Camphor The Deli's reviews and interviews

Camphor’s music can be summed up in one word– theatrical. Max Avery Lichtenstein, the ringleader behind the band, has a background in film composition and has lent his talent for several indie flicks including “Jesus’ Son” and “Tarnation.” Lichtenstein’s cinematic talents are also realized in Camphor with his chamber pop rock orchestra of harp, cello, horns, woodwinds and other atypical indie ensemble instruments on top of acoustic guitar, bass and drums, featuring the talents of Twin Thousands and Grand Mal members. Lichtenstein can compose sweet, chipper melodies (“Confidences Shattered”) appropriate for the feel-good movie of the year, while he can also create a building, majestic song (“Deconstructed”) that could be included in an action-packed, heroic flick. As over-the-top appears boundless, the band is not afraid of taking musical risks, because they continually stretch the different realms of emotions. The result is a mesmerizing musical story that unfolds through various genres – Americana to flamenco – on “Drawn to Dust,” which doesn’t get old after numerous listens.

How would you describe the transition from film scoring to the performing side of music? Is there a difficulty? Freedom? More excitement?

I think the connection between my film music and my songwriting is a desire to create an atmosphere with sounds and to use melody to trigger some kind of emotional reaction in the audience/listener. Of course, the great thing about writing music for a record and performing it live is that I am absolutely free to follow my creative whims... with film music, the music always has to serve the picture first, which obviously limits the creative options. It's a great, exciting challenge to try to do that and still come up with something unique and special... but I've gotta say I'm really enjoying the freedom of writing songs for their own sake.

Did you know the chemical formula for Camphor is C10H16O? What prompted this as a band name? do you have a strong aromatic odor?

Most of the time I smell like baby powder and/or bourbon, so personal odor was not a factor in the band's name. The name actually sprang up back in 1999, while I was working on vintage-sounding music for the film Jesus' Son with my friend Jason Russo (from the band Hopewell). For the credit roll of the film we needed to come up with a name for the band we had assembled to produce these tracks something that sounded a little old and well-worn, and that hinted at the strong & penetrating sensory experience we were aiming for. Camphor seemed to fit perfectly, and I've been using it ever since.

What's not to like? Moths and butterflies undergo such a great metamorphosis from caterpillar to flying insect... they have beautiful and varied patterns on their wings, which are coated with that mysterious dust (actually the dust is microscopic scales, but it sure *seems* like dust of the ages). Plus they exhibit that frenzied, compulsive attraction towards bright light. If you think about it, they offer an interesting perspective on the nature of our own human lives... all in all I'd say they are the perfect metaphorical creature.

What would you say are the top five albums on or ipod/record player/etc… right now?
Ah, that's a sad story: my 160 Gigabyte iPod with my huge music library was recently stolen out of our tour van in Utrecht. Until I got home and order a new iPod I decided to pick up a few CDs to keep me happy... PJ Harvey's White Chalk, Great Lakes Swimmers' Ongiara, Wolfways by Michael Hurley and the complete piano works of Erik Satie.