by Daniel Colussi | The music that gets played on my stereo is deeply affected by the weather. Two weeks of sunny days has meant a steady flow of Grateful Dead live bootlegs. How perfect it was to speak with Jesse Lortz on a rainy day. Lortz is the man behind Case Studies, and this is definitely music that falls under the rainy day category. Lortz was previously one half of Seattle garage rock duo The Dutchess And The Duke, who’s succinct folky-garage was bouncy and instantly pleasing, although lyrically dark. Case Studies is a full on retreat into darkness. Lortz’ second long player, This Is Another Life, is a purposely downer record for sure, a beauty of a dark ride. But then we all get depressed once and a while, and most of like to listen sad songs once and a while too. The bad news: this weekend calls for rain. The good news: Case Studies plays the Cobalt on Sunday. I know where I’ll be waiting out the rain.

So Case Studies is kind of an amorphous entity as far as touring goes. What’ll your band be for your show at the Cobalt? I’m not really actually sure because the guy who plays lead guitar and site doesn’t have a passport (laughs), so we’re going to have to try and wing it at the border and if he can’t get across then we’re going to have to reformat because the songs are pretty guitar-heavy now. But in the very least there’ll be drums and keys and bass (laughs). I don’t really know what it’s going to end up being!

You’ve toured a fair amount doing Case Studies as a solo thing right? Do you like the band format better? This is actually the first that I’ve done this as a band. We’ve done two shows so far, and it’s sounding really cool and interesting. It’s a totally different sound than just me. It was just easier to tour by myself and do shows by myself because I wouldn’t have to organize band practice or guitar players’ passports, you know? But it’s just kind of boring for me. It got to a point where it’s just kind of boring to play by myself.

Given the songs and vibe of Case Studies, do you like doing these songs live over and over? Is it a drag? It’s a total drag (laughs). It’s like the whole reason you write a song is to get past something or solve a problem. And then, theoretically, you solve it by making the song, but then to have to relive it over and over through performance…it’s almost counterintuitive.

Does that make you want to write some songs with a different tone? Yeah, actually I just wrote a song about fire the other day. We’ve got a show tomorrow at this art space. Arturo Medrano, who’s done some of the sleeve art, is going to be in town and the title of the show is Staring Into A Dying Fire. And so that was a really great, evocative line and I wrote a song based on that, I guess. And you know having a full band takes the song out of the realm of…even though the content is the same it makes it more entertaining, more fun.

Playing with a band gives it a bit more of a feeling of release? Yeah. I’m a big fan of the Gris Gris records.

Tell me about recording with Greg Ashley. He’s a wonderful person in a very unique way and also ridiculously talented. As far as anecdotes, I don’t really know. Any of them would be embarrassing for both of us, probably!

I’m not looking for dirt or anything, but what’s the dynamic between you two? He’s just a good foil for you in the studio? Yeah, I trust him a lot. And I admire his work. It’s been really influential on mine in terms of what you can get out of an arrangement or an amount of instruments. And he’s not going to let you leave the project with a half-assed piece of work. He wants you to have the best song you can have. And I trust his taste. He’s great.

You’ve got a Vancouver connection in that Sweet Rot put out a 7″ for you and you made the cover art of a Sex Church LP. So what’s up with you and our rad city? I’ve known the guys in Sex Church for ten years probably. I mean, before the internet and stuff you really had to latch on to anyone you met who had similar taste as you. So there’s a lot of relationships that’ve kind of survived the internet. I’ve done artwork for Sweet Rot over the years and Jeff is great. They’re all good guys and I really like being up there. Everyone I know up there is really supportive.

I’m aware of you’re love of Richard Brautigan. Have you seen the massive new biography Jubilee Hitchhiker yet? Yeah, the William Hjortsberg biography? Yeah. Actually, my girlfriend works at Elliot Bay Books in Seattle and they hosted a reading from Hjorstberg, so I actually got a signed copy of that book and I just started reading it the other day.

Case Studies with Nerve City and Sex Church at The Cobalt Sunday August 18th.

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Daniel Colussi is the Music Editor of Scout Magazine and a contributing writer to Ion Magazine. A veteran employee of Zulu Records and tuneage aficionado, he DJs on an infrequent basis (about four times a year) and is a musician around town who plays in several ensembles.