That One Song – Style Weekly

Richmond indie-pop standout Tyler Meacham’s recent single, “dream house,” is a graceful meditation on grief.
Getting married at 30. Owning a house and having four kids. Seeing beloved relatives live a long and happy life. Richmond-based songwriter par excellence Tyler Meacham has aspired to each scenario, but the last few years have taught a harsh lesson: “That stuff doesn’t come true for everybody,” she says.
The indie-pop standout’s most recent single, “dream house,” is a graceful, gradual meditation on grief, an emotion that’s been sinking in on multiple fronts for Meacham. On top of the loss you might expect upon reading the song’s title — Zillow favs getting snatched up — “dream house” expands to reflect on the loss of an idealized future, as well as the grief Meacham has felt while watching multiple family members fight cancer, including her mother’s treatment for colon cancer and her cousin’s death from breast cancer.
“It’s presenting very digestible ideas one at a time without saying what the big thing is,” she says. “It’s like, ‘Here are these little things. Let me walk you through some of those harder feelings.’”
Meacham has shown an uncommon knack for performing pop music’s signature alchemy: turning specific experiences into broadly accessible storytelling. Part of that is her newfound commitment to candor, both in her music in her communication with fans. “I use music as a means to connect and not feel so alone in my own struggles — as a listener and as an artist,” she notes. “So I’ve dropped a lot of the barriers, so to speak, in terms of what is actually going on.”
The song “dream house” was chiefly recorded at Meacham’s home studio, 6807, with her longtime partner, Chip Hale, who also contributed bass and engineering. Additional recording took place at Go West Recording. Meacham captured a separate version on video for the 2024 NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Contest — a striking single shot that slowly steps back from the just-so setting of a dollhouse to show Meacham strumming solo in the frank confines of a rustic living room. Style Weekly spoke with Meacham about how she chose the spot to film her Tiny Desk entry and the emotional place she inhabited while creating “dream house.”
Style Weekly: Where did you film the Tiny Desk Contest version of “dream house”?
Tyler Meacham: Chip and I were planning on going to Asheville on a little mini-vacation, but then I also got the opportunity to perform at something called Open Folk out there, which is a really beautiful songwriter showcase. I found that spot on Airbnb; it’s a 117-year-old carriage house on someone’s property. I booked it long before I had any idea of filming a video or even entering the Tiny Desk [Contest], but “dream house” was getting close to being done, and I felt really good about the song, [and] I was like, “This house is very unique-looking and would be a really cool place to film something.” From there I got the idea of building a dollhouse and having that be the center focus of this performance in particular, and trying to show a stark contrast between some sort of childhood dream [and] a completely different external setting.
 
What has the reaction to the video been like so far?
It’s been really cool. It [was] the first time I actually put the song out, in that form… And I have been performing it, and in general the reaction is usually that people are really moved by it. I’ve found that I don’t have to say too much about what it’s about personally for people to get it. That was honestly a surprise for me, because for me there’s such a personal story within this song, and there are details that I feel are in the song, but then I take a step back and I hear from other people, and they’re like, “I relate to that in this way,” or whatever the case may be. Then I have some people that are like, “Yeah, the real estate market is really hard,” which is hilarious, but also true.
[And] “dream house” does such a great job communicating the layered nature of grief. Was it difficult conveying that nuance?
When I started writing “dream house,” I was in a place of prolonged grief that was multifaceted — that wasn’t just about loss. It was about a change in expectations and a change of what I wanted my life to look like, coming out of the pandemic, but also throughout the pandemic, having experienced a lot of really hard stuff. My mom had cancer — still has cancer — I had my very close cousin get cancer around the same time, then also saw a lot of change in myself and my music and my friend group, and all of these things were revolving around me and felt completely out of my control.
It has been almost this endless period of grief for me, if I’m being as honest about it as possible; “dream house” was written from this place of “there is no end in sight.” That doesn’t mean I’m deeply unhappy or anything. It just means that this chapter of life has been particularly painful. I thought grief felt like losing a friendship, but now I know that it also feels like losing a family member or losing the possibility of maybe seeing my mom at an old age.
How did you get the muted guitar effect we hear on the studio version?
That is a Harmony guitar that I got at Fan Guitar and [Ukulele]. Our front door at the house has little gaps in it, so about a year ago, I bought this foam insulation that you adhere to the inside of the door and it keeps it from letting air through. Instead of going and getting a rubber bridge installed on the guitar, which a lot of people do, I decided to try out wedging a piece of foam insulation into the bridge of the guitar and it has the exact same effect. So that’s what you’re hearing. It’s just regular strings and a piece of foam that I got off Amazon, and we definitely got the effect that I wanted.
 
What are you hoping folks take away from the song?
I’ve never been more proud of a song that I’ve written but also more pained by it. There’s a lot of conflict in it. I just hope people hear that and recognize that this is definitely a change in pace from my last record, and maybe sounds a little bit more like me now than “Into the Fray…”
The more we talk about hard things the easier it is to get through those things. I definitely have taken an approach recently of saying out loud what it is, and I’m finding more and more people come up and say, “Oh my gosh, me too.” I talk a lot about cancer because it’s had such an impact on my life and continues to have that impact. I’ll bring it up [onstage] and people will come up to me after and they’ll say, “No one ever talks about that. Thank you for mentioning that.” I don’t know if I have a mission or a calling or anything, or if this song will accomplish a whole lot — I hope that it does — but if anything it’s a reminder that we all have struggles, and it’s OK to accept that things are hard. We don’t have to have that silver lining all the time.
What about the road ahead are you excited about?
The biggest one for me would be [Dominion] Riverrock on May 19, which will be a really interesting set, I think, trying to figure out how to take some of these new songs and transform them for a festival stage… As far as new music goes, there is new music. It’s coming. I’m taking a very different approach to this particular release and album cycle than I did last time. I’m giving every song a chance to breathe before getting myself into the throes of the next one.
Tyler Meacham will perform at Richmond Music Hall on Wednesday, April 17 with Marielle Kraft headlining. For tickets, visit thebroadberry.com. She’ll also perform at Dominion Riverrock on Brown’s Island on Sunday, May 19. For more information, visit riverrockrva.com. To hear and purchase “dream house,” visit tylermeacham.bandcamp.com.  
Style Weekly provides insightful, revealing and tenacious coverage of the arts, culture and food scenes of Richmond, Virginia, illuminating diverse and interesting people, issues, places and events in the metro region. We chronicle and celebrate this historic, complicated and evolving city through award-winning journalism, thoughtful criticism, arresting photography and sophisticated design — diving deep on subjects that matter most to our readers.
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