About That Song: *Splash!*
About That Song #87
In our special series, singer-songwriter Sarah Morris interviews artists about the songs that shaped them.
Hi! I’m Sarah Morris. I’m wildly in love with songs and the people who write them. There have been a few songs in my life that have been total gamechangers—songs that made me want to be a songwriter and songs I’ve written that made me feel like I am a songwriter. About That Song is a space where I can learn more about those pivotal songs in other writers’ lives.
In the 87th installment of this series, I got to chat with Andrew Lentz, aka *Splash!* Inspired by philosophy, mysticism, and spiritual practice, *Splash!* offers reflective and literary lyricism combined with instrumentation that leans into folk traditions, while maintaining a modern edge.
*Splash!*! Photo Credit: Britleigh Wechsler.
Sarah: Hello Andrew Lentz! Or should I say *Splash!* You recently released your debut album, Breaking the Dam, which you recorded at the famed Library Recording Studio with Matt Patrick at the helm. Congrats on the album, and the three beautiful music videos you’ve released to accompany it.
I’d love to learn a bit more about you, and the songs that brought you to this place in your musical journey. Do you remember the song you heard that made you want to be a songwriter? Tell us about that song.
*Splash!*: Oh, that’s such a good question! I believe it was around 7th or 8th grade, after taking piano lessons since 1st grade, that I decided to quit. At first I wasn’t sure if I was just not interested in piano anymore, but it turned out I just wasn’t getting what I needed out of classical repertoire and learning notes off a page.
I was very into Ben Folds at the time (my brother introduced me to the album Rockin’ the Suburbs and my love only grew from there). He showed me that the piano could be “cool,” so I got some songbooks of his music and began writing my own songs as well. In my mind, that was very much the beginning of the path to becoming the musician and writer that I am now.
Sarah: It’s interesting—I’m so grateful for all the years of learning music from a page (12 years of piano!), but it did mean for a long time I looked at a piano as where I would ONLY play what I was told, and thus couldn’t write original music. It sounds like the Ben Folds album saved you from having that problem. (Way to go, Ben!)
Once you began writing, did you feel like a writer immediately? It took me a few years of writing before I believed it—was there a song that gave you that “a-HA! I AM a songwriter!” moment? Tell us about THAT song…
*Splash!*: Oh, absolutely not. When I was still taking piano lessons as a child, I’d often mess around on the piano during lessons (often to my teacher’s chagrin) and improvise little melodies. I even remember her saying “maybe you’ll be a composer one day,” but I had some kind of mental block that songwriters were “those people over there” who had or knew something that I didn’t. After I quit lessons, I realized that writing, or improvising parts based off chord charts came much MORE naturally and easily to me than learning sheet music (and was much more fun). I just hadn’t known it was an option or that I was capable of it until I jumped in.
As for whether or not there was a particular song that made me realize it, not really. I’d written many songs I was proud of, but I think the main thing that helped me realize I WAS a songwriter, and not just a person who had written some songs, was learning that I could do it on command. For most of my life I was pretty precious about waiting for inspiration. Through my songwriting classes at McNally with Gary Rue and Jeremy Messersmith, I learned that inspiration is great, but sometimes a prompt and a deadline were all I needed to come up with something just as good or even better!
Sarah: OH YES. Prompts and deadlines have been two of the most important ingredients in my songwriting life as well.
*Splash!*: Being a part of songwriter groups (such as the one I’m in right now that you’re one of the organizers of!) has been instrumental (pun intended) in helping me realize that I can just “sit down and do the thing,” and that musical ideas are not some finite resource that I’m going to run out of one day. In fact, the more I practice my craft, the better I feel I get at it, and the easier it becomes.
Sarah: I’m so glad you’re writing with us this summer, and that it’s serving you well. I read that most of these songs were written in the 2020 pandemic—do you remember the first song to emerge from that time period?
*Splash!*: Yes, very well, in fact! I was part of a different (but similar) songwriting group during that time, and this was also when I began writing on guitar rather than exclusively on piano or ukulele, as I had for all my work with my previous band The Floating Perspectives. It wasn’t the FIRST song I wrote on guitar, but it was the first one I knew was a keeper. It was “When the Well Runs Dry” (written for the prompt “Well”). Already it felt different from my work with The Floating Perspectives. So much so, in fact, that I didn’t know what to do with it, and initially gave it to another project I’m a part of, Artificial Flowers (there’s a live version of it out there with that project; it may even still end up on our album). As I began writing more and more songs on the guitar that fit with this new tone, the idea of this new project, *Splash!*, was born.
*Splash!*! Photo Credit: Britleigh Wechsler.
Sarah: *Splash!* as an artist/project name—was there a song that this was born from? OR, was there a song that you wrote where you realized that you were now creating music for a separate artistic identity?
*Splash!*: That’s actually kind of an interesting story. I’d written “Here Comes the Flood” and “When the Well Runs Dry” (I think I’d even decided on Breaking the Dam as the title for the album), so there was already a water theme developing. Then I attended a program called Sleep Over Mystery School that was a series of four immersions and magickal rituals. At the first one, we had to temporarily sign our own names into the “book of the dead” and draw a new “liminal name” out of a bowl. I drew “Splash.” I’d never had a nickname before, not even “Andy” or “Drew,” but it immediately just felt … right. It had resonances with qualities I was trying to call into my life, and it just seemed to suit me.
Sarah: Ah! So it found you a bit, maybe?
*Splash!*: In many ways I feel like the name chose me rather than the other way around. Initially it was confined to this one context, but then I started using it as a nickname in my life in general and before long it dawned on me that it was the obvious choice for an artist moniker in this heavily water-themed project I was working on. (I added the asterisks and exclamation point for fun and maybe a little bit for SEO). The two “watery” songs were both written off prompts and this name was literally selected at random, but somehow it all came together in a way that seemed very significant and meaningful to me.
Sarah: On the album, you arrange from an Ancient Greek poem (“Orphic Hymn to Mnemosyne”), as well as the fictional song “Kafka on the Shore” from the novel of the same name. I’ve often read lyrics in novels, but I’ve yet to take the next step to bring them to life. What a cool idea! Can you tell us about those songs?
*Splash!*: Well, “Orphic Hymn” was actually something I was tasked to memorize for Sleep Over Mystery School, and I’m just the kind of guy where if you tell me to memorize something called an “Orphic Hymn,” I’m definitely going to set it to music. It’s a fun and effective way to commit something to memory!
As for “Kafka,” it’s one of my favorite novels by one of my favorite authors, Haruki Murakami! They allude to the song many times in the book before you get the actual text of the song, and I was intrigued with it from the first mention. I thought I might take a run at arranging it if they actually gave the lyrics. When I got to them, I initially thought “yeah, I’ll give this a shot later,” but a little voice in my head said “no, NOW,” so I went over to the piano and it pretty much all flowed out at once, fully formed, which is NOT my general experience with songwriting, even when working with existing lyrics.
That book holds a special place in my heart and so does this song. I later read an interview where Murakami suggested someone should try setting it to music, and I hope one day to find a way to get my version to him.
Sarah: Oh, yes—do that! The idea of art inspiring art and then sharing that art with the original artist—there’s some deep beauty in there, I think. Do you have any upcoming Midwest shows where we might hear you perform these songs?
*Splash!*: Yes! There will be a rare performance featuring the full band from the album at Silverwood Park in St. Anthony on 9/13 at 2:30PM. This is a truly incredible group of musicians (including Shannon Frid Rubin of Cloud Cult who played and arranged the violin parts on the album and Matt Patrick, who produced it) that I am very grateful to be able to play with. I’ll also be playing a set at noon that same day and location with Paper Chain, a project helmed by my dear friend Caitlin Benson, an amazing writer and cellist, so it will be a very full and fun day of music!
I’ll also be a part of the Sandhill Crane Arts and Music Festival on 9/6, playing the monthly Ditch Pigeon (who sings the harmonies on the album) residency at Terminal Bar on 9/16, participating in a songwriter round on 10/1 at Greenway Recording, and of course I’ll also be playing a couple of songs as a part of the showcase for your songwriting group at the Aster Cafe on 9/17 with a bunch of other cool and talented local singer/songwriters!
Sarah: That sounds like such a wonderful September of collaboration and performance. Silverwood is a special spot. And I look forward to seeing you on the 17th!! Thank you so much for coming by to talk About That Song!
Catch *Splash!* in his free full-band show Saturday, Sept. 13, at Silverwood Park in St. Anthony, MN! Music starts at 2:30p.m.
Listen to “When the Well Runs Dry”
Breaking the Dam Album Credits
All Songs and Lyrics (except the lyrics for tracks 2 and 6) by: Andrew S. Lentz
Produced by: Matt Patrick
Violin Arrangements by: Shannon Frid Rubin (tracks 1, 3, 6, 7, and 11)
Lyrics for track 2 from a collection of Orphic Hymns translated by Thomas Taylor
Lyrics for track 6 from the novel “Kafka on the Shore” by Haruki Murakami, translated by Philip Gabriel
Splash: Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Hayley Anne: Vocals
Shannon Frid Rubin: Violin
Matt Patrick: Electric Guitar, Various
Matthew Blake: Upright Bass, Electric Bass, Musical Saw
Zach Miller: Drums, Other Percussion
Eric Songer: Trumpet (track 4)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sarah Morris. Photo credit: Tom Smouse.
Sarah Morris is a superfan of songs and the people who write them, and a believer that certain songs can change your life. A singer-songwriter / mama / bread maker / coffee drinker who recently released her fifth album of original material, she’s been known to joyfully sing with people in her Big Green Bathroom.
