Song Exploder

Tao is amazing.

I discovered Tao through, do you know Song Exploder, the podcast?

Yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

So Tao's, one of her albums was featured on Song Exploder.

And through that, I found her song, Nobody Dies, which is like a, it's a desert island song for me.

You know, I love it.

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.

I'm Hrishikesh Hirway.

Song Exploder is sponsored by Gusto.

Here at Song Exploder, we're a small team, and now it's become part of my job to handle the tasks that an HR department would normally do: payroll, benefits, onboarding, all that stuff.

And figuring out that admin can take up a ton of the time that I wish I were actually spending just making the show.

That's why Gusto is so helpful.

This episode was produced by me, Craig Ely, Mary Dolan, Kathleen Smith, and Tiger Bishop.

The episode artwork is by Carlos Lerma, and I made the show's theme music and logo.

On this season, I'm talking to people about their TryHard moments, which are times when they did something terrifying or unexpected, and the lessons they learned from those experiences.

This week, I am talking to Rishi Keshirwe, who I initially met as the creator of Song Exploder and a fellow Radiotopia host, but he's also a musician.

He recently put out his latest album, In the Last Hour of Light, and I wanted to talk to him about the process of making that album, how he's learning to loosen his grip on the creative process, and showing up as a musician when it feels like the whole world knows him as a podcaster.

my name is rishi k shareway and i am a tryhard

The.

So the album came out on Friday.

On Monday, I had a Song Exploder interview here at the studio.

And this is my music studio.

Mm-mm-mm.

Have you listened to the Song Exploder episode about this song? I like how he does the thing where he like shows how he does, like when he writes a song, what he's like singing along to it.

And it's like, he calls it like Bob Dylan mode where he's like, he's just like saying stuff.

Is that how you write songs?

Yeah.

He would have loved like the Song Exploder podcast or something like that.

I think he would have loved that.

I think he would have loved that.

He is a musician, an incredible musician.

He's also an incredible thinker about music who hosts the fantastic Song Exploder podcast, where he interviews artists about how they put together some of their most iconic songs.

To get us started, here is a clip from Hrishikesh's TED Talk where he's explaining the genesis of the Song Exploder podcast, his attempt to answer the questions that he had both as a musician and as a listener.

Inside a song, there are all these parts that get imagined and written and recorded that are so full of thought and beauty.

But only the people who've made the song ever get to hear those pieces on their own.

Today, we are talking about how to find creative inspiration with Hrishikesh Hirway.

Hi, I'm Hrishikesh Hirway.

I'm a musician and the host of the podcast Song Exploder, and I have a new album out called In the Last Hour of Light.

Hrishikesh Hirway and Samin Nosrat co-host the world's most charming podcast, Home Cooking, and they both do many other things.

Hrish's podcasts include Song Exploder, and he's a musician with a new album out, In the Last Hour of Light.

Get it.

Samin's latest book is Good Things.

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made.

I'm Hrishikesh Hirway.

This episode contains explicit language.

This episode was produced by me, Craig Ely, Kathleen Smith, Mary Dolan, and Tiger Biscoe.

The episode artwork is by Carlos Lerma, and I made the show's theme music and logo.

Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a network of independent, listener-supported, artist-owned podcasts.

You can learn more about our shows at radiotopia.fm.

If you'd like to hear more from me, you can subscribe to my newsletter, which you can find on the Song Exploder website.

His experimentation game is absolutely insane.

I heard his Song Exploder episode where he was breaking down the theme for Killmonger for Black Panther.

And he talked about how he went all the way to Africa and told this street performer just the backstory of Killmonger and everything.

Street performer sits there and thinks about it for a little bit and he just starts playing something, just awful vibes.