Anthony Retka: 'Never Has, Always Will'
An Interview With Anthony Retka by Jeff Milo

One of the most poignant songs of the five featured on Anthony Retka’s new EP opens with the lyric: “loneliness doesn’t bother me… …it never really has, but I guess it always will…” I called Retka on an otherwise delightfully sunny afternoon, both of us commiserating on how so many people in the world, and even specifically within our shared circle of friends, are feeling lonely right now.

I tell him that I like the poetic variance of the title he’s chosen for this new EP (which you can find on Bandcamp right now), and how it’s got me ruminating… Of course, “never has, always will…” comes directly from the aforementioned lyric written by Retka, but as I’m writing this now, I’m posing a question to myself excised from its original meaning: Can music…, can songwriting…, get us through these lonely times? Maybe it never has…., but in a way, it always will.


“And listeners can always expand the meaning and definition for themselves; I love creating a song or choosing a title and having someone else see it a different way,” Retka said. The origins of the song came from candid and heartbreaking conversations he’d had with a person experiencing homelessness with a mental health history during his time doing outreach for the Pope Francis Center in Detroit—but as he started writing, its application expanded to his own contemplation of a future with a family that he desires but hasn’t been able to build, yet.

“And I questioned whether this was the time to release a song like that, given what everyone’s going through,” said Retka. But a number of close friends particularly encouraged this song’s inclusion, including the EP’s co-producer, Drew Schutlz, along with fellow singer/songwriter Scott Fab, and Matthew Wisotsky— a local artist, developer, and music enthusiast.

It ties into that phenomenon that it’s somehow comforting to listen to something “sad” during sad times. And I’ve probably suggested before that Retka has an elemental quality to his voice - but that’s because the experience of this tender gale and achey vibrato that washes over you is akin to the same expulsion of stresses we experience after a good cry. And sure I wish I had something less schmaltzy or emo to compare with finespun billow of his mellifluous tones, but the reason I or anyone would be drawn to the songs and voice of Retka is that there is a restorative quality to his articulation and dissemination of emotions.

Never Has, Always Will comes to iTunes, Amazon, and Spotify this following week…

Retka, like any songwriter, comes to the guitar and to the microphone out of an impulse to attain any kind of healing. And when it’s concentrated into four minutes and three swooning choruses, that healing can come like a windfall. Retka’s never minced words when he writes, never shying away from some tremulous diction, but it is always with a sincere intention to alight a fresh consideration of life’s experiences inside the listener.

And while “Lonely” certainly gets heavy, he ends this EP with a genuine “Lullaby,” in which the refrain at the end assures…, or at least hopes for…, the possibility that we’re all going to be okay. “I wanted to have a positive message in a song that was just really direct—so I consciously wrote positively, and also wanted it to be comforting.” Retka recently performed for the Lullabies from Detroit, a virtual video series spearheaded by his friends and contemporary songwriters Audra Kubat, Michele Oberholtzer, and Emily Rose. He admits that that video, along with other video performances he’s conducted, can feel a bit like reliving one’s very first open mic performances, where there is no clear view of the familiar faces in the audience, five feet in front of you. He admits, also, that he truly misses the literal adrenaline of performing live—especially the connections that can be made, through conversations, with audiences after the set.

But keeping connected to his audience and to fellow musicians is exactly the root of the motivation to finish three new songs, and couple them with two previously recorded songs, to premiere this new EP. Retka co-produced these songs with drummer/bandleader Drew Schultz. The songs were engineered and recorded by Retka from his home in Indian Village (as well as in a space in Mt. Clemens). Schultz not only provided percussion for the songs, but also worked with Retka on the mixing process, and then wound up mastering them.

Emily Rose and Kelly Tuscherer sang back-up vocals and feature prominently on a song called “Empire.” And, says Retka, “that’s a song about not letting regret get the best of you. It’s looking in the mirror and not letting the past effect your future. What we wind up doing is we self-sabotage; we burn our ‘empires’ down because we’re so stuck in the past. We’re worried about what our ‘legacy’ will be in our family, among our friends, but we’re failing to be in the present.” We both, then, note on how this is also a perfect time to be appraising our pasts with a certain kind of clemency—as the world pauses for a pandemic, it can become very easy for us to worry about what we have done and what we have yet to do….

And there’s one song that Retka almost didn’t produce for this particular EP, and that’s “The Picture I Paint.” And it was Schultz who changed his mind about it, actually. “That song is all about me having fun with words and sounds—there are a lot of layers and overdubs. It’s loosely about a break-up, but it’s more about self-determination It’s me saying: this is who I am, and this is what I have to do…. I’ve always been determined and have always prided myself that when I say I’m going to do something—I see it through, and never let it go. So, even though I can’t get a full length album out because of these circumstances, I’m still going to release this EP. I’m determined; I’m going to take that lead…”

For me, Retka’s music and words have evocatively backlit the broken feelings we have in our heart or in our mind when relationships or life goals don’t pan out, but rather than ever wallowing, it’s more like he’s a mechanic who finds out why the battery died and fuses a few new connections so that the engine can restart. The songs on this new EP are all about acceptance and determination. Those are two things we all need when we’re at the precipice of turning down a new road in life. The opening song, in fact, references the visual of the night sky, and how the quiet majesty of those glowing constellations gave him a moment of much needed comfort, in the midst of feeling like they might all start falling…. It was the consistency of their light that gave him solace.

And hopefully these songs give everyone who hears them the solace or catharsis that’s needed these days. Never Has, Always Will was recorded during 2018-2020 in Mount Clemens and Detroit, inspired by experiences and ponderings Retka had in that time period. The Polaroids were taken in Anthony's Apartment in Indian Village, Detroit, by Noelle Renee Jarvis, and Daniel Land did the layout and design or the EP’s cover art. Find more info in the links below:

anthonyretka.com

facebook.com/anthonyretkamusic

anthonyretka.bandcamp.com

-Jeff Milo