Corey Dargel is known for his sweet yet psychologically complex electro-pop songs, exemplified by his previous albums Other People’s Love Songs and Less Famous Than You. For his upcoming double-CD album,Someone Will Take Care of Me, Dargel delves deeper into the darker realms of the psyche, and he utilizes acoustic instruments for the first time in nearly a decade. What do these changes signify about Dargel’s own psyche? I counseled him about the album, and I think we made several breakthroughs. Below is a transcript of our conversation. You can download two FREE TRACKS from the album at New Amsterdam Records.
Matt Marks: Your album Someone Will Take Care of Me consists of two CDs of two song cycles, Thirteen Near-Death Experiences and Removable Parts. Do you consider these song cycles to be companion pieces?
Corey Dargel: Yes, because they’re both about characters who have dysfunctional relationships with their bodies: hypochondriacs and wannabe amputees.
“Wannabe amputees?”
That’s what they call themselves, people who wish to voluntarily amputate a healthy limb. Removable Parts is about voluntary amputation, and Thirteen Near-Death Experiences is about hypochondria. I think we’ve all probably had a taste of hypochondria in our lives, but very few of us can understand the desire to amputate a healthy limb. Except after having worked on these pieces, I now can relate to both conditions, and I want to show how these conditions, however extreme and unrelenting, are similar to more common conditions like anxiety, loneliness, and loss of control.
Speaking of loss of control, usually you make songs with self-produced electronic tracks, but on this album you’re working with live acoustic instruments. Did you have any control issues with that?
Yes, I am a control freak, although I prefer the word perfectionist. I always try to control every…
