Photograph by CJ Foeckler

As recently documented, we love Conrad Plymouth. The Milwaukee-based group’s blend of alt-country and shimmering pop is built on roots of organic familiarity – finger-picked acoustic guitars, decorative piano lines, straight-forward percussion – yet it raises these to gorgeous, unforetold heights in choruses of inspirational pageantry. At the forefront of all the illuminate commotion is former Eau Claire and Rochester, MN wunderkind Chris Porterfield. His voice, made of clarity and an accent born somewhere in Northern Wisconsin – on car rides through country, on camping trips, on dusky memories or elsewhere – shines through as a blissful teller of memoirs and reminders of honest hope. “This is the one in which I miraculously pulled out of a free-fall dive over Fergus Falls, Minnesota,” he sings on the standout track “Fergus Falls,” from Conrad Plymouth’s self-titled EP. It begins as a mere matter-of-fact, humble story, but after a great upheaval by way of uplifting song, it becomes an emotional celebration of human feat and understanding.

Porterfield recently answered a few of our questions about the current band’s formation, multiple previous transformations, an album that was never released and an upcoming show on a boat. He also tactically avoided a question about a phenomenon dubbed the “Freshman Sensation,” which close friends from Eau Claire may remember with either fondness or blurriness, or both.

Listen to the opening track, “Metamora,” from Conrad Plymouth’s self-titled EP.

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AP: Conrad Plymouth has changed member-wise in shape and size many times. What is the current lineup, along with former bands and instruments played?

CP: Yeah, this project has been a continuing revelation. I’ve added and axed a number of pieces over the years. The current lineup is an amazing bunch of dudes. We are realizing the sound I’ve been hearing for a while. Nick Berg plays keys; he’s an ace songwriter and engineer. He’s in the midst of a new Nick Berg record, as well as producing several others. Travis Whitty plays bass; he’s got a project called Golden Coins that is putting out a record soon. They’ll be playing with Future Islands coming up. Damian Strigens plays drums; he’s got an incredible band with his wife called Testa Rosa. It’s A.M. radio gold. If you need a summer record, get this one. He just got back from Animal Collective’s All Tomorrow’s Parties, where he played with the Frogs. Jeff Mitchell plays guitar. He’s the newest member, and he’s our Weapon X. He’s got a solo project, and has a great jug band called the Jackson Street Polecats. He was in Piss Missile too…

AP: What was Bookhouse? How was it different, or not different from Conrad Plymouth? What happened to it?

CP: Bookhouse was an early incarnation of my stuff fleshed out with other people. Bookhouse played 1.5 shows, in early 2007 – an in-studio at a Milwaukee radio station, and then we opened up for Bon Iver at Mad Planet.  That one collapsed due to geography and different visions for the project. None of those guys are in the current band.

Conrad Plymouth was initially meant to be just me. That name came from a night at the Joynt in 2003 or so. We were coming up with 1970′s country music stage names, the caveat being you had to use the same initial letters as your real name. Brad Cook was Billy Cunningham. I can’t remember the others. Josh Scott might have been Jerry Simmons. I think Vernon was Jose Valentin, or something. Brian Moen was Brock Mansfield maybe. But Brad came up with Conrad Plymouth for me, and we thought it was gold.

Anyway, that name became a clearinghouse for throwaway stuff. I wrote a bit for Volume One at the time, and if there was something that I wasn’t really interested in using my real name for the byline, I’d ask to use Conrad Plymouth. Nick Meyer would sometimes oblige. I started writing songs in 2005, and it made sense to me to have a separate identity for them. I kept that going when I moved to Milwaukee in 2006, even though nobody knew who I was there.

I always intended to name this band something else, but we never did. So now, Conrad is the band, and I do solo stuff under my name, which I’m not crazy about. We are going to have a full band Conrad Plymouth record hopefully this summer, and I want to have a solo record out too, maybe under ‘Comrade Plymouth.’

AP: In recent discussion, we found out that Conrad Plymouth recorded a batch of songs for a new album, but those all got scrapped. Can you explain what happened with those? When can we expect a new release?

CP: Yeah, we tracked ten songs in March, but after sitting with them for a while, I wanted to start over. The performances weren’t right, the vibe was wrong. We also recently added Jeff to the mix, and he is literally changing everything about us, in the best ways, so we want to have his stamp on the record too. The EP we made laid a lot of groundwork for us last year, so I want to do this full length right. You can expect it by summer’s end.

AP: Boat Show? What is that? You’re playing one in the very near future?

CP: The Milwaukee Boat Line does some shows in the summer. You get on a yacht that holds about 150, and cruise down the Milwaukee River, out into the harbor of Lake Michigan. The sun sets, the city lights up, the drinks flow, and it’s a blast. It’s great way to both see the city and experience music in a different way, and we are doing one on June 4th.

AP: Finally, and probably most importantly, there’s an old UWEC legend called the “Freshman Sensation.” What do you know about this?

CP: The Freshman Sensation was For UWEC, Forever Ago.