By Within a whirl of ferocious grit and layers of enduring and deliberate delicacy, Kristyn Chapman has found her voice through Morpho. It’s her ecstatic and fulfilling new Chicago-based project that has established her as a first-time solo artist. Having signed to rising Los Angeles rock label Hit the North Records earlier last year, the multi-instrumentalist released her debut EP, MORPHO SEASON, made up of five songs dedicated to forward motion, while still acknowledging the distance traveled to get to where she is now. As a musician, most notably in her work as a guitarist, Chapman has explored many different dynamics in the music world, having joined a few bands in her hometown of Wichita, Kansas, and since garnering attention for her expansive playing style in bands like Chicago favorites Liska and Waltzer. Chapman’s abilities and faith in the artform have expanded in many areas of her musicianship. But, to her credit, MORPHO SEASON expels any of Chapman’s preconceived notions of her own ability as a songwriter, delving into themes of individuality, reconciliation, and personal engagement as she toys with beginnings and endings: a clear indication of Morpho’s newfound presence.
How has the post-release and tour months been treating you so far?
Kristyn Chapman: It’s been great. With this release, I just wanted to make a really big splash with it, and I feel like we did, which has been really exciting. But we have done two tours during the release, just week-long, self-booked stuff, so it’s been busy and really rewarding, but also such a long process of planning, so I haven’t even really thought about what post-December will be like.
Having worked on a few projects before now, how did Morpho Season represent a fresh start for you both personally and creatively?
KC: For most of my music career I’ve been the guitar player in a band. I had my own project one other time called Cartwheel, which was my first time writing songs. I put out one EP in 2019, but it was all I really wanted to do with that project. Writing the Morpho stuff felt really different from Cartwheel, so I guess I was quietly working on Morpho for a really long time. It just took me some time to get to know the songs and what kind of music I was trying to make. I started writing a lot of these songs in Wichita and then I moved to Chicago in 2021, so that was obviously a huge change, but really, really beneficial. I started playing in bands like Waltzer and Liska and getting integrated into the music scene that way. Eventually, I came up with the name Morpho, which I did feel really resonated with me as an artist and definitely has that new beginning aspect to it.
When writing these songs, the ones that started to feel different from what you had made as Cartwheel previously, when did you start to visualize this new project? What were some of the changes you started to notice in your writing and playing?
KC: Stylistically, my guitar playing was changing. I was listening to a lot of jazz stuff, so my guitar playing was becoming more intricate and I was getting more specific with the things that I play. But aside from the music aspect, I think lyrically I wanted to move away from Cartwheel, which was very emotionally exposed, so I intentionally wanted to obscure the meaning of the songs and leave things more open-ended.
Focusing on new beginnings, a lot of what the album refers to theme-wise is dealing with the past and certain memories as you grow into who you are now. In what ways did this embracing of the physical new beginning that is Morpho challenge you on how you would think of and write about the past?
KC: When I was writing these songs, I was really obsessed with the past, so I don’t know if it was intentional. It was more of just looking backward in a lot of ways and missing a moment in time that I wasn’t in anymore. My hometown is not a very big place at all, so I was just constantly reminded of that time in my life, which is another reason why moving was so beneficial. It was difficult to have a new beginning back home where I was because there were reminders all over the place.
So the distancing definitely helped?
KC: Yeah, and I guess stepping into a new phase and stripping away those narratives that you can have for yourself in a smaller town. It felt difficult to evolve and change because I was known as one thing, whereas the culture in Chicago is very much open to change and open to art and experimentation.
Did you find that when you moved to Chicago it was relatively easy to define that new narrative that you were looking for? Did you set out with any goals in mind to get you there?
KC: It just kind of happened naturally over time. I was very much in a mindset where I just wanted to say yes to things and just experiment and see what happens. And part of that was just joining bands. I remember when I met Liska. That morning I was, like, “Man, I really want to join a band in Chicago,” and then I happened to go shopping for clothes at where she worked and overheard her talking about needing a guitar player and her new EP while I was in the dressing room. When I went out, I had the clothes in my hand, and I was like, “Hey, I play guitar.” *laughs*
In the mindset of saying yes, in what ways did that affect the sound of Morpho? Did it bring in new people to work with or shift your process in ways you didn’t expect?
KC: The recording process was very winding and not efficient *laughs*. Looking back at Cartwheel, I really wish I would have taken the time to develop it more, so I didn’t want to rush this one. I worked with a few different people along the way, just learning how to make a record in a way that felt authentic and true to the music. The project ended up stalling at one point, and I knew this had to get done, so I took it home and finished it in Wichita, which actually felt really fitting. But there was a lot that worked and a lot that didn’t work. It was very much like having to tend to it throughout the whole process and showing up for it regardless of if it was hard or not. Kind of like a family member or friend—there are difficult moments and really rewarding moments—a lot of moments of doubt, too, where I was, like, “Man, this is stupid. Why am I doing this?” But I feel like every creative deals with that at some point.
Tell me a little bit about your new crew. How many of these people have you worked with in the past and how did they influence the way MORPHO SEASON turned out?
KC: Yes, Alex Burns engineered half the record so he definitely had a heavy hand in how it came out. I actually didn’t know him at all before then. That was very much a cold call that ended up working out really well because he’s such a talented audio engineer, and everything we recorded together sounds so good. And then Jason Kramer, who co-produced “Half of Two,” was a collaborator of Alex’s at the time, so that was also a new relationship. And then I joined Waltzer in 2022 where I met Sarah [Weddle] and Kelly [Hannemann], where eventually I was like, “”Hey, do you wanna hear my songs?” Before that, I was writing a lot of songs by myself in Logic with the Logic drummer. For certain things, it really doesn’t work well. I was really confused by some of my songs for a while until I had a human drummer come in, and Sarah is an amazing drummer and she wrote incredible parts. Then, when I went back home to Wichita, I worked with Will Erickson and Joey Lemon to finish the record. Will and I are long-time friends and collaborators, first playing together in a band in Wichita in 2012 called the Travel Guide and then playing in his project Team Tremolo. At the beginning, I think that I was craving starting fresh and having someone who doesn’t have any frame of reference on who I am, which feels kind of freeing—you can experiment in any way. But then it also felt good to have the real familiarity at the end of the project. Will and I have known each other for 12 years at this point, so it felt good to have the best of both worlds.
Having spent time playing and touring with other groups, what experiences, lessons, or dynamics did you want to make sure you brought into your solo work as you began recording and touring?
KC: Touring can be so stressful and hard and I’m really conscious of the environment that I’m creating and the conditions of the tour. Payment as well—people are taking time off from their jobs and I don’t want them to be high and dry. It’s a big ask to have someone come on tour with you. Actually, on this last tour, we were getting paid in cash a lot, and so I would give my band the per diems every day in cash, and it started this joke of, “Oh, mommy Morpho giving the cash out.” *laughs* This was also my first time booking the tours too, so just trying to book good shows so there’s a purpose to you being somewhere every night. I’ve done tours where nobody comes out, but people came to all of our shows, so that felt like a big accomplishment.
What’s next for Morpho?
KC: Next year is a little fuzzy still. Without making Morpho lose a ton of momentum, I’m actually joining a band to tour with them in a multi-instrumentalist kind of role, so I’m gonna shift my focus to that for a little bit. It’s gonna be international touring, too, which I’ve never done so it’ll be a good experience for me. At this point in my music career—it’s crazy even to say music career because for so long it never felt possible—I’m just going to be absorbing a lot and hopefully getting inspired. And then, when I’m not touring, I want to record and write with my band and do as much in Chicago as possible next year. But we’ve been very, very active, so I’m kind of ready to see what happens if I just let things be for a second and see.
You can grab MORPHO SEASON on vinyl and on digital over on Bandcamp!
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