Alex Brown Church, the man also known as Sea Wolf, has a lot going on at the moment: a beautiful new album, White Water, White Bloom, out now on Dangerbird Records, and a new cross-country tour with fellow LA-based musician Sara Lov, not to mention the inclusion of a previously unreleased track on the upcoming Twilight: New Moon soundtrack, where he’ll be joined by the likes of Thom Yorke and Death Cab for Cutie. In the midst of all that, Church managed to make some time to share his thoughts with me on White Water, White Bloom, the cities that inspire him, working with Sara Lov, and his favorite song on the record.

Erika Paget: You share a stage moniker with a Jack London novel that is about a man who is strong and intelligent but also very rough and cynical. He briefly finds love but ultimately dies a lonely man who has refused help from those who care for him. Does the novel itself, or any of its themes, play a role in your music or your lyrics?

Alex Brown Church: London was kind of a self-taught, blue-collar intellectual, so I identify with that and the themes of his novels but not necessarily that particular character or book. On the whole, I think I’m probably more optimistic than London, but I identify with his roots and a lot of his themes.

EP: How do you decide the orchestration for your songs? In other words, how do you decide which songs will be set against a simple guitar and drum and which songs will have a more full orchestral sound behind them?

ABC: The songs decide that for themselves. They have a way of guiding you along in the writing and recording process. I just record parts until it feels like there’s enough there. Sometimes you go too far and have to scale back some of the parts you did. Either way, there is usually a very clear Eureka moment in the arranging process when it suddenly all comes together and you know it’s pretty much done.

EP: Would you describe your music as seasonal? In my opinion, your albums have a very Autumnal feeling to them.

ABC: I suppose so, but I don’t really know. The first album, I think, was definitely Autumnal, and purposefully so. I think White Water, while still peppered with autumnal and wintry imagery, is a bit [broader] than the first one; at least, that’s how I intended it to be.

EP: You’re based in L.A. Does the city inspire you at all? What city that you’ve visited or lived in has inspired you the most?

ABC: Honestly, L.A. doesn’t inspire me too much, but I’m not there that much either. Most of my inspiration comes from travel and other places I’ve lived.  I wrote the majority of the new record in Montreal while visiting my girlfriend there. I also like to draw on my time in NYC, and France, Northern California, Seattle, places I’ve been to on tour, etc. I think I draw more inspiration from the West Coast as a whole than just L.A.

EP: What is your writing process like? Is it very contained, as in, do you sit in one place and just write? Or is it more of a fluid process, where you just jot down ideas as they come to you?

ABC: Again, both. I tend to sit in the same place to write. For this record, it was my girlfriend’s kitchen, but the process involves lots of song-sketching, jotting down lyrical ideas, making a big mess, and then cleaning it up.

EP: You appeared on Sara Lov’s record, Seasoned Eyes Were Beaming, this year. You did a duet with her on the song “Animals.” What was it like to work her?

ABC: She’s a good friend, so naturally it was a lot of fun. It was also a real eye-opener because we tracked the vocals at the same time, and she’s such a good singer, she just nailed it with ease. We only did a couple of takes, and I wasn’t sure I was satisfied with my vocals because I was used to laboring over it a lot more, but she loved it so it stayed. Listening to it now, I’m happy with my vocals on it. That experience taught me to be a bit looser with recording vocals. Thanks, Sara.

EP: What is your favorite song on the new record and why?

ABC: Hard to say because there is more than one favorite.  I’m really happy with this record on the whole, but my current favorite is “Turn the Dirt Over” because it’s one the best melodies I feel I’ve ever written, and I love the instrumentation.  It just feels really good to sing.

EP: How would you say this album is different from your 2007 full-length, Leaves in the River? Do you find yourself wanting to evolve your sound, or focus and perfect it, or both?

ABC: I always want to do both. Focusing and perfecting is an evolution, but I’m also always trying to push the boundaries on what I’ve done before — push out of my comfort zone a bit and take some chances. I feel I did both on this record. Outside of the songwriting for this album, I wanted to make something that had more of a band feel and vibrancy but still felt like Sea Wolf, and this album has both to me.