shelf ready to be released and a couple of singles ready to go. I have a lot of finished material ready to be shared and discovered. It just flows. Music is ebullient.
If this song is a message to the future, what do you think it says about this moment in history and about you as an artist right now?
Nolen: I really think that “When I look at the World” is a statement of the times and a clarion call for the future. It seems things just keep getting worse and we don’t seem to learn from our mistakes. We seem to keep repeating the same mistake over and over again from one generation to the next. The indifference to pain and suffering. The huge inequality in wealth. The endless wars and their waste of blood and treasury. As an artist I feel I have an obligation to speak out. I feel we are living in special times. There’s a lot of change coming. We can be the change that we dream of but it starts with ourselves and radiates outward. When I look at the world I see hope and change. I really believe we can build a brand new future where we can grow and evolve and all of our problems can be resolved. It’s up to us. We can ride this world over the abyss or we can create a brand new one. The choice is yours.
Have a listen and connect with The Star Prairie Project:
