San Francisco’s Geographer have quickly become darlings of critics and Bay Area fans alike. Their debut album, Innocent Ghosts, garnered accolades from the likes of SF Chronicle, Performer Magazine and SPIN, who included them in their list of three undiscovered bands you need to hear now.

You can catch Geographer live tomorrow night (4/23) at Cafe du Nord with Michael Zapruder and Harbours.

We recently sat down with Mike Deni (vocals, guitar, bass, keys, synths) and Nate Blaz (cello, electronics) to talk about the San Francisco music scene, Harlem in the ’40s and Saul Bellows.

Stranger Dance: So, what’s the Geographer back story?
Mike Deni: Let’s see, I was living in New Jersey, writing a couple of the songs that went on the album. I was living in my mom’s basement and, no offense mom — she was very good to me — but you get to a certain age and you don’t want to live in your mom’s basement. I was gonna move to New York, but all of my friends that lived there left and at the same time, my friends from college wanted to drive across the country.

So I moved out to San Francisco and, like Nate, I didn’t really have any outlet for the kind of electronic, but guitar-driven music that I wanted to play. I had a background in folk — that’s what I played in college — so I started going to open mics and that’s where I met Kacey [Johansing], and we started playing music together, writing mellow stuff with just guitar and piano. Then she brought in Nate who had gone to college with her at Berklee [College of Music] in Massachusetts. The three of us started a band called Parasol until another band with a similar name threatened to take legal action against us.

SD: That’s when you know you’ve made it — when someone cares enough to get upset.
MD: Exactly. [Laughs] We had just played at Great American Music Hall, which was awesome, and I received a letter from a lawyer — and I first thought it was someone that wanted to represent us! We changed our name and it never went to court, but I thought it was the end of the world at the time because we’d worked up a name for ourselves.

So then we started to work on some of the songs that I’d written in New Jersey, like “Leaves”, and we started playing more rocking songs. When it was time to bring in a permanent drummer, Kacey and Nate brought in Brian [Ostreicher] who all went to school together and it just gelled. Kacey came from a real folk background, so as we took it in more of a rock direction, her own music started taking up more of her time, and she kind of bowed out as a permanent member.

SD: Did you then go back and revise or rearrange songs to fit the new lineup?
MD: There wasn’t a lot of rewriting necessarily because we were already recording at that point. But where we did make a lot change was in the live setup. There were synths before, but that was mostly texture and layering. But we figured, now that we’re doing programming, let’s really take it in an electronic direction.

SD: I’ve been struck by the full live sound you have with just a trio. Did you ever considered adding a bassist or is there something special about working as a trio?
MD: Well, for a while we wanted to stay as a trio, but we actually just tried out a bassist, and he’s gonna play with us at our Café du Nord show [Thursday, 4/23].

SD: One of the most striking elements about Innocent Ghosts is the combination of upbeat music with serious lyrical content. Was that kind of thematic dissonance intentional or more organic?
MD: Well, I just write music about whatever is presenting itself as a problem in my life. I’m not inspired to write lyrics about, y’know, “Happy day, sun is shining.” Music is a cathartic process for me. I don’t want to just write depressing songs. I want to take a horrible feeling and make it into something beautiful. Just playing the songs is the payoff for me — writing is rewarding, but by playing the songs over and over again, I’m confronting them and they have become a part of my everyday life and it helped me work through it. And now I don’t even notice it because it’s part of this awesome experience when we rock out.

SD: How much do new songs change or evolve once the whole group gets involved?
Nate Blaz: Every song is different. Some songs are fully formed when Mike brings them to the table and it’s pretty obvious how it’s gonna be. And there are situations where we just mess around with our new [electronic] instruments and have kind of a jam session and ideas will come out of that. But generally, Mike will record some sort of thematic structure that Brian and I can get our hands around and kind of extrapolate or arrange from there. Mike is definitely responsible for the songwriting and Brian and I help out with arrangements and all three of us have opinions about how things will go forward, both live and for future recordings.
MD: I would liken it to me planting a new tree, and it’s growing ok, but they come in and do things to help it flower and bear fruit, and I’m like, “Oh shit, now that’s a tree.” [Laughs]

SD: You had already written some of the songs that ended up on Innocent Ghosts before you had even met Nate and Brian. Do you find yourself writing specifically with them in mind now?
MD: Oh definitely. A lot of times it gives me the ability to say, “I’m not coming up with a good hook here, but I know Nate will write one, so I’ll leave it out,” y’know, “Insert hook here.” I can also write extremely complicated drum beats because Brian can play anything. I’ll program stuff with blips and bloops and he’ll work on it for a minute and get it… [Laughs] And then he’ll usually say, this is a strange choice so let’s do this.

SD: You’re are a relatively young group. How have things changed since you started?
NB: We’ve definitely changed. Just lineup changes have affected our sound and even our workflow. But I feel like things stabilized a bit once it was just the three of us working together. We can communicate very clearly together and we’ve got the skills to back up what we want to do, so there’s a certain confidence there now that wasn’t earlier. Now we trust that at the end of the day we’re gonna get where we wanna be, we just don’t know how long it’s gonna take or what turns we’ll make.
MD: In the beginning, you’re kind of creating your perception of yourself, so you’re only capable of what you’ve done. Whereas now we can look back on what we’ve done in the past and build off of that and do even more. In particular, I think our arrangements are more complex and fuller. And we’re definitely moving in a more electronic direction. Before, there was kind of a folk umbrella over what we were doing, with rock and electronic under that. Now it’s an electronic umbrella — of many different shades.

SD: We’re all pretty lucky to be involved in San Francisco’s rich and diverse musical scene. What’s it like playing in this ecosystem — and in this day and age with such access to music from all over the globe, is there even such a thing as a local scene anymore?
MD: I love the local scene here. We’re always finding new bands where we’re like, “Holy shit, how have I never heard of you?” We’re never at a loss for who to play with. It’s gotten to the point where we would go out to see the bands we’re playing with. It’s really inspiring to really enjoy the other music that’s being created around you. And if one Bay Area band gets big it only helps the others, so I feel like it’s a very healthy atmosphere. As for influence, I’m more influenced by bands from 20 years ago.
NB: Yeah, I listen to a lot of ‘80s music. It seems like each generation revisits the music of their parents’ generation, and adopts and reinterprets it. I’m always interested in reinterpretations or permutations of consistent patterns that have been going on for a really long time.
MD: I’m inspired by having so much creativity around — the think outside the box — more than a particular sound or something. My writing teacher in college always told me that drawing from a great many influences which you can mash together, and through that mix you make your own sound. And only then will you have your own voice. But you’re right, because of the internet, everywhere is a scene, and nowhere is a scene.

SD: You’ve gotten a lot of great press so far. How does press, both good and bad, affect you?
MD: Well, we try to not let it affect us, but it definitely does a little. We’ve only really gotten one mildy bad review so far and we mostly shook it off. But then you start to ask yourself, “Well, is it bad that we’re not political?” [Laughter] But that’s not me, and you can’t be everything and your can’t please everybody. But we get really pumped when we read a good review.

SD: Does that raise expectations? Have you found yourself changing how you approach anything because of good or bad reviews?
NB: I haven’t changed anything so far. But I am curious to see what will happen when we get more negative press. I’m interested in seeing constructive criticism that we otherwise might not have.

SD: Radiohead seems to be a common reference point people use to describe your sound, but I just don’t hear that. For me, your music has more in common with the Talking Heads, for instance. Would you use Radiohead to describe your sound?
MD: I mean, we love Radiohead, but no. I don’t think I sound like Thom Yorke, but I think people just hear my voice, and think it’s angsty like his. I think he does a lot more with his voice than I do and it’s a little harsher than mine. We love Radiohead, and obviously there’s a part of us that just wants to be Radiohead, but I’ve come to terms with the fact that I just want to make people dance. And yeah, Talking Heads makes excellent music that also makes you wanna boogie.
NB: And it’s music that appeals to many generations too.
MD: Yeah, and that’s the kind of music that we want to make. It’s interesting, no one’s ever compared us to Talking Heads before, but it’s good.

SD: I also think you vocally sound a little like Morrissey on a few songs, especially “Catch a Fire”.
MD: Oh cool! That’s so awesome to hear.

SD: OK, I wanna end with a kind of rapid-fire questionnaire.
MD: Awesome.

SD: What one song do you most wish you had written?
MD: Actually, “Naive Melody” by The Talking Heads. I could die happy.

Who’s your favorite fictional character?
MD: Mine is Henderson the Rain King, by Saul Bellow. He’s just so larger than life in every aspect. He just like, expands fractally from his essence – which is one of the coolest things I may have ever said. He’s such a bumbling fool that wants to go out and figure out life, but trips over everybody and kind of crashes under his own weight.
NB: Well, the book that I’ve read the most is Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card. I’ve re-read that book maybe 15 times. So, I guess Ender is the character I’d be most drawn to.

If you had a time machine, when and where would you go?
NB: New York in the ‘40s and ‘50s and hang out in all the clubs that Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk were playing in. There were all playing with each other and it was such a fertile and virtuosic period. I think there’s been no music since that time that’s been so virtuosic.
MD: I’ve always wanted to get the skinny on Greece, like Grecian, Ancient Greece. You hear a lot about those guys and I just wanna make sure they live up to the hype.

What three albums have had the biggest influence on your music?
MD: Paul Simon by Paul Simon, Kid A [by Radiohead] had a huge influence on me, and Aphex Twin’s Richard D. James.
NB: I’d also have to say Kid A, although it’s a tossup between that and OK Computer and Kid A, but right now I’m leaning towards Kid A. I’m also a big fan of the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré. And I’ve got unequivocal respect and admiration for David Byrne, so The Talking Heads‘ Remain in Light.

What’s the best concert you’ve ever been to?
NB: Björk and Sigur Rós at an outdoor concert in Coney Island during Björk’s Vespertine tour. Sigur Rós played first and were phenomenal, and then Björk went on and she had fireworks synchronized to her show and we were close to the stage. It was pretty much the ultimate incarnation of Björk live.
MD: Seeing Radiohead in Golden Gate Park [at Outside Lands 2008] was a great milestone. I had to try not to be swept over.

What do you think your music would taste like?
MD: My music would taste like pasta puttanesca. [Laughs] But that’s just me.
NB: Sashimi

What’s your favorite local place for cheap eats?
MD: Taqueria San Francisco [http://www.yelp.com/biz/taqueria-san-francisco-san-francisco]
NB: Café Mattina on Telegraph in Berkeley, which used to be called Cafe Intermezzo

What’s the last album you bought?
MD: Alaska in Winter, who we just played a show with.
NB: Hail to the Thief. And just about everything since then I’ve downloaded. [Laughter]

What next?
MD: We’re looking to record a 7” this Summer. And then we’ve got about 15 new songs, so we’ll whittle that down to an album’s worth. We’ve got one more local show on April 23 at Café du Nord, and then we’re gonna tour the East Coast in May.

MP3s:

Bonus: