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As the campfire light goes out and the end of summer sets in, we start to reflect on times spent with loved ones that will forever remain in our memory. Rising folk singer-songwriter Theo Kandel’s debut album arrives at the perfect time, reminding listeners to learn every moment, no matter how fleeting. Described as a “love letter to your 20’s”, Eating & Drinking & Being In Love’ lyrical content and sonic atmosphere measure up to the importance of those eye-opening years. Using his folk-meets rock spirit to capture what means most, Kandel’s debut is the perfect soundtrack for saying goodbye to summer nights and welcoming in the change of fall. Make sure to catch Kandel supporting Jordy Searcy on his upcoming fall tour. 

We caught up with Theo Kandel and asked 10 questions about his debut album, Eating & Drinking & Being In Love: 

OnesToWatch: Tell us how you chose this as the title for your debut album!

Theo Kandel: I was playing some early songs for people, and they aptly noticed that in each of those songs, I mentioned eating or drinking (often both). And they’re love songs. Enough with the irony, enough with the trying to be cool – let’s just call it what it is. So much of your twenties is literally eating and drinking and being (or wanting to be) in love, and I finally found myself at a place in life where I could revel in consumption rather than fear it. 

Speaking of the album title, what were you eating and drinking while making this record? 

We spent essentially 4 days recording the whole album, and in that time I probably consumed only 3 things: 1. Piquante chicken Caesar wrap from Lenny’s for lunch (I guess it’s called Lenwich now but I’ll never accede to that), 2. Halal cart combo over rice with white and red sauce for dinner (probably my top food in the world), and 3. Miller High Life. Nutritious, energizing, stimulating. 

What were your sonic inspirations? 

While Jack Kleinick (my producer) and I were super aligned on what we wanted the album to sound like, there was still a push and pull. That’s a good thing. We both are huge fans of current artists like Adrianne Lenker/Big Thief (“Honeydew Moon” inspo), Dawes (“On My Mind”), Ryan Beatty (“Lunch” & “Teeth”), but obviously, a lot of my songwriting is influenced by classic folk artists like James Taylor, Jackson Browne, Joni Mitchell, etc. We wanted to pay homage to that era of music as well without sounding parodic. A light pastiche, if you will. Songs on the album like “Nothing New” and “Romanticizing Poets” exist within that world. 

What were the main differences you noticed when making an album versus making your previous EPs? 

There was a whole lot of intention when making this album – I wouldn’t quite call it a concept album (that’ll certainly come at some point), but at every turn of the writing and recording

process, I was thinking about it as a complete project rather than a loose patchwork quilt. The threading of the album is pretty tightly woven, from the lyrical imagery to the sonic structure. My first EP, Spin Cycle, oddly, was the closest I’ve gotten to the kind of consistency that we achieved with this album. It was chronologically-organized, it did come with a complete visual EP, and it sure was a set of sadass songs, but the songs themselves just weren’t up to scratch. I guess I needed time to hone my craft. 

What if it all works out in the end? was an exercise in range, but it didn’t really make sense. Why would “Me & All My Friends Have Got the Blues” and “Half as Cool” exist in the same TheoVerse™? Ultimately, while my intentions were good, the execution was a bit haphazard. I was still figuring out my sound! 

When I put out Somewhere Along the Trail, Vol. 1 last year, I was basically saying, “Here’s a blank slate: three acoustic, live songs. Let the people take my music at its core – the songwriting – and decide if they want to stick with it wherever it goes.” 

Eating & Drinking & Being in Love is the product of time spent thinking about these things. Writing an album with purpose and recording it in a strict period of time acts as a kind of glue – whatever it ends up being, you can feel that. 

When it comes to track listing, how did you decide on the order? 

We cut up pieces of paper and wrote the songs on each of them and shifted ‘em all around until it made sense!

The first four are the appetizers – just some sonic and thematic tastes of what the album is. We move on to the entrees (“Fixer Upper”, “Nothing New”, “One More Night (With My Friends in the City)”, “On My Mind”), and that’s where a lot of the meat is. There are things to work through in 

there – pain and contemplation and friendship – and while the album is generally positive, you can’t have the joy without the loss. A balanced meal. The special of the day (“Joshua Tree Interlude”) is a little coming of age palate cleanser. And what’s a good meal without dessert? “Romanticizing poets” is an indulgent chocolate lava cake, and “Teeth” is the espresso at the end of dinner that gives you that pep in your step.

The single covers and album covers are so cozy and beautiful. Tell us about the visual process of the album? 

I see the album as spanning a specific (but relatively long) period of time, from spring to early autumn. The singles from the album line up pretty well with that. “Lunch” is a tree with its first buds of the year. “On My Mind” is that funny feeling you get when spring turns to summer. “The Painters” is peak summer, windows down, sunburnt beach days. “Honeydew Moon” is ripe cherry juice running down your chin. And the album itself is a second summer – an unseasonably warm day when the leaves are still changing. Visually, we wanted to represent each of those seasons.

My good friend and amazing photographer and musician Kate Stephenson took the lead on the photoshoot for the cover art, and she did an amazing job. The album cover is actually a film photo taken by my girlfriend, Grace Runnels! 

Who’s your favorite poet to romanticize and why? 

I mean, “Lunch” wouldn’t exist without Frank O’Hara’s Lunch Poems, so I gotta give it to Frank. The way he describes New York is romantic, but not sappy. It’s real; it’s gross; it’s beautiful. He died young, at 40 years old, and I think we have a tendency as a culture to mythologize creative people who pass away with so much more to give the world. Of course, it’s necessary to celebrate them, but part of the legend comes from untimely death. 

I wrote “Romanticizing Poets” when I had just turned 27, and that’s obviously a charged age for musicians and creatives. The “27 Club” has been mythologized, romanticized, celebrated even as the infamous age at which so many bright young stars have tragically died. Too many people 

(myself included) have exalted these stories as legends while forgetting the very real people with very real issues behind them. I’ve always wondered if my music would be better if I was more tortured, more troubled, more mystical. I use so much of my own life in my songs that I often feel like I’m fictionalizing it, and I don’t want to lose the humanity of it all in my journey for 

success. The song is set in Paris, and the lyrics make references to things like the “white Bics” supposedly found in the pockets of the musicians that died young (fake), or “Saturn Return,” the astrological transit that occurs when the planet Saturn returns to the same ecliptic longitude that it occupied at the moment of a person's birth (about 29 years, taken from Wikipedia). We often whitewash the more unsavory parts of a person’s life to keep them on a pedestal that we’ve posthumously constructed, and that does as much damage as forgetting them in the first place. 

What would your perfect night with your friends in the city entail? 

It’s a burger at J.G. Melon, then a few cheap beers at a bar, then many charged and competitive beer pong games. “One More Night” was a happy song when I wrote it – my bro-y take on “You’ve Got A Friend” – but it’s changed for me recently. A few weeks ago, one of my best friends since I was in kindergarten passed away unexpectedly. It’s an inexplicable kind of sadness to lose a friend, a suffocation of the heart, and during this awful time, I’ve been thinking a lot about that perfect night that I mentioned. It’s a night we shared and replicated over and over again, and I’d give anything to have just one more of those nights with him. 

What’s your favorite sound that’s not music? 

The sounds of people talking around a fire. Sticks crackling, beer glugging, friends laughing.

Who are your OnesToWatch?

I gotta just put a bunch of my friends on here because I love my friends and they are talented! There are too many I’d like to list, so I’ll limit myself to some of my LA friends for now because I just left LA for NYC (goodbye LA <3). Sorry if I forgot anyone. 

- Ben Kessler 

- Wingtip 

- Ethan Tasch 

- Rose Betts 

- Julián Dysart 

- Charlie Hickey 

- Katie Pearlman