New York based singer-songwriter Frank Bango graciously disrupted his convalescence after chemotherapy to answer a couple of questions about his fourth album The Sweet Songs Of Decay which was released earlier this year.

Where are you at the moment?

At the moment, I am in Jacó, Costa Rica cooking breakfast for guests at a hotel. Not sure how I got here, I think I entered through a portal from another time in space. I’ve learned how to make Gallo Pinto which is the Costa Rican take on rice and beans…. quite delicious.

There’s an extraordinary breadth of mood in The Sweet Songs Of Decay, from utterly upbeat (I’m thinking ‘Summerdress’) to really quite stark (‘If A Plane Goes Down’), from introspective analyses (‘Bunny in a Bunny Suit’) to declarations of love with dark undertones (‘International Sign For Sorry’). It should be very hard to sum it up which is why I’m fascinated by the title because it sounds like it’s trying to. I guess that your overall theme is how life is made more sweet by being bitter – am I anywhere near?

That sounds good to me. In a nutshell, I’m believing that our tendency to judge events based on how convenient they are for us as humans to continue living our lives without turbulence is asking for trouble. Life is turbulence. Events are not good or bad. If labeling an event “bad” makes us unhappy, then we may as well look for the good and stay happy as often as possible. That’s just a thought.

So would you describe yourself as an optimist?

I’d like to be. I must be to some degree or the album would be called The Brutally Painful and Horribly Depressing Songs of Decay.

Track four is all about a lonely girl in school called Angela Eagleton. Does she really exist?

Absolutely!! I have the pictures to prove it.

In ‘What This Place Needs’, you include a sample from that classic western The Searchers where Martha goes “Some day this country’s gonna be a fine, good place to be. Maybe it needs our bones in the ground before that time can come.” Was the film, or just the quote, part of the inspiration for the song?

Probably the whole film. There are a number of scenes in it that promote the “sweet songs of decay” philosophy or maybe it’s the “Searchers” philosophy. I enjoy movies quite a bit and Richy [Vesecky, Bango's songwriting partner] tends to reflect his world view with them. Sometimes we use them as a way to motivate our work on a project. It’s very satisfying to have an initial inspiration reaffirmed with evidence that other artists are communicating on the same subject. That was the last song written for the album. I had been watching the film again and speaking to Richy and that line of dialogue seemed to resonate with the idea that maybe our role in nature doesn’t really have anything to do with what would be convenient for us humans.

What about the quote at the end of ‘Bunny In A Bunny Suit’ (“It’s the source of a fish, it’s the source of a tree, the source of star, it’s a beautiful, beautiful full field”) - where’s it from?

I’ve been practicing transcendental meditation for a while. That was taken from a lecture that David Lynch gave describing his experience with meditation. It’s actually meant to set the stage for ‘I Saw the Size Of The World’ but when I mastered the record, I chose to tag it to the end of ‘Bunny In A Bunny Suit’.

The final track ‘Garden Variety’ is three minutes of birds singing. I was a bit puzzled to begin with but I’ve grown to really love it, not least the way it loops into ‘You Always Begin By Saying Goodbye’ if you have the album on repeat. How did you come up with the idea? Is it the sound of when all our bones are in the ground?

I don’t know when that happened. I think it just felt nice. I assembled a bunch of nature sounds and found it very soothing. I know that I often find myself in that strange mindset after I listen to an album from beginning to end. Sometimes when I’m really zoned out listening to a great record, the gaps in between songs take on a life of their own. When I’m really relaxed, they can feel really long. It’s a wonderful feeling. I suppose I wanted to create an environment for the listener to sit for a moment before they rush off to find the next record or go to work or school or whatever. The looping effect is just art imitating nature.

Do you have a favourite track?

It changes but I think ‘Worm Was Wood’ really came out the closest of all the songs to what was in my mind. I’m hoping that that recording will sound good in 5,10, or 20 years.

How do you and Richy Vesecky go about writing songs? Is it an Elton John/Bernie Taupin arrangement?

I guess it is. At this point, he’s writing lyrics and I’m writing music. The order changes in that I can give him a melody, he can give me a lyric, or we can give each other a fragment of either and we’re on our way. We also get the ball rolling many times with just a title. In fact, the blueprint for many of our future ideas are just a series of titles listed in order.

How did the Frank Bango Bone-Marrow-Thon-Stem-Cell-A-Bration Benefit go? [After Frank was diagnosed with cancer a bunch of friends got together and put on a concert to raise money for cancer charities].

It was a very beautiful outpouring of love from all of my friends and also some really talented people that didn’t even know me so well. The whole atmosphere was really great. I was really overwhelmed. Richard Buckner performed ‘Don’t Be A Shy Nurse’ by creating a series of loops on his guitar. It was quite moving. Also, At the end of the Dean And Britta set, Sean Eden (lead guitarist of Luna who had been playing with Victoria Williams and myself) joined them for an amazing rendition of ’23 Minutes In Brussels’ which is definitely one of my top 3 Luna songs. I was speaking to Mark Mulcahy on the phone about it and sharing some of my feelings about it and he said, “Frank, sometimes you just need to know that people love you and you gotta accept it from them.” I don’t wanna get all Oprah or anything but it was a beautiful night in my life and all the loving energy that I received from my friends will be something that I’ll be able to keep turning to whenever I need a little pick-me-up.

Do you have any plans to tour any time soon?

I would love to tour, absolutely. But I don’t think that I’ll be able to get it together until at least the spring. There are a lot of other aspects in my life I’m trying to cultivate; particularly my health so I’m not sure if I’m ready for a touring lifestyle. I find that very frustrating because I wanna play music but I think it’s probably going to have to be a series of strategically scattered shows on the East and West Coast.

What about in the UK?

Same applies. Would love to visit London again…I’ll get working on it.

Anyone awesome we should be listening to?

I’ve been really enjoying Curtis Mayfield’s ‘There’s No Place Like America Today’.  I’m finding it very empowering for me on a very individual level. I’ve also been enjoying the Fleet Foxes record which I think is beautiful.

Anything you want to get off your chest?

Facebook is scaring me. All of a sudden, everyone thinks they are the new Jerry Seinfield with their cute observations. On the other hand, it’s good for closing the books on past mistakes….. God help us, God Help us all.

Interview conducted by Garreth Brooke