The Science of Sound: Q&A with Daniel Hart

The word “physics” doesn’t usually connote something lush and artful, but for Daniel Hart, frontman of local orchestral pop group The Physics of Meaning, it’s easy enough to reconcile the two.

With a show alongside fellow string lovers Lost In The Trees today atop the Rosemary Street parking deck as part of the Locally Grown series, Diversions Editor Linnie Greene caught up with the busy musician about working with St. Vincent and Raleigh Rockers.

Diversions: How did you end up joining the bill for the Locally Grown concert series?

Daniel Hart: Let’s see. Glenn Boothe contacted me. I’ve known him for a long time because we’ve worked on lots of shows together at Local 506, and he’s one of the people organizing the series. So he contacted me to see if we were interested, and at the same time, Ari [Picker] from Lost In The Trees mentioned that they were doing it, so it seemed like a perfect match.

Dive: You tour with St. Vincent — how do you manage your time between The Physics of Meaning and your other projects?

DH: It’s a juggling act for sure, but Annie [Clark] from St. Vincent and I have been working on different projects together for a long time, so she’s definitely been understanding when I’ve needed to do stuff that conflicts with St. Vincent in the past.

Fortunately for me I guess, no bands can tour all the time. They would both grow crazy and wear out their fans, so when one band isn’t touring I can tour with the other band. I’ve been able to make the schedules work around each other for the most part around.

Dive: Is it difficult to decide which songs or ideas get assigned to which group?

DH: In St. Vincent, I am only an arranger. I don’t actually participate in the songwriting or have to worry about being a frontperson for the band, so that makes it easier for me to separate the two.

In the case of Physics, I am the frontperson and the songwriter, so I can separate those two roles for myself. I’ve found that doing both has been a real advantage for both.

Dive: What’s your favorite facet of the local music scene?

DH: You know, I’ve never lived in Raleigh, only in Durham and Chapel Hill, but I have friends in Raleigh that all hang out with each other. I call them the Raleigh Rockers. I don’t think they call themselves that. I don’t think anybody else calls them that, but that’s how I refer to them.

So I really like the fact that there’s this group in Raleigh that’s so supportive of what everybody does, but also have their own identity ­— that I can go hang out with them sometimes and then come back to Chapel Hill and Durham and hang out with other groups of musicians too.

Dive: Do you think that sense of community is unique to the local music scene?

DH: I’ve definitely seen people be friendly with each other and play lots of shows together, but nothing on the community-wide scale like I’ve seen in Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill. It seems like even the people who run the record labels are really friendly with musicians, nurturing and encouraging of the music scene.

Dive: What do you hope people take from this show?

DH: I hope people enjoy themselves. I hope people get to see something that they haven’t seen before. Lost In The Trees is very heavily orchestrated in their arrangements, which is not as common as a rock band or a symphony orchestra. It’s somewhere in between.

I’ve been doing a lot of stuff, a lot more violin stuff with Physics, and there’s not a whole lot of that either, to my knowledge.
I hope people get to see something they haven’t seen before, that they enjoy themselves —that there’s good music that transcends a normal Thursday night.

Dive: Do you think this show exemplifies what this area has to offer?

DH: It definitely sheds light on this particular style that Lost In The Trees and Physics both deal with—this orchestral rock, chamber pop corner of the indie music world.

It’s a very good showcase for that, and it includes people who have been part of the Triangle music scene for a long time.
In that case it’s a good musical showcase, but in the sense that we do similar music, it leaves out some of the other styles in the Triangle.

It should make for a good show, Our bands will go together pretty well.