Tell Me About That Song: Eric Schuman, Vocalist of Kansas Space Rockers Ambulants

Nathaniel Lawrence Kenny

A lot went into writing your favorite song--but how much do you really know about it? This week Eric Schuman, vocalist and guitarist of Kansas City indie-spacerock band Ambulants, delves into Greek mythology, fixing things on a whim, and poetry.

Song: "The Swarm"
Album: The Molting of Brood IV
Release date: Currently unreleased; album will be out by end of 2011.
When it was written: A little less than a year ago.
Where it was written: In the western suburbs of Kansas City.

Favorite line in the song: "Hearts are hollow, fragile things--you can't just fill them up with whatever you want."
Which part was the hardest to come up with? There weren't any especially difficult parts to come up with, as our band works with a creative process that comes naturally to us despite our constant aim to challenge ourselves.
If you could go back and change anything, what would it be? We view our music as a living, breathing, and growing entity. If we have any aspect of the song we'd like to change, we make no hesitation to do so, and quite enjoy self-editing and exploring whenever we deem necessary or whenever the whim strikes.
Odd fact about song: An unusual fact about the song is that it draws lyrical inspiration from an Alfred Lord Tennyson poem titled "Tithonus."
What was your inspiration for writing the song? The inspiration for the song resides in a complex concept/story underlying the entire album, but as with any art, we infuse our own personal experiences and relations. The story of The Molting blends mythology, science fiction, and symbolic literary themes.
What is the meaning behind the song? In Greek mythology, Tithonus is a mortal who fell in love with Eos, the goddess of dawn. As a gift for her lover, Eos grants him eternal life, but sadly not eternal youth. As time goes on and Tithonus grows old, the romance fizzles out and Eos ultimately locks Tithonus in a silver room as a divine madness invades his feeble mind and he slowly becomes a cicada. Eventually Tithonus is released from captivity because Eos has found a new young lover in the Heartland of America, and the Mad King swarms with his progenitive brethren to impart insight upon the youthful candidate. "The Swarm" expresses Tithonus' new-found and nearly forgotten freedom, the wild mating stage of the cicadic cycle, and wisdom of the old spreading to the naive.

A live demo of the song can be heard at the Ambulants Facebook page.

Ambulants will be performing at the 2 Bit Saloon on July 6.

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