Ex-Passion Pit keyboardist Xander Singh dissects all in podcast series ‘Teach Xander About Music’

0

xandersinghtwitter

When Passion Pit keyboardist Xander Singh was forced to resign his position in the band last year because of health issues, it brought on a huge existential crisis. “A lot of how I defined myself was by standing on stage,” he says. “It’s a weird feeling … to be back at ground zero, rebuilding.”

Singh, first encountered as part of the duo Pepper Rabbit, is chronicling his experience in a series of podcasts, “Teach Xander About Music,” which the L.A.-based musician began posting to Soundcloud late last year.

The podcasts are basically conversations with fellow musicians — honest and revelatory, exploring themes of identity, love, the creative process and the pursuit of clarity. They include talks with Isom Innis of Foster the People, Kelcey Ayer of Local Natives, Matt Lowell of Stranger, Geoff Halliday of Hands, photographer Andy Barron, Ian Hultquist of his old band and Kamtin Mohager of the Chain Gang of 1974.

Singh last year underwent a neck and spinal surgical procedure called Anterior Cervical Discectomy and Fusion. He explains in the podcast that he had experienced tremors in his left arm since he was a youngster, and that drinking was a “quick fix” but “not a habit that I feel I can keep as a part of my life.” Because of his physical limitations, he says, “touring is just not in the cards for me anymore.

“I need to figure out how to sustain myself financially and creatively,” adds Singh, who is currently writing music at home. “Talking to my friends about similar struggles … is really helping.”

Below, the current episodes of the podcast, which Singh hopes will be on iTunes some time this year: