Handing over the mic to artists/musicians who break down their new albums track by track/share the thought process behind the creation. Today we’ll hear from Matthew Hiram, Minneapolis musician whose new album Cassiope: Protection Songs for Guitar is out now on Home & Garden label.

Baptisia is another name for False Indigo, a sturdy, flowering perennial that can grow as tall as an average adult. The flower is native through North America, attracting butterflies, moths, hummingbirds, and bees. Indigo flowers have been used as a protective magical element for centuries, to be worn on the person or used around the home, and considered especially useful for animals. Indigo is regarded as feminine in nature, and associated with Venus. The plant itself is toxic and shouldn’t be consumed, but the flower and colors are thought to bring a calming effect and bring balance, direction and enhanced perception and intuition. The recording is a reflection on these ideas, an intuitive improvisation for electric guitar and electronics, recorded live in Stereo.

In ancient Greek mythology, Argus was regarded as “All seeing”, a primordial giant with as many as 100 eyes, known to be an excellent watchman because he never fell asleep. In the legend, Argus was eventually slain by Hermes, who managed to get the watchful giant to doze off by playing his reed pipes until each and every eye closed, and then Hermes cut off his head! After death, Argus’ eyes were removed by the goddess Hera and set into the tail of the peacock. This track is an arrangement for lap-steel, bass and electric guitar, with shruti box, synthesizer, and electronics, created for watchfulness, dedicated to the all seeing eye.

Pedicel is the botanical name for the small stalk or stem part of a flowering plant. The stem supports the structure of the flower, acting as a pathway for nutrients to travel from the plant’s roots to the blossoms, seeds and fruit. Flowers of all kinds have so much historical meaning and traditional interpretation, each with centuries of respective cultural symbolism. This piece is a modal improvisation in C for electric piano, electronics, and nylon string guitar, focused on the intention of supporting the bloom, and passing restorative energy to the outer surface.

Soteria is a quiet improvisation for acoustic nylon string guitar, and one of the first formative Protective Songs created for this album. If you listen closely, you can hear midday birds singing quietly in the background from my backyard. In Greek mythology, Soteria was the goddess of safety and salvation, worshiped as divine, and considered the personification of safety and deliverance from harm. She was depicted as a woman wearing a laurel wreath crown, a symbol of victory. The Soteria was also the name of a series of ancient festivals held in many Greek cities, consisting of offerings, musical events and festivities celebrating deliverance from danger. The song is an offering and a request for deliverance.

Seia is an ancient Roman goddess of agriculture, protecting the farmer’s seeds once they’ve been sown in the earth. Also known as Fructesea, she is considered a rural goddess who is called upon to guard the crop and to help grow the most abundant fruits. This piece is an improvisation for electric guitar with E-bow and electronics, made with the focus of planting our future harvest in fertile soil for slow germination. A gift for Seia, seeds sown for tomorrow’s yield.

Quiritis was the Sabine goddess of protection and motherhood, known to specifically protect mothers and married women. Her name is derived from the root of the word spear, and she was often seen holding a spear or lance in ancient depictions. The piece is an improvisation for arch top steel string guitar and wooden bass flute, with synthesizer and electronics. This is an edit of a longer improvisation, and was another of the initial Protection Songs that formed the concept of this album. This music was made following the report of a violent midday attack nearby in my South Minneapolis neighborhood, and was made with the intention of summoning protection and providing emotional release.

Delphinium, also known as Lark’s Spur, is a beautiful and poisonous tall flowering plant that grows wild across Europe and the US. The toxin carried in the plant causes a form of neuro-muscular paralysis, leading to asphyxiation and even death, but symbolically Delphinium represents new opportunities and openness to new experiences. The flower was traditionally carried for protection against scorpion stings, and was traded as a representation of courage and good fortune, and planted in remembrance and memorial to passed loved ones. This piece is an improvisation for electric guitar, synthesizer, and electronics, a song for new beginnings and a shield against poisons of all kinds.

The word Verbena is the broader Latin term for sacred plants used in religious ceremonies. The flower has a long history of association with supernatural forces, being referred to as “Tears of Isis” in ancient Egypt after the great goddess Isis, weeping for her beloved departed husband Osiris after he was betrayed and murdered by his own brother. Verbena is seen traditionally as a symbol of romance and sweet memories, symbolizing protection, healing, creativity and happiness. In Christian tradition it is believed that Verbena was used to treat Jesus’ wounds after the crucifixion. The plant has antiseptic properties, and is used medicinally in many capacities to treat symptoms from bronchitis, migraines, and kidney stones to easing symptoms of anxiety, depression and insomnia. The last song is an improvisation for electric guitar and electronic processing. Verbena was recorded at dusk as the early Winter sun set, made with the intention of ceremonial recovery.

Each physical copy is unique and handmade with a small pressed canola flower.
Stream the whole album and grab one of the last few limited cassettes: 

Cassiope: Protection Songs for Guitar | MHH | Home & Garden

Follow Matthew Hiram:
https://twitter.com/MatthewHiram1

https://www.instagram.com/matthew_h_himes/

@MatthewHiram | Linktree

Follow Home & Garden Music:

https://www.instagram.com/homeandgardenmusic/

https://home-and-garden.bandcamp.com

https://linktr.ee/HomeAndGardenMusic

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Soundcheck

This song is pretty self explanatory. It was meant to be a song that we could sound check with. It uses every instrument, including the vocals, at its lowest and loudest volume while still trying to sound tasteful.

You Can’t Have Your Cake and Ego Too (Happy Birthday)

I wrote this song after a period of loneliness. A lot of people that previously ignored me suddenly popped up on my birthday to leave messages on my Facebook wall. It was upsetting because the support from them felt disingenuous. I finished and released an early demo of this song on the day of my birthday almost in protest.

Around the same time I’d been doing extensive research on the ego and other virtues we tend to posture for like selflessness, righteousness, consciousness. I was of the belief that those traits would diminish the frequency of selfish acts. It’s meant to make myself and the listener question what’s actually there if not the virtues they uphold. I’ll take this time to make the disclaimer that I am not above the criticisms and questions that I have of society as I am also a participant.

A.I.

The beginning of this song starts with an accusatory claim. It’s one that almost forces a shared responsibility upon the listener. The question immediately following suggests that two or more people have taken part in something horrible. Because of my understanding of the world I consider my part and the parts of my peers in the issues taking place domestically and abroad.

The next half of the song begins with another question. Unlike the first question, this one is idealistic. The better start being the finish line was a world I imagined; something equitable and transparent. This kind of idealism is usually shrugged off for how farfetched it sounds. Almost within the same breath I started to examine the reasons why my romantic relationships were failing. My best course of action at the time was to get used to being alone and avoid attachment because I’d eventually get hurt. Take a guess at how healthy that was?

Dependency

Dependency is a deeply personal song. It illustrates a part of my character that I don’t like. The lyrics are derived from conversations I’ve had with my mom. Her conversations usually took a turn into politics. When it wasn’t politics, it was about getting my life together. I was living with her at this time. Aside from those references the title itself is rooted in my dependency on marijuana.

When my mom and I talked politics she used to paint pictures of a beautiful, well-manicured, mountainous landscape called Haiti. It was never an image I could fathom considering the state of the country when I went to visit. The structure of society and its landscape began to wither at the hands of colonial superpowers. My mom was often critical of the type of aid Haiti would generally receive. She would indirectly reference the old adage that teaching someone to fish is more helpful than catching fish for them. A dependency gets created rather than what was needed; self-sufficiency.

You Always Said

This song was initially a jab at people who were harsh critics or overly judgmental. From there I asked a deeply introspective question. It symbolized the gun violence prevalent among white males and parts of impoverished black neighborhoods in America. Are we too far along in our civilization to stop access to firearms? Is that even the goal for the whole of society? Is this a problem that can be tackled in the home before it reaches public spaces we assumed were safe?

Program

I really despise the idea of working FOR someone. I’d much rather work WITH them. Collaboration has always been, in my opinion, humanity’s greatest asset. I usually held low-security/entry level positions at jobs. At the point of employment I’m already uncomfortable with the hierarchical structure. Alone, one worker has very little leverage to protest any dissatisfaction as well as little to no autonomy. A robotic subservience starts to form from this.

A robotic regimen so hypnotic in rhythm and a pace too fast to stop and think. The rhythm is measured in the minutes, hours, days, months, and at times, years rented out to employers. This rhythm felt unnatural for a species so self-aware and dynamic in personality. Yet here we are with strict schedules and portable supercomputers to assist in keeping on track.

The idea for the concept of the song came from a YouTube comment that likened us to androids. We only ever have time for social media and our occupations. The cycle feels so code-driven that the commenter said that we’re running on a program called “don’t die.”

See

The first two lines of this song call back the idealism mentioned in A.I. I had to ask myself how prepared I was to sacrifice the comforts I enjoy in my current environment to reach the society that I envision. I imagined apathy would help with that feeling of loss. The second half of See is convoluted in terms of subject matter. Almost every line has a different meaning.

Looking around, it seemed like mistakes were being made across the board. The second line was meant to draw an image of the pleasure-seeking that drew us away from our self-emancipation. I’ve always wondered why we don’t question some of the traits or deeds that by society’s standards would be deemed good. I theorized that those qualities shielded something much worse. The last part of the song addresses my growing presence on social media and the dissatisfaction that came with it. I didn’t feel particularly good about fishing for validation in the body of water that was social media.

Rushed Rain

This song is dedicated to my mom. It was one of her favorite riffs. I recorded it with a storm playing in the background to signify the devastating hurricane that swept through Miami. It was formed on August 16, 1992. I was born a month later. Hopefully my life ends in the structure that this song was written; building up to a crescendo of chaotic harmonies.

The post Track-by-Track // Seafoam Walls – XVI appeared first on I Heart Noise.

See also – Track-by-Track // Matt Robidoux – At Dust

What’s in a name? How did the title “At Dust” come about?

While working at Adobe Books, a volunteer run performance space, gallery, bookstore / artist collective I’m a part of in my neighborhood in San Francisco, I found a misprinted postcard of the cityscape with the caption: “San Francisco At Dust”.

I recall one of the projects you were involved in (Curse Purse) – had a chance to see your performance at Hasslefest back in the day and I recall it was very much a noise/improv project.

Hearing the title track on “At Dust” was…different. It reminded me of “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts”, the Eno/Byrne collaboration, very vibrant. Especially interesting to hear the upbeat vibe given the situation we’re currently dealing with.

Would you say you were influenced in any way by the said album?

That’s cool you saw Curse Purse back in the day! Yes, this music is very different. I hadn’t listened to “My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts” in a decade or so and this question was a good impetus to check it out again. I think I hear what you’re saying. The upbeat vibe comes from integrating more of a movement practice into what I do. The material that probably jumps out as such was recorded while confined in my apartment trying to find ways to stay buoyant mentally and physically in 2020. Another influence is that in my last semester at Mills College in 2019 I took a seminar called Music/Dance led by Zeena Parkins. The original idea was that we as composers would work with the dance department, but no dancers signed up! Instead the music students had to dance our own choreographies, which feels really connected to this work.

I see a long list of collaborators in the liner notes with some jumping out right away (Kris Force). Could you talk about them and what it was like working with them?

7 of the 10 collaborators on the record—Kris Force, Jake Parker-Scott, Mitch Stahlmann, Tony Gennaro, Adam Hirsch, Jake Parker-Scott, Tim Russell are friends from the sphere of Mills College. I know the other 3 collaborators— Ky Brooks, Matt Norman, Cody Putman from the underground! They’re based in New York, California, Montreal respectively. We worked together remotely in 1 of 2 ways: either I’d send a score with something in mind, or I’d just send a track and ask for 3-5 takes of an improvisation. In both cases there was a lot of improvisation.

When I wrote “Dinghy” I sent a score to Cody Putman (bassoon and coronet). What he sent back had such a vibe that I reconstructed the track around his parts. I think the tone of that one changed entirely through this collaborative process. When it felt ready I recorded percussion overdubs with Tony and sent it to Ky to add vocals, which perhaps I wouldn’t have thought to do with the original version. I’m pleased with how a sense of community permeates on the record, even though the collaborations happened remotely.

What have you been listening to lately?

Nana Vasconcelos – Africadeus – N. Angelo – Novelli
Beatrice Dillon – Workaround
Yoshio Ojima – Hands Some
Ka Baird & Pekka Airaksinen – FRKWYS Vol. 17: Hungry Shells
Bobby “Frank” Brown – Prayers Of A One Man Band

Any newer artists/albums you would recommend everyone to check out?

LCM – Signal Quest (Lynn, Cole, Mitch (Stahlmann – who plays on this record) network mapping world building project / futuretext soundscapes https://orangemilkrecords.bandcamp.com/album/signal-quest)

Ubaldo – Casa (Andreu and I played some of our first shows since the start of the pandemic together in Barcelona in summer 2021, at incredible spaces El Pumarejo and Cera 13. Casa is a concise and somewhat ambient-leaning document of his sprawling practice, which is deeply informed by improvisation.

https://ubaldo.bandcamp.com/album/casa-2)

Tarta Relena – Pack Pro Nobis (After hours at the aforementioned El Pumarejo there was an impromptu flamenco session. Marta from Tarta Relena was singing. The next day my partner and I did an all night drive to Bilbao, listening to “Pack Pro Nobis”, “Casa”, and Bakalao techno.

https://tartarelena.bandcamp.com/album/pack-pro-nobis)

David Castillo – Hardly Working (David is the realest of the real. He’s a good friend and collaborator. When working a less than satisfactory record store job, he got there early and recorded his whole dang record there. Featuring a cameo from USPS Larry, others from the neighborhood, and beyond.

https://davidcastilloplays.bandcamp.com/album/hardly-working)

Lexagon – Feminine Care (Lexagon is a Bay Area artist working between the sound/performance/visual art worlds. I curate a local cassettes section at Adobe Books in San Francisco, and make sure to stock it with the latest releases from Ratskin Records. Feminine Care is one of the GOATS of the label, IMO.

https://ratskinrecords.bandcamp.com/album/feminine-care)

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Handing over the mic to artists/musicians who break down their new albums track by track/share the thought process behind the creation. Today we’ll hear from J. Moss aka The Modern Folk, whose latest album “Primitive Future II” is out now on WarHen Records.

More TBTs in our archives.

A01 – Essie & Lynlee – my brother and my cousin both had baby daughters at around the same time. This tune is for them, to welcome them into the world, and to welcome the listener into this album.

A02 – Apple Season – this song is about that period where summer starts to become fall, the leaves are bright yellow and orange, the air is blue and sharp, and apples are at their best.

A03 – Bad Traffic – like most of the playing on side A of this record, this song was at least partially inspired by the one-of-a-kind recording “Blind Willie” by Sonny Sharrock, from his album Black Woman. Despite the inspiration, my lived experience does not lead to a “Blind Willie”… it leads to bad traffic.

A04 – Grocery Store – before the pandemic, when this song was recorded, grocery shopping was one of my favorite things to do. This tune is a celebration of grocery stores and grocery shopping.

A05 – Why Bother – I believe John Fahey talked at various times about channeling his emotions, including deep depression, into his stately, mysterious guitar playing. This song is unlike a Fahey song… instead of a booming, nearly neo-classical formal composition this is a meandering improvisation… but the intent is the same, to exorcise depression through guitar playing.

A06 – Candy Man – I think I watched the movie Candy Man (1992) around the time I recorded this, which is an amazing movie… but I might’ve just been thinking of the folk tradition of the Candy Man, from earliest recorded examples like MS John Hurt to post-modern takes like the Grateful Dead, to Van Halen, who call him the Ice Cream Man.

A07 – Mowing the Lawn – like grocery shopping, mowing the lawn is one of those domestic chores I really enjoy… the pandemic didn’t put a damper on this one, but my lawnmower did recently die.

A08 – A Joke That Wasn’t Funny – this song is about the feeling you have when you know you are telling a joke out of desperation, and it turns out to be an insufficient poultice for the wounds at hand.

A09 – One Hitter – a song about smoking a bit of weed out of a one hitter, what can I say? But there is a progression to the themes here, and the mind opening qualities of the One Hitter might help with the journey ahead.

A10 – Oyster Mushroom – This song is about venturing out into the damp and mysterious mid-autumn woods that surround Wy’east (known in the language of colonizers as Mount Hood) to gather edible mushrooms. When I am in the woods the earth itself sounds to me like a synthesizer suggesting infinite melodies, with the percussion of raindrops and pinecones cascading from the needles and limbs of swaying Douglas Firs. Touching the organic duff that blankets the ground is like touching the keys and pads of a never-ending instrument that is constantly playing itself, and I am at once playing along and being played.

A11 – Lost Dog – Anxiety mounts, the feeling when an integral part of you, your family, is missing. Alive, but you don’t know where, or how they are. The throat swells, the world shrinks.

A12 – I’m Scared – Fear rises and descends at once until it meets itself. Panic scatters the senses across the horizon, comfort only exists in repeating old patterns until they wear deep grooves in reality.

B01 – Club Sequence – In this scene, the protagonist has wandered alone into a dark and pulsing nightclub, their senses and sensibilities assaulted by flashing lights, pounding music, beckoning fingers, occult symbols, and gyrating bodies. They are afloat in the crowd like a leaf in a boiling rapid, their agency diminishing as the scene envelops them. They are handed drinks, pills, powders; told secrets; their future, their past. They are hypnotized by the scene and its denizens.

B02 – Downtown Sequence – The protagonist stumbles out of the nightclub into the dark alley, their skin contracting in the cold night air of outside. Their breath condenses in lurid plumes. They stumble through the trashed-out alley into the grit and glory of downtown. Cones of light provide the stages for dramas of sin. Marquees beckon the viewer into untold realms of experience. Re-arranged faces leer out from dingy alcoves, begging for money, drugs, other things. The protagonist’s disorientation becomes inverted, but no less severe.

B03 – Chase Sequence – At once the protagonist must gather themselves, put the world into focus… underworld characters from the nightclub are giving chase. The protagonist must’ve seen something that was not meant to be seen. They turn and they run, every fiber of muscle engaged in this flight for survival. The lights of downtown begin to fade, but the clatter of footfalls from the pursuers do not. The protagonist leaps over a rail and rolls down a heavily vegetated hill, thorns and briars ripping at their clothes and skin. They come to rest in a dark grove, they seem to have lost the thugs that were chasing them. The trees hum with a sinister energy.

B04 – Haunting Sequence – The protagonist lies still in the dirt as images and suggestions from the grove begin to enter their mind… a primal world, beings that are not quite people, not quite animals, that are at one with their surroundings, blending with vegetation, melting and flowing across boulder fields like springwater. On the back of their eyelids the protagonist sees these beings gathered in a circle howling in unison in an indescribably beautiful and menacing song. The tops of the trees bend to touch the earth in rhythm with their screams and the clouds swirl in the sky. This happened here, in this grove.

B05 – Possession Sequence – The swirling clouds begin to descend into a fine point above the protagonist’s open mouth, filling his chest with a vapor that carries the song of the terrible beings. The pulsing and swirling grow in intensity and speed until it is one impossibly fast sensation, blasting the song through every inch of the protagonist’s capillaries. Their back arches, their fists clench and their toes reach, the sound blasts, and then instantly, it ends. After a few minutes, the protagonist gets up, and starts walking in the direction of Downtown.

The post Track-by-Track // The Modern Folk – Primitive Future II appeared first on I Heart Noise.

Hailing from Kiel in North Germany, it’s now 20 years since the electronica prodigy Ulrich Schnauss released his debut album. His second, ‘A Strangely Isolated Place’ cemented his reputation as both a pioneer and an artist who routinely creates inspirational music that is adored by many. As a full time member of Tangerine Dream since 2014, his lifelong passion for their work inspired a creative resurgence for the band, resulting in their most successful new album for over 30 years, 2017’s ‘Quantum Gate’.

Liverpool born guitarist (and founder of the dream pop outfit Engineers) Mark Peters shared a similar musical path, exploring ambient textures and effect laden songwriting via a series of blissful albums for the band. In 2017 he released his first solo album, ‘Innerland’ which was enthusiastically received by BBC6 music and later included in Rough Trade’s top ten best albums of 2018.

Handing over the mic to artists/musicians who break down their new albums track by track/share the thought process behind the creation. Today we’ll hear from Ulrich Schnauss and Mark Peters (Engineers) whose new collaboration entitled Destiny Waving is out now on Bureau B label.

More TBTs in our archives.

The Supposed Middle Class

Ulrich:

This seemed an obvious contender for an album opener due to its bold, statement-like character – not just in terms of the title, but structurally as well: the longing nature of the intro is soon abandoned in favour of evolving guitar and synth layers aiming towards an increasingly hypnotic tension.

Mark:

The title is something I said in a conversation that Ulrich remembered, I don’t remember who I was talking about, but I’m certain that I’m not part of the group the accused is aspiring to be in. I strummed the chords one afternoon at his studio and he transformed it into a sectional, hypnotic track. The guitars go from Cambridge to Manchester with about ten years in between – I borrowed a Joyo ‘American’ guitar pedal from Jonas Munk for the first lead part, so thanks again for that J

Hindsight Is 20-20

Ulrich:

An aspect I particularly enjoy about collaborative projects is the freedom to focus on particular elements without running into the danger of ending up with an imbalanced or one-sided result: since the guitars provide a solid earthy foundation, sequences and pads could be allowed to occupy more ‘airy’ regions, increasing a nostalgic sentiment nevertheless.

Mark:

This was made from a track I’d had floating around for for a while, but it never actually did float like it does now. I got into doing two note melodies when I recorded the guitar parts on my old Telecaster, around the same time that I was working on my ‘Innerland’ project. I took it to Ulrich’s, he started to mix it and I added some parts at the end, but it took shape once I left – the bright summer’s morning in 2018 that he sent it to me on was very enjoyable.

Circular Time

Ulrich:

Most of the time I find it easiest to build an arrangement on a set of chords or a melodic theme, in this case we wanted to move towards a more loopy, less song-orientated result though. It seemed to make sense to agree on nothing more than two chords and start building sequential themes and atmospheres therefore.

Mark:

Ulrich had a synth loop that lent itself well to being presented in both a minor and major way, so that was how this track started. The circular, cyclical nature of it definitely influenced the guitar melodies and it came together very quickly. The lower guitar melody that comes in as it progresses has an MXR phase 90 on it. Not the most controllable of effects but it has a very particular sound. The title idea came after I remarked to a friend how contemporary events where very similar to another point in our lives, to which he replied with the title.

Chiaroscuro

Ulrich :

Arrangement-wise this may not differ too much from a number of other pieces. However, shifting the time signature seems to give it a welcome fluffiness – especially in relation to the album track-list as a whole.

Mark:

I dug out an old piano part I’d had for years and reversed it. When I played it to Ulrich he agreed it would form a worthwhile basis for a new track. I read the title in a beautiful article about The Band and felt that it represented the track and also the music we make together (the light and dark shifting to and fro regularly I’d say) From a personal perspective on my own playing, the middle section where I’m improvising single notes over Ulrich’s synth sequences is one of my favourite parts on this album, as I always love it when spontaneity is captured on a recording.

Words Can Be Dismissed

Ulrich:

An attempt at creating a somewhat ‘bigger’ sound while involving as few elements as possible. For instance, the low chords in the main part are a continuation of the piano recording more prominently featured prior – filtered down rather drastically though. There’s still room for the guitar to confidently define the mid range – even when a ring modulated Rhodes Chroma sequence introduces rhythmical energy.

Mark:

This was the first track we worked on in January 2017. I’d just moved back to my hometown and this was the first time we’d worked together for 3 years. We where pleased that as soon as we sat down, this was the first thing we came up with. It’s always good to know you don’t have to force things with people you work with and that doesn’t diminish with time. Again, the title was something Ulrich remembered from a conversation we’d had. It was to do with some sort of conflict, not a reference to the fact that we’d made instrumental music with no singing.

Speak In Capitals

Ulrich:

We listened to one of my favourite Eberhard Schoener pieces before recording this, where he combines heavy sequencing with choral voices to simply devastating effect. I was wondering whether that combination may also work on the backdrop of a more upbeat, elevated mood.

Mark:

Ulrich played me ‘Falling In Trance’ and we decided to try something based aesthetically on that track. We searched for recordings of choirs and using a piece of software, Ulrich took the sonic profile of one we liked and fed new chords into it which was a fascinating way of working. Almost like a musical version of ‘deep-fakes’ in a way…Andy Summers from The Police plays guitar on the Schoener track but it sounds more like Dave Gilmour to me. Mine are a bit more ’60’s psychedelia’ I think…

Clair-Obscur

Ulrich:

Once more, an attempt at achieving a satisfyingly ‘complete’ arrangement without falling into the trap of needlessly overcomplicating things. Piano, guitar and treatments aim to emphasize the already inherent strengths of the respective source signals instead.

Mark:

The last two are pieces we sat down and wrote together on guitar and piano. I always enjoy that as I think you can get into the nitty gritty of the composition in a direct way without one of you communicating with the computer as it were. Ulrich made my guitar strums sound quite stark and 80’s styled which I liked and I spent a bit of time at his place cutting up guitars to create the strange melody at the end. It has a distinct tone of foreboding to me and the title translates to the same meaning as ‘Chiaroscuro’ (but in French this time).

So Far, The Moment

Ulrich:

Maybe not everyone’s, but certainly my favourite – there’s a somewhat otherworldly melancholy present in the writing already, it was great fun enhancing this further by re-recording all instruments through a bunch of Roland rack effect units from the early 90s.

Mark :

As I said, this was born from jam session with Ulrich playing his Yamaha electric piano and me fading in guitar chords through my Boss Rv7 pedal. The riff came later at home and we threw a lot of paint at the canvas before Ulrich spent time piecing it together. I sang a few lines to provide source material for the vocoder parts and recorded two different harmonicas (one wasn’t in the right key for the second chord) This was the last track we wrote together until earlier this year, when we worked on a project funded by the PRS Foundation, completing 4 new tracks composed in response to historic buildings in my home town of Wigan, UK.

The post Track-by-Track // Mark Peters / Ulrich Schnauss – Destiny Waiving appeared first on I Heart Noise.

Pirates of the Mycelium is the 3rd Brontis album, taking influence from live 90s techno & EBM, childhood paranormalising, star rot & rave ghosts, misfiring neurons & voltages, kicks & stabs & tabs with the lads.

Handing over the mic to artists/musicians who break down their new albums track by track/share the thought process behind the creation. Today we’ll hear from Ewan Hennelly aka Brontis whose album Pirates of the Mycelium is out now on Fort Evil Fruit label.

Active since 2003, he also recorded as Herv, Muttermal and ZPG and was a member of improv noise-beat collective Arnod Vorrzpkngrrr. Besides FEF you can find his music on The Richter Collective, Alphabet Set and Boy Scott Audio.

Slop Clap

This track is kind of slow & has lots of claps so I thought: “Slow Clap”. But it has a sort of lapping synth sound in the background, which made me think of slopping water in a bucket. In my studio, I have a bunch of 90s sequencers — some of the track comes from a Yamaha QY20, and I think the sample was triggered off an SU10. The vocal was initially actually just a placeholder, but it sounded good so I stuck with it. It randomly cuts off as the sampler memory ran out.

Badger Release

My friends & I always joke about this — “Release the badger!” is a sort of battlecry or celebration of good things. Also, respect to the rights of badgers. I’m also rather nocturnal, and make all my stuff in the early morning. I record everything to 2-track stereo in one take (generally, the first one is the one I use) with no overdubbing and mostly no edits. I’ve really pushed myself to get comfortable with that process over the past few years, because I have a short attention span and I want to make music very fast. Otherwise I end up really hating the thing. This way the recording is either right or it isn’t, there’s no agonizing about mixing stuff down afterwards. Or, “ooh, is that conga a bit bright”? That said, the mastering process is very important and it’s something I’ve never been great at. My partner Meljoann has been mastering my stuff for years, and is really good at correcting my mistakes.

Blown Study

More stupid wordplay. Modular wig-out here, can’t really remember how I made it, the lead line is my TTSH built by Box Emissions Systems which is used in some way on practically everything I make. The drums are most likely running through it too. The melodic FM loop is a Yamaha PSS460 which is super basic but has this interesting sequencer, and can make some pretty gnarly sounds. Most of the first Brontis album Peak Grot was just that and another Yamaha keyboard, but I began to incorporate my other machines from the 2nd album on. I generally wire up my studio a certain way for a week or so, making one piece of gear the core and work around that. After recording I break it all down and start again, based on what I feel like making.

Astromyxinal

First of the mushroom references. Astromyxin, Star Jelly or the more elegant Pwdre Ser is a gelatinous substance, said to appear after meteor showers. It’s probably bird puke or slime mould, but I liked the idea of jellys from space, landing on Earth and causing havoc. The track is simple but a little sinister, the breakdown in the middle makes me laugh as it’s so underwhelming. I think I’d forgotten I hadn’t really fleshed out the track much when I recorded it, but I didn’t fancy recording it again.

Pirates of the Mycelium

As depicted on the cover, Brontis is abducted from a woodland rave by these dimension hopping fungal swashbucklers. I’d not made any really ravey stuff for quite a long time, and wasn’t sure where it’d fit in. The drone is the TTSH again, the rest of it is my secret weapon, the Roland MC303. My first sequencer — I bought one 20 years ago and used it a lot. I like to MIDI it up and drive other things from it as well. It has its quirks, it’s very noisy and doesn’t like when you give it too much to do. But I’m a big fan.

Shotormorgh

I love the sound & spelling of this Iranian word for Ostrich. As well as straight 4/4 stuff like I like to make music that shifts tone dramatically mid track, but try to wrap it all up in 4 mins. Quite often I’ll have an idea to change the direction of a piece after maybe the first 60 seconds but that then requires a logistical rethink. I might have one system (drum machine, couple of synths, hardware sequencer) which deals with one part of the track, and then have to create a second (or third) system (different drum machine, effects, samplers, groovebox) which is totally independent of the first. It’s then usually a matter of punching stuff in and out on the desk, dialing in sequences, tweaking etc. I used a computer for years but this forces me to always be thinking: have I enough channels on the desk? Enough plug sockets/patch cables/sampler memory? And when I don’t, I have to come up with some alternative which often takes the track in a different direction. I like that though, it keeps me thinking. Always a puzzle.

Shoreline Monitor

OK, true story. A few years ago I saw something in the sky above Brighton beach in the early morning hours. It looked like a large craft of some sort and I tried to film it, but when I attempted to do so my phone went ballistic, opening and closing apps and webpages at high speed. It was as if it was being interfered with electronically. With this track the synths phasing in and out reminded me of the gentle tide at night. Then there’s some sort of electronic menace belching in and out over it which adds to the sinister feel. Anyway, nice to commemorate the weird stuff.

Grief Rave

Another track with multiple “systems”, the first half of the track is all digital gear and the latter half all analog. When I say systems I mean the two elements are independent of one another, not synced in any way apart from sometimes using a tap tempo button, like a DJ might do. Quite often this is not by choice, I could be smart and get myself a sophisticated sequencer that controlled everything properly and saved me a lot of heartache. But I’m not very sophisticated and I like cheap old tat. I like that it’s a bit unpredictable and has its own agenda a bit sometimes. I made music with a computer for years, and it was so great for precise stuff but I got a bit carried away with that sort of thing, and I think I lost something of the feeling along the way.

Anyway this track is kind of melancholic, but also a bit ravey. I’d re-bought an old Zoom rack effects unit I had years ago and it has some lovely smeary reverbs. I was working on the track when it arrived and I was keen to put it in somehow, hence the stuff at the end. It flowed quite nicely into the next track too.

Out of the Wall

This one reminded me of these weird lucid dreams I had when I was quite young. At the time I slept on the lower part of a bunk bed, and I would repeatedly see these clouds of something like TV static that would come “out of the wall” above me, and just hang there. There was a rustling sound too, like an ASMR thing, and the cloud would gently change as the sound changed. I was never frightened, it was all very comforting and I would look forward to seeing it. I had those sensations for a year or so & then they stopped. It might be some kind of synesthesia possibly — my sister has a very strong spelling/taste connection, so maybe it runs in the family. I think the glassy detuned pads and washes of noise in this piece were what reminded me of those instances.

The Snare Has Been Modified

One of my drum machines had piss-weak sounding snare. I’d sold it when I was broke, but managed to pick up another which someone had modded to improve the snare. This was the first track I made with it, and was so delighted it didn’t sound as crap anymore. I thought I should announce it. When the bassline drops a few semitones that is just me switching the sequencer output from 8V to 1V per octave, quite by accident the first time but it sounded good so I used it. I did cut a big chunk out of the original recording —this one was very over long.

Ankle Bang

Techno innit. Not much more to say about that: my techno tastes haven’t changed much since I was a teenager in the 90s. My earliest exposure to this kind of stuff was through the Volume ‘Trance Europe Express’ & ‘Trance Atlantic’ compilations which came with a book with interviews & photos of the producers studios. They all talked about picking up 303s for 50p and mad stuff like that, but of course I’d missed the boat there. I was always super inspired by all these techno artists talking about making their tracks live, in an hour (!) on really basic gear. I dunno, maybe they were spoofers. Using things like grooveboxes allows you to get passable stuff up and running very quickly though. I’m quite proud of the “scratching” on this track, just some sequenced white noise & some LFO messing.

Shooting Brake

I really love that old Fixmer/McCarthy “You Want It” track, this was absolutely inspired by that. Though I’m not brave enough to record myself shouting incendary vocals just yet. This was a late addition to the album, for some reason I felt it needed a 13th track. It also mixed well into the last one, as I made one a few days after the other and forgot to change the tempo on the driving sequencer.

Ddeodfvlk Vtri

I imagine this to be a kind of creeping menace. It could be what travels inside the astromyxin, what gives the star jelly its shape. When the Ddeodfvvlk leave the jelly, it melts away. What is it doing here? What is its agenda? My money’s on something nefarious.

The Ddeodfvlk is not to be confused with the Csyqrjit-nux who are responsible for the abduction/absorbtion of Brontis from a woodland rave on the inside album cover. Those slimey jokers are the true Pirates of the Mycelium. The Ddeodfvlk is something else entirely, something possibly very horrible. The jury is still out for me on this one.

As I said this was from the same setup session as the last track, similar EBM kind of sound. My favourite thing to do since the album came out is to play this track to people, and ask them very sincerely what they think of my flute playing skills. Then I laugh because its a Kaossilator.

The post Track-by-Track // Brontis – Pirates of the Mycelium appeared first on I Heart Noise.

Handing over the mic to artists/musicians who break down their new albums track by track/share the thought process behind the creation. Today we’ll hear from Michael van Gore (MvG), J.R. Fish (F.) and Jonas Heidenritch (J) aka Anatomy of the Heads, your favorite ChiChi fueled CIA psyop, honey-pot/money-bomb-operation that will sell all your personal information to Korean gangsters and hot tiger moms.

Turning Cattle into Dust

F: Okay, first title. What do we have?

J: The chainmail bikini is definitely the highlight here.

MvG: I want to say right at the beginning that this is the most challenging track on the album

F: I still think we should have put “Frightful Green Panic” at the beginning because it’s the most accessible track.

J: Yeah, why didn’t we put that one at the beginning?

MvG: Only true believers! Okay, let’s talk about the chainmail bikini, as people have dubbed it.

J: For the record, it wasn’t a bikini.

MvG: During the first part of the track there’s this rather out-of-sync metallic percussion that runs through the whole track. We added that because we had the basic instrumentation of the track, but it still felt kind of empty. So we played around with different ideas, added another guitar, noises – whatever. I can’t remember how we came up with it….

J: We noticed that the metallic percussion really penetrates the sounds, but we couldn’t find a rhythm to go with it.

MvG: Right, so we ended up hiring a ceremonial dancer, the kind you hire for weddings. She came up with a dance beforehand and then came to us in an outfit of metal beads, did her dance in like what – Three takes? And we cut the best parts together and that was it.

J: She was quite out of breath afterwards.

F: You have to get your money’s worth, after all.

J: Another thing that carried over from Triptych Terror Oriente is the intro.

MvG: Yeah, we doubled down on that. “You wanted the best, you got the best! The hottest band in the world…”

J: THE BEE GEES

F: TATTOO

MvG: THE MICHAEL VAN GORE SOLO EXPERIENCE

J: That’s also the track that features vocals for the first time.

MvG: Yes, one of the biggest stylistic differences between this record and our debut is the introduction of vocals. In the lead up to the record, we released a lot of individual tracks on compilations and experimented with a variety of vocals. Until we figured out what best suited our music. The music video we did for the second part of the track really helped contextualize the progression of the composition for the uninitiated.

F: I really like how much mileage we got out of that silent movie footage. We’ve been wanting to re-cut and score a silent film for ages, and now we’ve finally done it. MvG: Does anyone have anything else to say about this? No? Okay, let’s move on.

Obsidian Spears

J: This track is pretty straightforward and one of the most accessible tracks. There are a lot of new instruments though.

MvG: We’ve had the electric piano and organ on previous albums, but on a much smaller scale, which I always felt was gimmicky. But this time the electric piano, organ and flute really do a lot of the heavy lifting.

F: Also, we had a new production team on it because of the Rona, as the kids would say.

J: Yes, I did the mastering. Some people are surprised at how our records sound. They immediately think we have crappy equipment. Actually it’s the opposite, we have good equipment that sounds way too clean. As far as production goes, we spend a lot of time dirtying everything up.

MvG: I think that this sound is essential to Anatomy of the Heads. We make exotica or fantasy music, if you will. It should sound like something you hear in a dream.

F: Others say it sounds like it’s played through a bunch of pillows. MvG: You see, dream music.

J: That kind of production really adds a lot of – I don’t know – magic to it. It would be a very different record when produced bombastically and direct. Our sound is more menacing, peripheral and stealthy, which suits the compositions well. Because the melodies are really not straightforward. There’s always something secretive about it.

F: Can I take this opportunity to ask why you think I’m a leprous & humorous dwarf?

MvG: No, let’s move on.

Perfume of 100 Teeth

MvG: Well, that’s it – the heart of the album.
J: Dude, my favourite lyric is “love goddess of love”.

F: Talk about wordsmithing….
MvG: Silence, peasants! What works, works, even if I have to rhyme love with love.

J: That being said, I think you did a good job, and I think overall we found a good balance with the vocals on this record. Not too much, not too little. The sound of the vocals also changes throughout the record.

MvG: Yeah, because I’m really not a big singer in terms of range. We definitely keep vocals as part of our palette, but I would never do a full album with vocals.

F: Maybe you just need singing lessons.

MvG: Only time will tell. Anyway, there’s not much to say about it. Normal song format. It’s a mood piece.

J: The moodiest piece of them all.

F: It certainly paints a picture with the bird calls. These birdsongs, by the way, are a mixture of real birds singing and us and friends imitating birds. Not only on this piece, but on the whole album.

J: Yeah, sometimes you just need a bird call with expert timing, so you have to do it yourself. MvG. It’s the first time we’ve done a basic song. I wonder when we’ll have our Herbie Hancock moment and go from Sextant to Headhunters?
J: I’d say we’re saving the pop sensibility for when at least two of us hit a mid-life crisis.

MvG: That sounds fair. Okay, let’s move on.

Bat Pig Medicine

MvG: Bat-Pig-Medicine. Jonas has an extended bass part here.

F: Spotlight on the bass.

MvG: You did that well.

J: Thank you.

MVG: That’s basically the flipside of the album. No more vocals, and especially on this track, more experimental sounds. On our last release, Tryptich Terror Oriente, we indulged in noise and related genres. So we wanted to cut back on those aspects on this record and bring jazz rock, fusion – whatever – to the forefront.

J: Don’t drag us into that! The whole thing was more of an ego trip for you guys.

F: We like that stuff too, but like only for a minute.

MvG: Yeah, I tend to get into it. I could do concept albums for days. I’ll give you an example: I had a desire to do a 30-minute solo piano album that was just a hypnotic sequence of octaves and fiths overlapping each other.

J: You really want to be more pretentious than Emmerson, Lake and Palmer, don’t you? MvG: I’ve taken that criticism to heart. Another indulgent album would have been just 30 minutes of sampled doorbell organ solos.

J: Thank God you got that out of your system.

F: I for one am waiting for autotuned tuba solos.

MvG: COMING SOON! Anyway, we put all these ideas into one segment because they worked surprisingly well together. The first part, which we called “A Meditation on the Inverted Flora of Hell”, is the only post-rockfish part of the first record. In the end, we abandoned the post-rock aesthetic in favor of a jazz-rock or fusion approach, mainly because I came to terms with my role as dictator. I’m not the biggest fan of the genre. The prefix post should designate an abundance of sounds, but I can’t help feeling that all post-rock bands sound the same.

J: True, but its the same with free jazz. It becomes what it is.

MvG: Amen. Okay, let’s move on

Frightful Green Panic

J: Okay, the last one. We have reached the end.

MvG: This is one of those tracks that turned out really well. We had the basic framework of this track lying around for ages but never knew how to finish it. So we tried our new palette on it, like vocals, saxophones, organ and so on, and off we went. Suddenly it all fell into place.

J: Do you remember the track by track commentary we did for An Adoration in Prayer and Ritual? We came up with a narrative for the album. What did you have in mind for this album?

MvG: Yes, I remember. That was eye-opening in many ways. Because usually we figure out what we want to express with our music as we make it. We never really thought about it like, “Hey, let’s make an album about…. Radio Towers” or something like that. If I had to sum it up, I would say An Adoration in Prayer and Ritual is an expression of civilizational melancholy.

F: We will never strangle and eat a gazelle in our lifetime.

J: The horror. I don’t really eat meat, but I would love to fight and eat a snake one day. MvG: We all do. Well, this time we had a little more time to prepare and incorporate a story into the artwork, and if you’re ready to dive deep into the story of Anatomy of the Heads, you should check out the booklet, the artwork and all the liner notes. If you do, you will discover a narrative to the album. However, I myself would hesitate to commit to any particular meaning. It is too early for that. Maybe ask me again in a year’s time.

F: That’s fair. There is also an outro on this track that sheds some light on what this album is about. It represents a kind of ordeal, and if you get through it, you are rewarded.

Okay, that’s has been our track by track commentary. I hope you enjoyed reading and feel now enticed by our captivating personalities to give us all your cash. Stay tuned for the sequel in 2023! Follow us on Twitter and be sure to visit www.aoftheh.com for all things Anatomy of the Heads. If case you’re wondering, Bandcamp is the best way to support our band. Never leave the internet and may the volcano gods smile on each and every one of you.

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Zahn are a new instrumental (noise) rock group consisting of Nic Stockmann (Heads., ex-Eisenvater) Chris Breuer (Heads., ex-The Ocean) and Felix Gebhard (live-Einstürzende Neubauten)

ZERRUNG

This, as well as 87,5% of the content on the album started with one of Chris Breuer’s relentless bass riffs. The drums follow the riff, Nic Stockmann puts them together in a way that, when I listen to ZERRUNG, makes me feel like I’m slapped in the face repeatedly for the duration of the song. While, guitar-wise, I had intended to create a Cramps-like vibe in the song’s intro, this ended up being something completely different after Wolfgang Möstl added his spooky noise guitar tracks, which was a nice surprise. I don’t know how Peter Voigtmann makes his recording room sound the way it does, but the drums were huge even before Dennis Jüngel performed his magic during the mixing process.

PAVIAN

There’s a German expression, often used to describe a piece of music that is tight and ‘in your face’, that’s also illustrating the actual act of hitting someone on the head. The expression is ‘auf die Zwölf’ and it’s pretty much what I think of when I’m trying to find an adjective to describe this track. ‘Auf die Zwölf’ is also a very macho thing to say, which nicely adds to the overall flavor (and the title) of this tune. I think we managed to deliver this as direct and minimalist as possible. The way guitar and bass are simultaneously plowing through the chorus parts gives me goose bumps and when at first Fabian Bremer adds spaceship synthesizers and fuzz and then Peter Voigtmann comes in with the extra drums the whole room explodes in a very beautiful way. If you listen very closely to the second verse you’ll hear a Stooges-inspired piano that was played by a caveman.

TSEUDO

The song’s title was inspired by Werner Enke’s monologue on “Tseudophilosophie” in one of the finest works in the history of German cinema “Zur Sache Schätzchen”, a movie I’ve watched around forty times in my life, which my bandmates, when I enthusiastically tried to introduce it to them one night while we recorded the album, simultaneously fell asleep to. Later, they even wanted to change the song title, which I successfully vetoed. I know it’s not particularly cool to cite U2 as an influence, but I feel my guitar playing on Tseudo was somehow inspired by The Edge. Or at least I felt like The Edge when I played it (I even wore a black hat). Chris’ genius strike was buying a lap steel guitar and a looper pedal during the production process, which enables him to loop his bass part and play it back while switching over to the lap steel in the middle of the song and then move back to the bass again. Technology has come a long way since the olden days. After the overall build-up towards the end of the song where lap steel, delays and Alexander Hacke’s synthesizers create a raging ball of noise, all that remains is a spooky choir that Hacke added, leaving the listener with a promise of healing after all the terror and madness. Which the next track puts an end to.

GYHUM

This started as an improvisation on electric baritone guitar, which Peter Voigtmann captured between recording other songs. I edited it, gave it some structure and put a lot of synthesizer tracks and some electronic beats on top. Sofia Salvo later provided some of her magical trademark saxophone styles, which, to my ears, turns the whole thing into this weird scenario where a free jazz horn player gets lost in a Berlin night club on a rainy September Sunday noon, when only a few hardcore enthusiasts keep moving on the dance floor while everybody else starts swigging big glasses of water in fear of the approaching comedown.

Although we won’t be able to ever play this piece live it’s one of my favorites on the album.

SCHRANCK

SCHRANCK is the first song we put together that didn’t get shelved later and in my memory this took us only about 30 minutes. It was instantly agreed on that this was a keeper. Structurally we never changed a thing, this is just the way it turned out. It’s the only track where I drop the low guitar string to a D, which I regret now, because aside from this I could play a whole Zahn set without changing the tuning. The title describes this piece rather accurately, ‘Schrank’ (without the extra C) being a big piece of furniture that you’ll have a hard time carrying around by yourself.

LOCHSONNE SCHWARZ

Because the tempo of the song and something in the bass riff reminded us of ‘Black Hole Sun’ by Soundgarden this little ditty was named LOCHSONNE SCHWARZ. To me it’s the oddest tune on the album. Alexander Hacke’s synthesizer additions make it even more weird and the whole thing turned out more claustrophobic than any of us had imagined. There’s hiss, there’s wobble, and there’s Nic and Chris’ stubborn and stoic steam engine rhythm section. Does all that make it a ‘song’? I still don’t know.

AYKROYD

Like most Zahn songs this is based on a repetitive bass and drum figure that allow the guitar to do whatever on top. To me it’s one of our most fun tunes to play. The way we stumble into the chorus is a moment I look forward to every time. The sax lines Sofia Salvo throws at the listener throughout the last chorus make my hair stand up. I would like to thank whoever invented fuzz and reverse delay as those effects are the key elements to the guitar sound on this song.

STAUB

The verse’s guitar line was written by Chris and it started a Sergio Leone movie in my head right away. I know everybody is always talking about how they were inspired by Ennio Morricone western movie scores, but in this case it’s true. This is our tribute to the maestro and what else could we name it but STAUB! I later added some very sad and longing harmonica lines that I was extremely satisfied with because to me they

transported the Morricone vibe even further, but my effort was turned down by my fellow bandmates. Can you believe it? Needless to say this situation almost led to the end of our little enterprise, but we managed to navigate this crisis and solve it over a few tin cups of cowboy coffee. The long piano loop at the very end is intended to help the audience find some peace and relaxation after listening to the album. We’d like to encourage everybody to use it as a soundtrack for a short moment of meditation and inspection of their inner life before returning to the world outside. Thank you.

Felix Gebhard

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A thoroughly well-conceived release – effective as a deep listen of a commentary exploring a very specific set of cultural motifs, but also as an absorbing journey through musique concrète and noise. The cassette, artwork and research zine weaves the theory of the project together into a original physical record. – Heavy Cloud via Bandcamp

We recently had a conversation with Distant Animals regarding his new imprint Difficult Arts and Music. Their second release is a compilation entitled Brexshitting and we asked DA to give us a track-by-track of that one (or artist-by-artist, if you will).

The main research project was by myself, Dylan Beattie and Antonin Canon. Dylan is undertaking a PhD in experimental lathe cutting, and Antonin is a producer/engineer at one of Brighton’s best studios.

Cracks In the Armour is the solo project of Chris Kuzmiski, a mainstay of the Edinburgh / Brighton noise, industrial and rock scenes. He currently plays in The International Debt, who have just released an EP on Cupboard Music.

Warren ‘Kaninen’ Rasmussen is a composer and engineer from the Faroe Isles – he’s a bit of an undiscovered gem of 80’s synth soundtracks. His soundtrack to ‘Terror of The Mooncat’ is being released by Feeling Better Now very soon.

J.Lynch is a pseudonym of Johny Lamb, who any contemporary folk fans will know from his excellent ’Thirty Pounds of Bone’ project.

Sutter Greaves is an experimental composer from Arizona, who releases music under the name of The Rem. You can find his work on labels like Hreám.

Cyrnaud is the musical offshoot of speculative artist Lucy Finchett-Maddock, aka Cyrenaur. Lucy is also a law lecturer and runs the Brighton Art Law Network.

Powlos is an ambient producer who has release music on the Faint label.

Don Dayglow is a DJ and electronic producer who runs the Particle Zoo label.

Hydra Transmitter is an experimental composer and the head of Xtelyon Records.

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Handing over the mic to artists/musicians who break down their new albums track by track/share the thought process behind the creation. Today we’ll hear from Mike Cranny of UK band Firestations whose new EP Pixel Wilderness is out now on Lost Map.

Machine Country

This one is a driving retro-futurist lament looking at the highs and lows of losing your sense of self in the wild hinterland of the internet. Sometimes I feel like an online persona offers a truthful insight into someone’s thoughts – a kind of fast-track conduit to an internal monologue – and other times it feels at least semi-fictional and hugely aspirational. However you look at it, I reckon the internet offers a pretty seismic evolutionary shift in consciousness; well, either that or a great way to get out of your head via TikTok scrolling, Limmy’s vines compilations or Axl Rose shouting “gimme some reggae” for 8 minutes and 34 seconds.

Sun In Your Eyes

A song from the early days of the band that has existed in various unreleased forms since then, but now shimmers into focus through the lens of more recent electronic experiments. The message of resilience in the verse “you are stronger and tougher than you think, you’re not going down any time soon”, is questioned by an uneasy backdrop of shifting drones and washes of noise, before being resoundingly affirmed by a strident big harmony chorus “you’re not going down with the sun in your eyes”. We hope that listeners come away from the song feeling a bit better about stuff, and maybe even able to have a big cathartic cry.

It’s Unreal

This began life as a longform drone piece in an art installation in a toilet. We then took the woozy guitar loops and washed-out synth drones and added lyrics about dissociation and the pressures of keeping it together “don’t ask me to be someone I’m not, like clouds are mountains in the sky”. Thematically, the whole EP has a vein of ambivalence towards virtual/alternative realities running through it, as you might have guessed from the title. Pass me that tin-foil hat, I need to block out the microwaves!

Outpost Index (Sunken Version)

A synth-pop track that was on the previous Melted Medium EP is reimagined here as an intimate dystopian ballad with Mike and Laura’s vocals upfront and affecting, and Martin’s synth washes rising and falling. It should definitely be possible to have a good cry to this one.

The Circular (‘The Leaf Library’ Cover)

Each collection in the Automatic Tendencies trilogy features covers and remixes of new Firestations tracks by other artists. For the cover on this EP the band have recruited friends and fellow drone-pop travellers The Leaf Library, who have completely transformed previous single The Circular. Their version takes the cyclical, hypnotic elements of the original and expands them into a rejuvenating six-minute wave of distorted guitar, saxophone interjections and blissed-out vocals. What a band.

Dream Home (“Long Ago and Far Away” mix by Ocean Moon)

The last track on Pixel Wilderness is a remix by Ocean Moon, aka Jon Tye. As well as being one half of the brain behind independent label Lo Recordings, Jon is also a musician/producer who specialises in spacious, deep and meditative sounds. With this reworking of Dream Home, he has created a shimmering sonic landscape utilising fragments of vocals and basslines from the original (which features as a B-side to the Sun In Your Eyes single). Cheers Jon.

****

Pixel Wilderness EP is out on Lost Map Records on Friday 6th August.

Melted Medium and Automatic Tendencies EPs are out now.

https://linktr.ee/firestations

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