THE RURAL ALBERTA ADVANTAGE – AN INTERVIEW WITH NILS EDENLOFF

I have conducted many interviews with tons of amazing autists but this one with Nils Edenloff was special. Edenloff is the lead vocalist and guitarist of the spectacular indie/Americana ensemble The Rural Alberta Advantage. Alongside Amy Cole (Bass/Keys/Backing Vocals) and Paul Banwatt (Drums), the trio distributes ferociously colorful alternative music bathed in rich textures. The band was formed in Toronto in 2005 and to date has released 5 albums. The newest, The Rise & The Fall dropped this past October via Paper Bag Records and is filled with gravely lush arrangements, brazen vocals and poignant lyrics.

I’ve always have been a huge fan. I listen a lot to Sirius XM’s The Verge which is their Canadian station and The Rural Alberta Advantage have been a staple on the station for years. I must have played their song “Brother” off their 2017 record The Wild over a thousand times. Same with “White Lights”. Their songs resonates deep into my soul. The vocals are forceful and the cadences are totally defiant and intense.

The Rise & The Fall is a product of new learning and innovation due to the pandemic. The RAA had to retrain themselves in their songwriting skills. Forced to create via Zoom meetings and shared files, the new full length shows a singular profound depth. And a resolute determination to continue throughout all their trials and tribulations. Tracks like “Plague Dogs” with its cold world view and “Real Life” which highlights the loss of innocence, brings The Rise & The Fall to a dark soundscape. Yet, The RAA bring back redemption and hope with the beautifully stylized “FSHG’. The album is a aural masterpiece of sonic artistry.

I was ecstatic that Nils Edenloff had time to talk.

AMP: Your new album deals with some very powerful themes. Can you give us some insight into them?

NILS: We has a lot of time to kick around and stare into the abyss and dig into ourselves. The band is 15 years old and we are all getting older. I’m now in my 40s and married. Therefore our perspectives change. Also, I believe the pandemic made people realize their vulnerability. You begin to appreciate what you once took for granted. It taught everyone to keep their loves ones close. A lot of that motif runs through the record.

AMP: Which is your favorite track on The Rise and your favorite track on The Fall?

NILS: On The Rise, I love how vibey “Late September” is. Retract that! I’m really fond on how “10Ft Tall” came together. Initially, it started as an acoustic tune I was playing by myself at home. When we went into the studio we weren’t seeing eye to eye on the track. Gavin (Gardiner/producer) really helped us land this one. By the end, it worked out brilliantly.

As to The Fall, I really like the lyrics on “Don’t Wake Up”. It goes back to that feeling of getting older. In my mind, it’s a snapshot of my wife and I. Time is fleeting and live for the moment.

AMP: You’ve described your albums as “Diary Entries”. How does that work into your songwriting process?

NILS: We learned a lot during Covid. In the past, we were a band that always got together. We would hash everything out either at rehearsal or in the studio. With the world locked down, we had to adapt. So, we started demoing things at home. It helped the growth of the new songs because we had a clearer picture of what we all wanted to put into them. We had time to figure things out which truly enhanced the songwriting.

AMP: Keeping with this theme, the pandemic actually benefited many artists giving them a chance to hone their skills. Did the Covid free time work for The RAA or was it a disaster?

NILS: It was definitely a real learning process. If you had asked me at the end of 2020, I would have said “a real disaster”. But it did give us time to reevaluate. Something unique happens when the three of us are together. That something doesn’t happen for us as individuals but as a unit, we become this force that creates amazing songs. The pandemic gave us a chance to widen our ingenuity and learn how to apply that force remotely. In a way, it was a positive for us.

AMP: Your music spans many different genres from brazen Americana to tunes with major alternative accents. How would you describe your sound?

NILS: Even though we are a band, our music really falls into the singer/songwriter category. We each write our tracks and then all three of us get our hands dirty and rip each song apart. Paul once said that this is a process most singer/songwriters would frown upon. But that’s what makes our situation so exceptional. Three people with different musical tastes creating something larger. It’s a remarkable enterprise.

AMP: Do you feel that your music is giving back as much fulfillment as the amount of work you’ve put into it?

NILS: That’s a tough one! I would like to think so. It’s a struggle to find the right verve in my music that will make it special so it can mean something significant for me. I hope a small fraction of that translates well to the listener. I remember one instance when we were just starting to tour and this guy came up to me and said: “I don’t know one thing about Alberta but your music speaks to me in a positive way.”

That was something I always hung onto. It made me feel we were achieving something. Even at that early stage, we were touching people. That’s the biggest thing you can hope for as a musician. You move something inside someone. We do put a lot of work into this and I feel we touch people in a meaningful way.

AMP: Are there any current artists you would love to co-headline a tour with?

NILS: You know what, there is an artist in Canada that I’m a big fan of. His name is Daniel Romano and he’s the most prolific musician I’ve ever seen. He’s constantly putting out music. I also love Kevin Morby’s material. Another one that would be awesome is Woods.

AMP: What’s the one message you would like your fans to take away from your music?

NILS: Just feeling! It seems like a simple thing but the music that always moved me reminded me where I was the first time I heard it. If they can take away a tableau memory from our songs that underscores their life and touches them in some fashion, that’s all we can hope for.

AMP: On a personal note, what inspired you to be a musician?

NILS: In a way, I fell into it. I’ve always been involved in music. My parents had me take piano lessons which I never excelled in. In high school I was in concert band. After school, a friend started a band with Paul and Amy. I frequented an open mic where they played. Then Paul and I started playing songs together and we knew something special was happening. I felt it was just kismet.

Faith was something that I lacked. Working with Paul and Amy made it feel real. But in the meantime I received a computer engineering degree. I didn’t want to take the risk that it just didn’t work. When things began to work out, I just ran with it. It’s weird but whenever we are doing a spurt of hectic shows with a ton of travel and I feel it’s going to get brutal, I wish I had a time machine to go back to my teenage self and show him our current crazy life. He would say, “Dude, we totally made it!” I would blow high school Nils’ brain right now.

AMP: What’s next for The Rural Alberta Advantage?

NILS: We have a tour of the UK and Europe in November. It’s funny. The day we submitted the master tape for the new record, it felt like a dark cloud had lifted. For me, writing is a very stressful process. So, that night when we were playing a gig, Paul said, “We got to start thinking of the next record.” I said, “just give me a day.” We do like writing and showcasing new songs on the road. So, hopefully we can try out some new material on this tour. It’s always onward to the next phase. We are constantly evolving.

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