Ferrn Captures the Eerie Exhilaration of Existence on Full-Length Debut, Endless and Elsewhere

The Chicago band combines laser-sharp production with immersive field recordings to conjure up a dazzling, dizzying world that envelops you from start to finish

By Tyler Francischine
Photos by Jesse Nield

Hit ‘play’ on Ferrn’s Endless and Elsewhere, and you’re instantly greeted by a chorus of frogs, an ensemble whose cheerful song is eventually subsumed by the introduction of a synth melody, its notes lilting like so many palm fronds bending in a breeze. At this point, you may wonder, what sonic adventures, twists and turns await? Buckle up.

Ferrn — a Chicago-based trio comprising Ryan Backman on vocals, keys, field recordings, drum programming and audio production; Jonathan Mondragon on bass, sound design and audio production; and Tyler Earls on guitar — combines diverse influences like Shibuya-kei, sophistipop and Steely Dan to offer a dense and enveloping sonic palette evocative of both the replete natural beauty we’re surrounded by and the eerie, unsettling feeling we’re all currently sitting with, knowing that our lawmakers and political “leaders” are letting this beauty degrade with each passing day.

WOOO chatted with Ferrn over a video call from Gainesville, Florida, to Chicago, Illinois, in advance of Ferrn’s debut album, “Endless and Elsewhere,” dropping Oct. 25, 2024.

Let’s go back to the beginning. How did Ferrn emerge as a new musical project?

Ryan: I started writing these songs three years ago, and it’s been this thing where more and more people jump on board, and it’s grown and taken shape with each person’s contribution.

When I was originally writing it, it was the height of the pandemic. I wrote “New Life” first, and then “Evergladde” came soon after. They felt like these bookend tracks: of the same world but very different styles. It felt like this world was building, and I started composing other things to fill it out and tell that story.

Then, Jonathan, who has more of a background in sound design and mixing, and I started collaborating, and he was really helpful in making it all sound better and fuller. When Tyler jumped on board with the guitars, that’s when the sound really clicked. It felt physical in a cool way. We ended up taking two years making everything sound as good as possible, rewriting and rearranging every track several times. It’s been a really fun process, and I think we all learned a lot from it.

Jonathan: For the production, Ryan brought me on board to help bring consistency from song to song. He had a pretty good idea of his vision, but the hard part was creating all these songs in different genres, and then getting the album to a point where you hear a transition from a song that’s in one genre to a song that’s in a completely different genre, and it makes sense without being jarring. We wanted to present all these ideas in different ways, without the album feeling like just a collection of disparate things.

Tyler: When I joined Ferrn, John and Ryan already had the foundations for a lot of these songs, so I would add my parts and we’d workshop tones. That was a big thing that we tried to capture in the studio: getting a guitar sound that was exciting and that fit each song.

I’d love to dive into the inspiration behind these songs. As a (mostly) lifelong Floridian, it sounds to me like Florida and its natural environment provided much inspiration for the overall sound and the lyrics. Ryan, we went to college together at the University of Florida in swampy Gainesville – what was it like creating this splashy, textured batch of tunes while living in Chicago, so far from the Sunshine State?

Ryan: When everything shut down during the pandemic, there was this really disorienting sense of time and space, and I felt like all my interactions with people were remote. Talking to friends in Florida had me feeling like I’m kind of there, but not. Just like my personal experience, I wanted the album to have this surreal quality to it. There are points when I’m mixing outdoor field recordings with indoor recordings. I wanted the listener to be like, ‘Where am I right now?’

I think I gravitated toward Florida as a subject for the album because it’s a really concentrated example of what’s happening with climate change, even just the amount of denial. Florida is this little microcosm of the whole issue. Climate change is just escalating faster and faster, and I was and am feeling a lot of grief and anxiety about that.

I didn’t want the record to be this idealistic, stereotypical art about nature where it’s utopic and ideal and more about the human spectacle, like the national park view of nature. I wanted to make the natural elements feel kind of dangerous. Even if they’re pretty, they’re also ominous. I had this experience years ago that I was still drawing on while making the album where I went on a hike around 2 or 3 a.m. in Tallahassee, just walking through the dark, hearing wild hogs, frogs and birds all around, and realizing, this is basically a giant society out here. I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, this is kind of dangerous.’ But it’s also exhilarating. There’s so much life and commotion that we just don’t pay attention to around us.

Your first single, “Drowned,” feels like a perfect example of that danger/exhilaration dichotomy with its dark guitar tones that sound to me like an ominous, gray cloud passing in front of the sun paired with a playful, lyrical reference to an alligator. What’s the story behind this track?

Ryan: I was thinking about these old rock tropes and how climate change casts such a shadow over them now. There are so many classic songs about surfing, the beach, taking a gorgeous drive — all these things that are becoming less and less accessible and able to be enjoyed. I like the idea of trying to make an almost-surf rock song that has this macabre tone.

We’re in this moment now when nostalgia is being used in this exploitative, idealizing kind of way. In looking to the past on this record, I wanted there to be an intention behind it. It’s sad that we’re looking backwards. It’s not necessarily about simplifying and idealizing things that have already happened.

I do think of music as being inherently political on some level. We put so much pressure on music, like you have to change the world with your aesthetic. How do you do that? I don’t know. I think the very least you can do is be aware of the world around you and the message you’re putting out. It comes back to responsibility. Are you taking a stance and having an opinion on the stuff you're writing about?

That thinking informs the album in a lot of ways. I was growing a lot as I wrote it, and I was trying to find ways to articulate this that don’t sound like I’m on some moral high ground while also refusing to make this world that’s completely in the clouds and purely escapist. I don’t think escapism is a bad thing necessarily. Ursula K. Le Guin has this great quote: ‘The direction of escape is toward freedom. So what is escapism an accusation of?’ That resonated with me. There’s something about escape that can be productive and positive. It’s about what you do with it.

I love that quote, and the fact that you’re taking your responsibility as an artist seriously while releasing your creativity into this burning world. What were your intentions around the sound of this record, which flawlessly melds together nostalgic textures on the keys and almost futuristic accents on synths with very muscular, dare I say in-your-face guitar licks and drum patterns?

Ryan: I think I just wanted to make something refreshing that feels forward-thinking and exciting, but also physical, like the music’s right here in the room with you. Lyrically, a lot of the album is about this search for something. The way I imagined the end result is there are these vocals situated in the middle of this giant, chaotic swirl of things happening. The sound is constantly shifting and changing, and this narrator is just a product of this chaotic world that doesn’t seem to envision a future for itself, yet there needs to be a future.

Jonathan: Ryan wanted to draw on genres that he knew pretty well and that he wanted to intentionally emulate, but he wanted there to be an element of pushing things forward and contributing something new to the conversation. We kept that in mind the whole time we were mixing – we would combine something [with which] we were familiar with something out of our comfort zone or something kind of unexpected. The goal was to be unique or interesting and not just drawing on something existing.

What are some musical influences that played key roles on this record?

Ryan: I was drawing on a lot of stuff I’ve been listening to for years: Stereolab, tropicalia, the Elephant 6 collective, Broadcast, and a lot of dance music, shoegaze and dream pop. As a pianist, I’m inspired by a lot of the Impressionist composers like Debussy and Ravel.

Tyler: Yo La Tengo comes up for me. Radiohead and My Bloody Valentine, too.

Jonathan: Yeah, I think those are a couple we can all agree on. I’m thinking about “Drowned,” how we wanted to create some noisiness but a listenable, pleasant kind that still feels aggressive – I feel like we drew on certain aspects of Sonic Youth there and elsewhere.

It’s really nice to work with friends who’ve all got a similar musical vocabulary. We are familiar enough with each other’s tastes that we could just reference an artist, and the rest of us know exactly what we’re talking about. That’s not always easy.”

I’m assuming that each of you has been involved in numerous musical projects in the past – what’s your favorite aspect of being part of Ferrn? What’s brought you the most pride, enjoyment or satisfaction from creating this record?

Ryan: The intention with Ferrn is to create a project that feels really versatile. Before Ferrn, I had writer’s block for years and couldn’t finish a project, because by the time I finished a song, I was in a completely different headspace. One day, I’d be making a house track. The next day,sad piano music. With Ferrn, there was this idea of, what if one project could do all those things? We could do something a little quiet, or we can go heavier, trippier, dancier. Musicians can be pressured to put themselves in this box where they think, ‘I make this micro-genre of music. Therefore, this is the mood, and what I’m expressing has to be consistent with that vibe.’

Ferrn is something that can be fun and catchy, or it can be serious and a little ominous, or it can just be pretty.

Jonathan: This is the first record I’ve worked on from the ground up, from hearing the very first demos to getting to be hands-on and really having control over every single sound. In the studio, we wanted to make sure that we went in with a good idea of what we were doing, so we’d have extra time to fine tune everything instead of fumbling around and trying to make it work. That preparation and process, even though it took a lot of time, ended up being the thing that I personally enjoyed the most, besides being able to work with good friends who work well together and have a good dynamic.

Tyler: I really respect that Ryan and John spent so much time polishing this down, thinking of all the nitty gritty details, to create the end product. We truly collaborated a lot on the parts. If certain chords sounded weird or the tone wasn’t quite there, we would just talk about it.

Sometimes, you can get into dynamics where it can feel like personal attacks, but with Ferrn, there wasn’t ego in it. Collectively, we just wanted this thing to be the best it can be. I think that’s the best way to work, and I really liked that about the project.

Jonathan: We all had our own strengths that we brought to the bigger picture. I feel like, if only one of us or even a couple of us were involved, it wouldn’t have been the same album.

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Ferrn’s debut album, Endless and Elsewhere, will be released Oct. 25, 2024. Listen to singles “Drowned” and “True Sleep Waits” here.