In the title track of Field Report‘s new EP, Trust In Movements Made, bandleader Chris Porterfield sings, “Trust in movements made. They’ll be better days. Don’t always see a way, but I’m holding on.” While they’re his lyrics, delivered with his voice in his band’s song, the sentiment belongs to someone else. For the first time in his project’s lengthy tenure, Porterfield relied on works from other writers to serve as the source material for a Field Report release.
Earlier this year, Porterfield was selected to be the Artist In Residence for a program at LOTUS Legal Clinic—an organization that supports survivors of human trafficking and sexual violence in Wisconsin—and adapt works from five people in its writer’s workshop into songs. After months of work and collaboration (and a late assist from his Field Report band mates), Trust In Movements Made was released September 6. On Thursday, September 12, Field Report will play the EP during a LOTUS Legal Clinic “Rise & Thrive Concert Fundraiser” at The Cooperage before the project takes an extended hiatus. Prior to the concert and his band’s indefinite break, Milwaukee Record spoke to Porterfield about the unique, challenging, and fulfilling process of making this EP.
Milwaukee Record: How did this project come about? What was its inception?
Christopher Porterfield: Well, they approached me last fall to gauge my interest in coming on as the Artist In Residence for the Rise & Thrive program of the LOTUS Legal Clinic. This place provides legal assistance to people who have survived human trafficking and sexual abuse. Part of their approach is to also offer therapeutic services, and part of that includes a writer’s workshop. So Rise & Thrive is where they pair up graduates of this writer’s workshop with other artists. Sometimes it’s been MIAD students responding visually to some of these writings. They also publish a literary journal.
Last year was the first time they brought in a musician to respond to some of this work—they brought in Marielle Allschwang. She was the first musician to get this award, then they asked me if I was interested in doing it. I met with the director and talked through it with them. Beginning in April, I started meeting with five different writers and they submitted a bunch of different pieces to me for consideration to respond to, and then I went through all of these different works and tried to make something that would honor the intent of their original stuff and also seem like it was something coming from me to. So from April to August, I worked on this music, resulting in this EP and a big fundraising show September 12.
MR: When it comes to the adaptation, you mentioned you’re trying to honor what they’ve written and what they’ve offered to you while also projecting through the portal of you as a songwriter and the Field Report project. Was it difficult to balance that task of making Field Report songs that are also rooted in other people’s lives and experiences?
CP: Yeah, it was a challenge, but it didn’t take any convincing to try to come to terms with that challenge. I started viewing it more like the work of these writers were a novel that was being adapted for screen. It was trying to turn this raw material into a different format, but still keep the story the same. It was just making sure it was in tune with the spirit of [their stories]. I had some check-ins with each of the writers to see if I was on the right track. Some of them just said, “Go do you,” and others had more granular input. At the end, you have to make some choices and some concessions, amplify some things and minimize others. My hope is that the resulting music feels like it resonates in the same way as their original work.
MR: For a lot of Field Report’s prior material, I know you’ve written either from real people’s lives and perspectives or with the voice of imagined individuals, but it was always you taking the reins with what they’re saying and feeling. Was it easier to have the already-built framework of another person being like “This happened to me. This is how I feel. This is what I want to express,” and handing you a manual? Or did you feel like you were going into the songwriting process with strict rules you had to follow?
CP: Normally for Field Report, I’m the sole writer for that material. I have been co-writing stuff for other projects with other people, but that’s generally bringing an idea or two, then getting in a room, and generating it together. This is the first time I’ve ever worked where there’s a fully-formed and completed thing, then I’m supposed to deconstruct that and make something new out of it. That was a challenge, but the creative scope couldn’t get too abstract with it. I wanted to honor where it was coming from. I just wanted to be really sensitive with what they highlighted.
I lived with the writings for a couple months and reread them and tried to live inside them. When I finally felt like I understood everything that was trying to be conveyed, that was when I started to get more comfortable with rearranging things, highlighting things, and determining what I deemed to be absolutely necessary and other stuff that could be secondary or more tertiary. Then it was trial and error. My primary goal and sensitivity was to make sure these writers felt they were heard. As writers or artists or creators, ultimately I think the goal is to make sure someone has heard you.
MR: I know this a very broad question, but what were some of the themes you addressed in the interpretations on your EP?
CP: When people hear about people who’ve survived trafficking situations, suddenly that puts a very specific light on the work that resulted, but these five writers are people who have been in the program for several years. This is not the first time they’re putting their process to paper. The focus of this particular writer’s workshop was moving forward, and hope, and growth, and change, and how far they’ve come, and how they’re ready to start looking forward. That’s a pretty optimistic take on a very heavy idea.
In that regard, it was really cool to be a champion of these people. I wanted to highlight some of their successes and growths and echo that back to them so they could be aware of the excellent work that they’re doing. I wondered for a while whether or not I was equipped to be a worthy partner in this project. My life doesn’t necessarily run directly parallel to these experiences. I didn’t want to be a tourist. One of the writers said—and several of the writers spoke about this in their pieces—something along the lines of “I’m just so tired of having to carry this all the time. This becomes the only thing people want to talk about and the only way people define me. I’m just really tired of having every aspect of my life tied up in this stuff.” I realize that part of the power of this artist residency was being forced to touch that thing, too. I think it’s the responsibility of the community to engage with it and recognize it. These are real people with real lives that live in our community.
MR: I ask about the themes because when you first reached out about the EP, I’ll admit I waited a day or two longer that usual to hit the play button because I needed to prepare myself to be in the headspace for what I thought that might be a difficult listening experience. But once I finally did, I found the EP to be very hopeful and optimistic. There’s a warmth that exists amid the difficulty. The hardship is flanked with optimism that comes through in the music and some of the lyrics. I think it’s clear these people also don’t want to live in it and they don’t want to be defined by the worst moments of their lives.
CP: Absolutely. I’m glad that comes through. I met a couple times with the five different writers for the five different songs. Just meeting with them as human beings, members of our community, people who have families and friends, and go to work. They’re us. Hearing about their experiences, you get to know someone and suddenly your heart is more open to them. I wanted to defend them and the stories they labored on to broadcast their experience to the world. Sometimes that would be a big picture, impressionistic look back on real trauma. Sometimes that would be something like, “Man, it took me a really long time to be able to go to a party.” Both of those are valid ways to want to broadcast your experience. It wasn’t going item-by-item through suffering and struggle. There’s an echo of that, but most of it is: life is hard, but it can be pretty good sometimes.
Photo: Joe Kirschling
MR: At some point along the way, this went from being a solo venture into a full-fledged, full band Field Report EP. What ultimately led you to doing that?
CP: I spent so much time with this stuff that it was starting to feel like I was losing the plot or like I couldn’t be trusted to be objective about everything. I really needed the light from those other people to contribute to what I was working on. We’ve talked about how you just need someone to hear what you’re doing and respond to it in an affirming way and suddenly in can become the thing that it wants to be. I had to do that with the Field Report people—with Barry Clark, Devin Drobka, and Caley Conway—and have it heard, responded to, and to get somebody else’s energy on it for it to coalesce into what it wanted to be. I needed them.
They came in pretty late in the game, but I was floundering creatively and organizationally. I was up all night working with no progress and was overwhelmed with everything. I was like, “I don’t have a budget for this and need it, like, now, but can you come over and save me?” And they did, and it was incredible. Sometimes when you just let your friends show up for you, it’s a beautiful thing.
MR: Is there anything else you’d like to say?
CP: For fans of Field Report, this is going to be the last chance to connect with that project in a live way anytime soon. My wife is having a baby in about a month and I’m going to disappear for a while. The older I get, the less inclined I am to hustle. And the deeper into this century we get, I feel like the more hustle is required. If you want to see me live, this is your shot—for the calendar year and for the foreseeable future.
Field Report will take part in LOTUS Legal Clinic’s “Rise & Thrive Concert Fundraiser” at The Cooperage on Thursday, September 12. All proceeds from the event and from sales of Field Report’s Trust In Movements Made EP will support LOTUS‘ mission of providing free legal and support services to survivors of human trafficking and sexual violence in Wisconsin.
