Being a musician in 2024 often comes with some cognitive dissonance. In a single song, you might pour in your entire listening history; it may refract your tenderest inner experiences. And then this most magical, unquantifiable human alchemy gets boiled down into a cold Spotify digit.

"I got really sucked into the whole world of TikTok and being, Am I just the viral artist? Is this my midlife crisis? What am I?" says Campbell Burns, the leader of the indie rock band Vacations. "As soon as I started breaking down those boundaries, it just became a little bit easier."

Which is easier said than done: "I began to hit a wall, and then another wall," Burns said in the press release, referring to a particularly nasty case of writer's block. "I had to find a way to fall back in love with music and so much else in my life, or I knew I would simply cease to exist."

Following their 2020 album Forever In Bloom, Burns underwent a series of internal transformations. He spent three years in therapy, an experience he likened to "going to the gym" which led to a diagnosis of Pure OCD. All of this funneled into No Place Like Home — whose concept of "home" is within yourself, not made of brick and mortar.

"It was just that idea of trying to be kind to myself and just trying to be present in the moment as much as possible," Burns says of the process that led to this breezy, melodic, incisive offering.

Read on for a full interview with the Vacations singer/songwriter that gets into the nitty-gritty of working through mental obstacles, and reclaiming the mantle of music-making.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

What was the spark that took flame on No Place Like Home?

I had writer's block for a good period of two to three years, and I really struggled to write for myself. I found it, however, easy to write for others, which was something that I started navigating through when the pandemic hit because everyone was doing writing sessions over Zoom.

As things started to ease, I would be doing writing sessions with my friends, which was something I never really explored before. And I found that when I was writing with other people, and it wasn't so much solely having the spotlight on myself, I would have that degree of separation. I just felt like that barrier, that boundary wasn't there. So it felt very easy to let everything out. And I think, with that in mind, the pandemic and everything, and then the whole viral success and not being able to tour and just sort of having your entire artist profile reduced to statistics on a screen, can really do a number on you, no pun intended.

But it almost feels like social media in a sense, because our label would be like, "Oh, you've got a new milestone in streaming this month," and then we hit another milestone the next month, and it just kind of felt redundant at a certain point. So it wasn't until the whole world started to open up and we were able to finally get to the US, which has been a long time coming for us.

Even before the virality through TikTok, there were small fires on YouTube and SoundCloud. Finally being able to go to the States and just see our audience and physically be in a room with other people and actually see them engage with our music was what inspired me to start writing again. Once I was able to latch onto that through touring and just reminding myself why I love music and why I do it, to connect with others and to build a sense of community and also for self-expression, everything started pulling into place.

I was able to draw from my experiences of touring the US, and kind of having this Americana, road trip kind of influence, with using more acoustic guitars or different styles of tunings. Just trying to lean things in a different kind of way, to maybe what some people would expect. But then also, my experiences with mental health — going to therapy and being diagnosed with OCD — were a huge theme for the album. 

In a band setting, I tend to also draw from what everyone else is going through. So naturally, it's a four-year break from the last album of this album. We've all gone through so much collectively and individually navigating the music industry, our own personal lives. So, a lot of that was also called to create this album, but I guess what really kickstarted the process was just being able to tour again.

Can you talk about breaking out of writer's block? As a musician myself, I struggle with that all the time.

My experience with writer's block is intrinsically linked to my journey with therapy, and then also my eventual diagnosis of having OCD.

I feel like so much of writing and being expressive and being creative is being able to be mindful in the moment and to not have any distractions, but also not to be able to think too far into the past or the future.

You're just you in that moment. And once you can get in touch with that side of yourself and you don't have these walls that are blocking you in, everything just starts to flow out of you and there is no sense of fear or failure or judgment. You are just simply like a child creating again. I guess, it's almost getting in touch with you being a child as well, but I found that, and for everyone's experience, I think it's going to be very, very different.

I think, for me, it was just that idea of trying to be kind to myself and just trying to be present in the moment as much as possible because so much of the time before in the past when I would write, I would be sitting down, I'd be like, I have to write a song, or, I have to write a song that is specifically going onto this album. And because of that, it has to sound like a certain way or it has to have a certain structure. It has to adhere to these guidelines that aren't real.

So as soon as I started breaking down those boundaries, it just became a little bit easier. And it was a gradual process, but there was a day where I sat down and just kicked away a little bit and kept writing and kept writing, and then all of a sudden, I had "Next Exit." I was like, Wow, okay. This is my starting point. What else do I want to see on this album? What other ideas do I want to try and explore? And I just tried to explore that as much as possible and not try to box myself in.

I guess, just trying to be as open to the process as possible, being open to just trying things and seeing what happens, and then just being able to move on. It sounds very spiritualistic or free-spirited, but I think it's important.

When you join the music industry in any capacity, you quickly learn how the sausage is made, and how saturated and cutthroat everything is. That can be very dispiriting, especially when you're trying to make music.

Absolutely. I think in my own way, I got really sucked into the whole world of TikTok and being, Am I just the viral artist? Is this my midlife crisis? What am I?\
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And again, I'm trying to create that distance between myself and that boundary, that barrier, as much as possible and just go, Look, I'm just here. I'm doing music for a living. I just want to write a song and I just want to express myself and just try and contain that in its own process rather than being like, Oh my God, but what about this and that?

I spent three years in therapy, just working through all kinds of different things and really getting to understand how my brain works, how I think, how I feel. Honestly, it kind of feels like going to the gym. I feel, like, mentally shredded these days. It's been really helpful with that process and I owe a lot to it.

Some days you might be like, Ah, I don't know what to do with this part, but that's okay if you hit that wall. You can always take yourself out of it. Maybe you go for a walk, maybe have a shower, see a friend. You can come back to that song. You can start a completely different song. There's so much you can do.

Can you talk about what your Vacations bandmates brought to the party?

Everyone brings their own personality and individuality to the parts that I play. Because at the end of the day, I could try and play everything, but what's the point? It's a band. I'm able to write a bass part and then give that to Jake [Johnson] and be like, "Jake, what's your interpretation of this bass part?" And then he comes up with a new rhythm.

For instance, the bass line on "Midwest," in the verses, was completely different to how it ended up. Jake's interpretation of that part was so unique and interesting.

As our producer, John [Velasquez], put it — they're your bandmates, but they're also acting as these different filters and these different kinds of ideas, and they're all shaped by their own experiences in life. They bring all of that to the table.

It's all this shaping and the finessing, and making it a finely crafted experience, that could not be done without them, because holistically, it's a band and it is the four of us.

Give me a line on No Place Like Home that sums up the whole shebang.

"I was playing charades while the house was on fire." That's one of my favorite lines; I think that articulates the album quite a lot.

In a sense, it summarizes my experiences of having OCD. Also, kind of learning how to come to terms with the fact that I have that condition and recognizing that there's almost these two different versions of me. There's a life where it was me before diagnosis, and a life with me after diagnosis, and almost grieving for my younger self who had no idea that he was actually going through that the entire time.

But then also, all of our experiences collectively as a band, with the music industry and trying to put on the face and just get through the day and dealing with record labels and dealing with experiences, maybe touring or things not working out as intended. And it's like you're trying your best to play this character while everything around you is just crumbling.

Can you talk about the production choices, and overall aural aesthetic?

I really wanted to try and make it a dense, layered listening experience. Obviously, one that's not going to fatigue the listener, but just in more subtle and niche kind of ways.

I feel like with the last album, the thought process was kind of like, "This song needs to slap, and that's it." Which is a very shallow way of thinking, and I was younger at the time.

But throughout my time in the US, I recorded a lot of voice memos on my phone, whether it was walking through the streets of New York with my dad and just talking, or myself and the band at a diner, just on a day off, chatting. Or just any kind of ambience I could try and capture, almost as a way of taking photos in a sense, but in an auditory way.

And then taking those memos and putting them as a layer in the track to journal this experience, this album and try and put all the songs or give the songs a sense of place.

Going back to that Americana idea of just having acoustic guitars, using Nashville tuning — but then also trying to mix something with more contemporary pop elements like using drum machines, but filtering them so much. And then layering that with Joey's live kits — live performances. Using the studio as an instrument to try and get to the most fulfilling emotional experience. Because at the end of the day, fidelity is one thing, but the emotion felt is the most paramount thing to me.

I want the people to feel something when they listen to the song, not just like, Oh, yeah. It's slaps. I want something more than that, which is fun too. Anytime I show people music: I'll show my bandmates of course, but then, I want to show people that are musicians, but also not musicians. Show my parents, show my friends, play it for pets or plants.

I don't know. Anything. Just anything to try and get a different reaction, because that's so important. And all of that informs the listening experience and how you make art.

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