“Naomi” also takes the Cave Singers to a new — and more positive — place lyrically. In particular, the group’s third album, “No Witch,” found Quirk in a dark period of self-examination.
“I found that for ‘Naomi,’ when that came about, like that had turned the tide and I had sort of a long-term relationship that had ended,” he said. “And because that had ended, there was like lots of stuff that I needed to look inside about, to be like what’s going on here? And what does it mean to be alone? What is loneliness? And what is aloneness, and even if I’m alone, am I not really alone because I’m surrounded by this world? And is that enough to be happy? So those were the kinds of things I was thinking about (on ‘Naomi’). Basically, I see ‘No Witch’ as being in the darkness, being in the woods, no exit and kind of reveling in that in some way and ‘Naomi’ kind of being like the first path opening up to exit out of there and sort of having a conversation with myself or something bigger than me about that.”
Quirk said the combination of him starting to feel better about himself as a person and moving on to a new phase in his personal life, and the time in which “Naomi’s” songs took shape also give the album a bit brighter personality.
“Also, we wrote this record in the spring, the majority of it from like January (2012) on, as it was becoming spring, which in Seattle is like a miraculous thing because you kind of forget that it will stop raining,” Quirk said. “I think that was in our hearts, too, and so that’s represented with the music. I think pastoral could be a great word (to describe the album), but also electrified pastoral.”