Present Company is celebrating the recent release of their first CD, Talking on Couches. It’s a little disco, little techno and super interesting. Tonight we got to talk to founding members Christian Nelson and Eddie Chisham.
Christian and Eddie have been good friends since college but just starting playing music together in 2018. They have similar tastes in music but also in what they want to do, for example both want to be lead singer. It’s a conundrum that could be a stopper or, as is the case here, could build a strong vision as well as trust and muscle to see that vision to fruition. It sounds like that sense of vision slowed the release of their first album but now that it’s out and they have learned how to put out an album, it seems like we’ll be seeing a lot more.
I enjoy their music – it’s reminiscent of LCD Soundsystem, The Shins or some bands from the 80s – Tears for Fears or as Heather thought Pet Shop Boys. Fun but with a depth. The videos lift the music to another level. Christian and Eddie are filmmakers. It seems like there are some recurring themes in their work of stalking, strife and hostages. There’s a perspective of freaky outsider that’s so appealing. (I wrote about their vide for Please earlier.) It was fun to talk to them about the video – starting with it being a charming love letter to Minneapolis. The video was developed before George Floyd was murdered this summer but the theme of “anti-mean people” is more poignant given the strife in Minneapolis in 2020.
The Living Room Parade is another video with a tongue in cheek dark undercurrent that is compelling. Not just any band can showcase a character with noodles for hands in a way that is funny, not silly, and feels balanced with a deeper meaning.
There’s an understated intensity in the band and their work that makes them worth checking out.
Mostly Minnesota 