The Rhyme and Reason of a Rubik’s Cube

“Unyielding. Musical. In-development.” That’s how Bryan Simpson describes his The Whistles & The Bells project. And live, it’s “a living, breathing, sonic organism with songs expanding and contracting as they never have before…hearts on sleeves…the rhyme and reason of a Rubik’s Cube.” Simpson learned to play fiddle and guitar around fourth grade and finished his first song with his dad at age 16—and he’s been at it ever since. (His first show with this current project was in October 2013.) Simpson says that other people have helped sculpt his life, and he’s inspired by everything from “the rumble of the train that powers by my house every morning, the grinding of the coffee beans by my local barista, the melody my wife is singing in the shower,” to Wilco and Green Day. And “deadlines” really help jump-start his creation process, too. (“My brain is rather amorphous up until I know it’s got to be turned in.”) Simpson released his debut self-titled album under The Whistles & The Bells moniker last year and is working on new music now. “I don’t operate well when I’ve done something too many times. The mystery of creation is something I am wildly intrigued by,” he says. “I have to depend on creativity outside myself—something somewhat supernatural.” Simpson adds that life on the road “has always been a million novels written in a day for me.” Coming up, he looks forward to recording a new record: “This first one has been such a pilgrimage of trust that I feel more free and brave than ever before, because I trust more.”