Quiet Company’s Taylor Muse recently took the time to talk to us about their new album, We Are All Where We Belong. Quiet Company has been gaining serious traction in their hometown of Austin, TX, and is playing later today at Deluna Fest.

Quiet Company

Artist website: quietcompanymusic.com

Facebook: facebook.com/quietcompany

Get the album: Bandcamp, Amazon and iTunes.

TBI: I’ve been digging the new powerful orchestral arrangements in “We Are All Where We Belong”. What inspired this musical direction? Is this something we should look for in the future with Quiet Company?
TM: Thanks very much! It’s actually something we’ve always tried to do, this was just the first time when we had enough friends that played the right instruments. There’s nothing wrong than using sampled strings and horns, really, but I was really glad that we didn’t have to at all on this record. It’s probably safe to expect more of that from us in the future.

TBI: The album explores an incredibly deep and personal issue. Obviously a lot of time and thought went into writing it. How long has this album been in the making?
TM: I started writing in bits in pieces a long time ago. I’m not sure exactly how long but it’s been a while. Because of personal schedules and jobs and the band’s other obligations, it took a long time to record, as well. I’m also not real sure when we started recording but I know there’s video footage of us recording and there’s snow on the ground outside, so it’s almost been a year I think.

TBI: What events and/or experiences inspired this album?
TM: This record is my way of coming to terms with my disbelief. It’s about realizing you’re not who you thought you were, or who you thought you wanted to be, and then realizing that that’s actually a really good thing. There wasn’t any one defining event that took me from Point-A to Point-B. It was more like a slow crawl from one side to the other, oftentimes kicking and screaming. I think it started with Tom Robbins and Kurt Vonnegut, emphasis on the latter.

Would you consider the album a ‘snapshot’ of your beliefs now, or a reflection of a finished journey?
TM: Good question. Paul and I talk about this all the time. We worry that people will hear “The Easy Confidence” and think I’m this bitter, sad, lost soul. I can assure you that that’s not the case. This album was my way of getting over the “break up”, and saying my piece about it. It’s been a nice release for me, and while I still enjoy talking about the subject matter, I don’t feel as obsessive about it as I did before we made the record. So it’s more like a collection of snapshots I guess, but together I think it makes for a fairly well rounded display. I’m not done learning, and I’m not yet at peace with my mortality, which is what we’re all looking for really, I’ve simply narrowed down my list of places to look for it.

TBI: What are your plans now? Anything in the works?
TM: We’re playing a lot to promote the record and doing some travelling for festivals and whatnot. We’re really excited about getting the record out and incredibly excited about the response it’s getting. It’s connecting with people on a level that we’ve not previously experienced, and in turn, it’s been rewarding for us on a level that we’ve not previously experienced. We’ve got a few things planned that we’d like to do next, but we don’t have a timeline established for when to expect them.

TBI: Thanks so much for your time. We’d love to see you swing through Macon sometime.
TM: Thank you so much for having me. Hopefully, we’ll get to Macon sooner than later.

Interview by Andrew Conner