If I have my info correct, you’re originally from Massachusetts and now living in Portland. Has the geographical change influenced your compositional style? How about the cultural change between East Coast and West Coast?

I lived in Massachusetts for about 5 years while I went to school, and my wife and I always wanted to make it out to Portland...we got the chance to, and we’re glad we did, it suits our personalities much more I think. Everything isn’t so fast and hurried, lots more trees and people seem a bit more laid back. I think it will influence everything in my life, it’s a significant change in environment.

You and your brother (Colin) are well-trained musicians. What was the Kenniff household like when you were kids? Was it full of music or did your parents foster your creative side in other ways?

Both of my parents were and continue to be very supportive of my brother and I playing music. My father is a musician, and he taught me how to play drums, guitar, bass and he had a little studio where we’d record music with whatever band I happened to be in when I was a kid.

If the house was full of music, what did your family listen to? I often think that being turned onto music as a kid really sets the stage for an open-minded adulthood, what memories help inform your approach now?

I think participating in the arts as a kid is a great way to learn some helpful tools in life; it’s a door that leads to many things. My father had a great record collection that I would constantly be going through at different stages of my life. He listened to a lot of blues and jazz, every great rock album you can think of, lots of classical. My mom was really into stuff like Patsy Cline and the Righteous Brothers, so I dug into her 45 collection a ton too. I think that exposure helped me to be able to explore things on my own and develop certain tastes early on.

I personally hear some similar themes/motifs between your Goldmund work and Helios. Do you start at the piano when composing or sketching out ideas?

I don’t own a piano, so with the Helios material I seem to usually start out with guitar...even if it’s entirely electronic. In terms of melodies, it seems like I can come up with more things looking at a fretboard than piano keys.

You list Rilke as an influence (on your myspace page) and I’m assuming you mean Rainier Maria Rilke, the poet. What particular writings of Rilke’s speak to you? I remember falling in love with his style when I read the Duino Elegies, have you read them?

I have read them, they are fantastic...that set of poems are some of my favorite of his work. I have this great book called The Essential Rilke that has kept me company for many years.

Poetry and music are so closely linked (both can be utilized to woo a lover), have you ever written a song as an ode to a piece by Rilke (or any other poet, for that matter)?

I have never written a piece specifically for a poet, no...Rarely do I write things for specific reasons...but I do write songs for my wife, and she’s pretty poetic!

While I often interpret your sound as possessing a certain melancholy, I also hear a lot of love and wonder. What kind of emotional landscape were you planted in when writing Caesura?

I really don’t set out to write something “pretty” or “dark” or anything like that; it’s much more like a journal entry where you kind of freely associate some stuff and look at it later and pick out what you think it meant. My main goal for anything I write is just to create whatever I’m feeling at the time, that I can’t express in words. The approach is pretty simple.

Your set at the Triple Door for Decibel Fest was amazing; my buddy Scott Pagano, Ben (Deru) Wynn, myself and some others were all floored. Did you manage to have any time that weekend to check out some other shows? What did you see that you liked?

Thanks. That was such a fun show, I got to see a lot of old friends from all over that played and visited for the festival. I managed to record the set and my wife and I are making handmade cd-rs available on my myspace page. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to see anything else other than the shows that night (although there were plenty of other fantastic acts there!). Deaf Center, Eluvium and Brian McBride were wonderful to watch and meet.

What is the best album you’ve listened to this year?

Peter Broderick – Home. Peter’s such a talented individual, and with all the touring he’s doing in Efterklang and on his own and with so many other projects, I was so surprised to see this pop up, but what a joy it is.

If you weren’t making music, what passion would you pursue in life?

Nursing, or gardening.

The Silent Ballet would like to thank Keith Kenniff for the interview. Caesura is out now through Type Records