Thank Lou and goodnight!

s scholars of the US indie scene will be well aware, Louis Knox Barlow has one of the longest and most chequered CVs in the business. Making experimental lo-fi rock music since his mid-teens, the 46-year-old Ohioan is an original founding member of three of the once-hippest bands on the alternative circuit - Sebadoh, Dinosaur Jr and The Folk Implosion – and has released more albums, EPs, singles and downloads at this stage than even he can remember.

Deeply underground for the first half of the Noughties, he’s been making up for lost time since. In the four years since the release of his career-defining, mainly acoustic, solo record, Emoh, Barlow has regrouped and toured with Dinosaur Jr and reissued three of Sebadoh’s classic albums. On his melodic new solo release, Goodnight Unknown, the veteran rocker sings the line: “What we did won’t be what we’re remembered for.”
So what does Barlow think he will be remembered for?
“I don’t know,” he muses, after a long pause. “I really don’t know. I’m sort of hoping that, whatever it is, it’ll be something I haven’t done yet.”
Having endured more than his fair share of soaring highs and crushing lows over the years, what’s the best lesson Barlow has taken from his three decades of being a professional musician?
“I guess not to take everything so seriously,” he says. “Or at least to realise that it’s not so important. Especially with music. I mean, it’s pretty lightweight. The songs to me can mean the world, they can mean absolutely everything to me, like my flesh and blood, but when you put it out into the world, it’s really just another disposable piece of music to everyone else. If I play a song on the radio or get to play live on TV or something, I no longer see it as make-or-break. It really doesn’t matter.”
Have you lost belief in the notion that a song can change the world?
“I still believe that, but I think it has a lot to do with timing and context. Someone could’ve written the best song ever written five years ago, and nobody might’ve heard it yet. But if the planets are aligned and they’ve written a song and people decide to listen and pay attention then... You know, I believe that songs can change people’s worlds. It can change your day, it can change your outlook. I believe in the power of music. But sometimes the pressures that surround putting out records and the business of making music... a lot of those things I think it’s best to not take too personally.”
What’s been the lowest point of your career?
“I put out a record called The Sebadoh with Sebadoh and I put out One Part Lullaby with Folk Implosion. That was in 1999 and, within a year, Sebadoh was a failure and my partner in Folk Implosion had quit on the eve of the album’s release. And I just remember misery for almost the next two years. And realising that the people that cared before didn’t care now – or then. And that all the things that had made me unique before were now just a liability. That was a lot to handle.”
And the highest?
“I guess in the last two years, getting back together with Sebadoh and doing a few reunion tours and also doing the Dinosaur Jr thing - and then the success of the Dinosaur reunion. And on top of that, to be able to do this new record that I’ve done, Goodnight Unknown. I felt really good about it all. I felt like I’d really definitively overcome the bad times. And I think that in itself was a highlight. That I’ve survived and I’m actually feeling more inspired and more energetic than I have in ages. It’s hard to remember a time when I’ve felt quite so positive and energetic as I do right now.”
Can you sum up the new album in a single word?
“No!” he laughs. “It’s, em, 14 short songs!”