A Google search on the positive merits of pen pals finds many thoughtful quotes. One anonymous quote reads: “A pen pal is a friend who sees you through your words, bridging the miles between two entirely different worlds.”
For Chicago songwriters Edward Anderson (The 1900s, Mazes, Temp Wishes) and Craig Benedict Valentine Badynee (PAS/CAL, Asha Vida), who recently formed the musical duo Céleri, that sentiment has blossomed into a special musical bond.
Over twenty years ago, the two were connected over the web through their mutual friend Scott Masson, who played with Chicago band Office. Badynee was living in Detroit at the time while Anderson lived in Chicago. While one may think and be used to pen pals living in different countries, there’s no minimum distance required.
“I think he just thought we’d get on well,” Badynee told SWT. “Scott and Ed were in Chicago while I was still living in Detroit. I think it was around the time my band, PAS/CAL, was releasing our Dear Sir EP and Ed’s band, the 1900s, was putting out the Plume Delivery EP. So maybe around 2006 or 2007?”
The two instantly found common ground discussing music. They started swapping emails and links to the “weirdo” music they were enjoying that week. “We spent about almost 20 years sporadically trading emails or DMs before actually working on music together,” said Badynee.
He recalls Anderson reaching out by email to say some kind words about one of PAS/CAL’s releases.
“That got me paying closer attention to what Ed & co. were doing with the 1900s, and there was an immediate mutual respect,” he said. “We became pen pals, trading links to things that were turning us on rather than sharing the songs we were writing ourselves. One of the most amazing artists I discovered through those correspondences was Vyto B. In fact, Ed worked with Vyto on his final recordings before he passed away in 2022.”
A year or two ago, they decided to take their musical bond to the next level and collaborate. Badynee received a demo Anderson was working on and asked if he’d sing on it. That became the song “The Pinch” (the band hope to release the song as their second single soon).
Badynee said that “unfinished demos took the place of links, usually accompanied by some variation of ‘Think you can add something to this?’”
“We work remotely, sending bits and pieces back and forth over email until a song takes shape,” said Badynee. “It’s a true collaboration, with both of us taking turns playing different instruments, singing lead and backing vocals, and writing lyrics.”
This past summer, the two finally met in person at one of Badynee’s solo shows and got to work on music.
We here at SWT are excited to premiere the music video for the band’s debut single “Silence in the Sidewalk”, “the first thing to emerge from that very long correspondence.” You can watch it below:
According to Anderson, who came up with the lyrics and concept for the music video, the song is “a meditation on the carefree feeling of having free time, a pocket full of cash and cloudy head.”
A song that, according to Badynee, “lands somewhere between the bruised jangle of the Field Mice, the haze of Pale Saints, and Syd Barrett’s lopsided whimsy,” adds to that sentiment.
The duo shot the video the second time they met, taking turns filming at Oak Park Village Hall at a geometric 1975 building inspired by Alvar Aalto’s Säynätsalo Town Hall.
“The video is a playful examination of musicians and their relationship to income: the dialectic between playing for fun and friendship versus ‘playing’ to survive,” said Anderson, who edited the footage.
Badynee later added some vintage textures to some of the footage by running some of it through his “ancient” Zenith VCR.
“The edit became another letter,” said Badynee.
The song is the first of a handful of songs and videos they plan to share.
“The plan is to put out singles every other month or so, let each one find its people, and let an album arrive when the songs have earned it,” said Badynee. “We seem to be playing in a Pale Saints / Field Mice / Syd Barrett sandbox of sound and wonder. It’s fun, which is nice, as my solo work has gotten a bit moodier.”
You can connect with Céleri at the following links:
- Badynee’s Instagram: Instagram.com/CBVB
- Anderson’s Instagram: Instagram.com/Sanzimat
- YouTube: Youtube.com/@CeleriVision
- Bandcamp: Soundofceleri.bandcamp.com
- The band’s fan club, Céleri Stalkers: Celeristalkers.netlify.app/
Joshua is co-founder of Scummy Water Tower. He’s freelanced for a variety of newspapers, magazines, and websites, including: Rolling Stone, The Boston Globe, Chicago Sun-Times, Guitar World, MTV News, Grammy.com, Chicago Magazine, Milwaukee Magazine, MKE Lifestyle, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, A.V. Club, SPIN, Alternative Press, Under the Radar, Paste, PopMatters, American Songwriter, and Relix. You can email him at josh@scummywatertower.com.
