Getting dumped helped Enigk boost confidence

Published 9:00 pm Thursday, December 28, 2006

With his recently released solo CD, “World Waits,” Jeremy Enigk feels he has found his own sound and gained renewed confidence as a songwriter.

But one factor that helped Enigk – well known as frontman of the now-defunct Sunny Day Real Estate and its successor, The Fire Theft – reach a new comfort level with his songs and his musical abilities was not something that would embolden a lot of artists.

“There was a certain point after The Fire Theft, the label we were on (Rykodisc Records) didn’t exercise its option to continue with us,” Enigk said in a recent phone interview. “That was sort of shocking to me because I had planned for that to go for quite awhile. And it exhausted me. I was like wow, I’ve never been able to maintain a label (deal). So I decided to just start my own label (Lewis Hollow Records). So it was one of those more of a change in my attitude as a person rather than the music. … It was really about just accepting myself and my music is an extension of that. Just hey, this is what I write. This is who I am. This is my style, and I accept it and I’m just going to go for it.”

Sunny Day Real Estate, which released four CDs before breaking up after the 2000 CD, “The Rising Tide,” is considered by some to be the prototype band for an entire wave of so-called emo bands for the way its songs blended open-hearted lyrics, hard-edged riffs and catchy pop-rock melodies.

Enigk and two other members of that group, drummer William Goldsmith and bassist Nate Mendel, then went on to form The Fire Theft, which released its self-titled debut CD in 2003.

The Fire Theft is on hiatus Goldsmith and Mendel have been busy for the past 18 months or so serving as the rhythm section in their other, more famous, band, the Foo Fighters.

As for Enigk, he got around to making “World Waits,” which arrived this year, a scant 10 years after his first solo release, “Return of the Frog Queen.”

In returning to the solo realm, Enigk sought to make “World Waits” significantly different from “Return of the Frog Queen.”

The 1996 CD was known for its prominent use of strings, horns and other orchestration to create a full sound. Enigk has said he drew from such diverse influences as the Beatles, classical music, Prince (especially the “Purple Rain” CD) and Gary Numan in creating that first solo effort.

“Like ‘Frog Queen,’ I was really adamant about almost emulating certain sounds and bringing them all together,” Enigk said. “I think by the time I did ‘World Waits’ I sort of really had discovered my own sound and just went with that. You know, bands didn’t really influence it as much as just my … I wanted it to be a more polished record. That was definitely an influence, wanting it to be a lot more accessible to a wider audience by making it more of a production, rather than a very raw recording like ‘Frog Queen.’

“World Waits” is still a lush album, but it’s not garnished so extensively with strings and orchestral layers. Instead, the CD has an airy sound centered more around Enigk’s appealing high register vocals. A few songs, such as “City Tonight” and “Damien Dreams,” do have elements of grit, but more often Enigk takes a lighter approach, using washes of guitars and keyboards to provide a bed of sound to support his supple vocal melodies which are the clear strength of the CD.

Although The Fire Theft remains a going concern to Enigk, Goldsmith and Mendel, it figures to be awhile before the group resurfaces. Enigk, for his part, plans to continue touring behind “World Waits” well into 2007.

A native of Everett, Enigk will finish this year with the shows this weekend in Tacoma and Seattle.

“It was my childhood, so I have a connection to it,” Enigk said of Everett. “It is a completely different world because I moved out of there when I was 13. I have a lot of really, really good memories from there, but moving … was probably one of the best things that ever happened, not because of Everett, but because of the opportunities that were created in Redmond. That’s where I met William (Goldsmith). That’s really when my life just started opening up and I started the journey of coming into an individual.”