Episode 38: Margo Cilker
Margo Cilker released her debut full length album Pohorylle on Portland’s Fluff and Gravy Records late in 2021, and it has already received a lot of attention. She joins us to talk about working with producer Sera Cahoone, how her time living in various parts of the globe have impacted her creative process; and singing songs to the elk on the prairie. Also, it turns out Margo and I approached higher education with similar gameplans: no homework! (I see you econ majors.)
Margo Cilker is a woman who drinks deeply of life, and her debut record Pohorylle, due fall 2021 on Portland label Fluff and Gravy, is brimming with it. For the last seven years, the Eastern Oregon songwriter, who NPR calls one of “11 Oregon Artists to Watch in 2021,” has split her time between the road and various outposts across the world, from Enterprise, OR to the Basque Country of Spain, forging a path that is at once deeply rooted and ever-changing.
As Pohorylle traverses through the geography of Cilker’s memories—a touring musician’s tapestry of dive bars and breathtaking natural beauty—love is apparent, as is its inevitable partner: loss. For what bigger heartbreak is there than to be a fervent lover who must always keep moving? Cilker seems keenly aware of the precarious footing upon which love stands, and at many turns, the record circles something that is staggeringly beautiful and slipping away.
