FLESH & BONE
in the pursuit of artistic passion
vol 30
REBECCA STEVENSON - CHRIS MALLOY - PVIRS - CANCER BATS
FLESH & BONE M A G A Z I N E
V O L . 3 0
F l e s h & B o n e M a g a z i n e i s a q u a r te rl y c re a t i ve a r ts publ i ca ti on p ro d u c e d b y a r t i st s wh o a re co ns ta n tl y i n s p i re d b y o t h e r a r t i s t s. Ou r go a l i s to s h a re a n d i n t ro d u c e o t h e r p e o p l e who a re i n te res te d i n a r t o r i n t h e p u rs u i t of a r t to o th e r c re a t i v e i n d i vi d u a l s. E a c h i ssu e h i g hl i g hts a r ti st s o f a n y a r t i st i c m e d i u m , who th e y a re, w h a t t h e y d o , a n d t h e i r vi e w p o i nts o n th e c o n si s te n t l y g ro wi n g a r t i s t i c m o v e me n t. _____________________________________________ FOUNDER & EDITOR
BRANDYNN L POPE
COPY EDITOR
DONALD KIMBER
DESIGN & LAYOUT
BRANDYNN L POPE
COVER PHOTO
MARIANNE WIE
WRITING TEAM
ASHLEY ATLUS JAMES LIAM WARD
PHOTOGRAPHY TEAM
ASHLEY ATLUS BRANDYNN L POPE BRITTNEY TAMBEAU
W W W. F L E S H B O N E M A G A Z I N E . C O M A l l ri ghts reser ve d. No pa r ts o f th i s pu bl i c a ti o n m a y be rep roduced i n wh o l e o r i n pa r t wi th o u t pe r m i s s i o n f rom the p ubl i she r. T h e v i e ws ex pre sse d i n t h i s pub l i cati on do not re f l e c t F l e sh & B o n e a n d i t ’s s t a f f but retai n to thei r re spe c ti v e c o n tr i bu to r s.
F I N D U S ON
Fa c e b o o k f a c e b o o k . c o m / f l e s h a n d b o n e m a g a z i n e Tw i t te r t w i t te r. c o m / f l e s h a n d b o n e m a g I n s t a g ra m @ f l e s h b o n e m a g a z i n e
SU BMI SSI ON S & AD VE RTI SI N G
fleshbonemagazine@gmail.com
02
TWO THOUSAND EIGHTEEN
SECOND QUARTER A P R I L
M A Y
J U N E
With this being the second installment of Flesh & Bone being released as a quarterly magazine, I feel even more confident with that choice. Being able to bring you all larger content is something that I have wanted for a long time and was very difficult in the quick installments we previously had. We are morphing even more, welcoming a new staff member next month which will take a lot of the responsibility off of my hands as this has been a relatively solo project of mine in the last two years. I’m hoping that this means, much like this volume, there will be even more content for you all to connect with. Every day we find more beautiful artists of different genres and mediums and it is such a pleasant revelation to know how diverse the world is with their visions and techniques. BRANDYNN LP
I______________ N TH I S I S S U E A L B U M S IN R E V IE W ______________ 58
WRT JAMES LIAM WARD
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AU R AL ______________ 06 SOMME
WRIT BRANDYNN L POPE PHTG ASHLEY OSBORN
18 CANCER BATS WRIT BRANDYNN L POPE PHTG BRANDYNN L POPE
36 MAYDAY PARADE WRIT
BRANDYNN L POPE
40 PVRIS
WRIT BRANDYNN L POPE PHTG BRANDYNN L POPE
V ISUA L ______________ 08 TAL AVITZUR WRIT
BRANDYNN L POPE
24 CHRIS MALLOY WRIT BRANDYNN L POPE PORT JACK GERMSHIED
46 REBECCA STEVENSON WRIT BRANDYNN L POPE PHTG MARIANNE WIE
SOMME @somme
sommesongs.com/
What prompted you to first learn guitar on your own and then dive deeper into the instrumentation?
I was quite young, around 6 years old, so I don’t exactly remember what initially drew me to the instrument. I honestly probably just thought it looked cool. I took classical lesson for only a few weeks and stubbornly quit to start teaching myself. I eventually went back to classical guitar and became super passionate about that throughout my formative years.
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What is the power behind having the name Somme and what do you want this to represent as you continue to pursue your musical career?
I’m told a new meaning for Somme every time someone asks me what it means. There are lots of different meanings and that’s what I love about it and kind of want to leave it at that. Somme is me, I am Somme.
What are some themes that you like to explore within your music? With your self-titled EP, do you What was your reasoning behind have an over-arching theme in moving to Los Angeles and leaving place? behind The Clive Davis Institute I usually gravitate to darker themes. I of Recorded Music? Did you ever really admire when artists are able to seek even a minimal amount of achieve the juxtaposition of having a song classical or formal training? After attending The Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music for a short time, I decided New York City and school at the time wasn’t for me. It was also wildly expensive and I wasn’t very sure of myself or what I wanted to get out of school. It just didn’t make sense for me to continue blindly going to school just because that’s what everyone else was doing. I went to a private college prep high school so it was just the norm to continue onto college after graduating, I didn’t really question it. Since moving to LA though, I’ve found inspiration and incredible resources for learning and growing as an artist. It truly is the capital of pop music.
And yes, I had classical/formal training throughout middle and high school which I continue to use today when I write. I took classical guitar classes for 8 years and eventually started going to School of Rock after school where I learned quite a bit of theory.
When you first decided the songs you wrote were going to be performed live, how did you come up with your performance tactic?
sonically be very somber and lyrically perhaps loving or happy and vice versa. Robyn is really good at that. Her song “Dancing on my Own” is sonically a happy dance-y banger but if you really listen to the lyrics it’s heartbreaking. There’s a video of her performing a stripped back version of the song that is seriously tear-jerking.
When it comes to creating content such as music videos or promotional imagery, what are some motifs that you like to incorporate? Do you feel hands on in the production of these images or do you often let other creatives build up the ideas before the collaboration together? The ideas usually start with me but I love collaborating with other creatives who specialize more in the visual art field.
Talk a little bit about the EP’s illustration and what brought you to use this sort of imagery to encompass your songs?
The idea started with me and illustrator/ graphic designer Chloe Corriveau brought it to life. The imagery is Well, I knew I would have to play to supposed to represent desire, resisting tracks which was a whole new learning desire more specifically. The hand experience for me. I’ve gone through a desiring the beautiful bouquet of flowers few different band arrangements trying and the dagger stopping it from getting to figure out what felt the most right. With what it wants. That idea is what a lot of a drummer, without a drummer ... Me on the EP is about. bass and me just singing. I think the last show I played it finally felt right. I played With this EP finally being released, bass for the whole set where as before what should people be looking out I was mostly just singing. I was hesitant for next? about making that switch because I Hopefully [I will] have a bunch more wanted the audience to perceive me as a pop singer more than a band member shows over the summer. I’ve also started but I think I was able to achieve both. I’m writing lots and I’m really stoked with the new material [and am] very excited to most comfortable with an instrument in put it out. my hands.
TAL AVITZUR @talbotics
talbotics.com/
While studying math in college, I lived in a large communal artist compound with a constant stream of artists coming and going. I worked for a variety of artists, including ceramicist Beatrice Wood and sculptor George Rickey. I considered myself lucky to get an inside glimpse into their lives and see their passion for their work. My artistic path began when I purchased a fixer home and I wanted to create something beautiful on a limited budget. Though I was frequenting salvage yards for materials for the home improvement projects, I started collecting items that I didn’t need for the house. I just thought they were unusual and pretty cool.
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When did you first start get involved with your creative ventures with metal and found objects? Did you have formal education to work with the different tools and devices?
My father is a metallurgist. As a child I used to visit his lab, which was full of tools and equipment to conduct experiments for his consulting jobs. After college I took a job with a research firm working on determining the best collection of spare parts that aircraft carriers should keep stocked in order to maximize the readiness of planes. Perhaps those experiences had something to do with what I do, however I didn’t start creating until years later. Fortunately I had talented artist friends willing to teach me what I needed to know.
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What is it about the scrap metals and electronics that you are so attracted to before even recycling them into their artistic form?
How often do you conduct searches for different parts?
Scavenging at marine and auto salvage yards, recycling centers, construction It’s lucky for me that brass, aluminum site dumpsters, swap meets, flea and other metals have value, so they markets and yard sales has become an end up at the scrap yards rather than in obsession. I enjoy the hunt, so I head the trash. When I began hunting, I was out as often as I can, usually a few amazed at what I was finding, vintage times a week. And I always try to visit items like tools, kitchen appliances, the salvage and supply houses in other vacuum cleaners, floor polishers, electric cities, when travelling. fans and scientific equipment. Based on the designs of some of these objects (circa 1940s through 1970s) it seems as if many of their creators had secret desires to be building rocket ships and robots. The original use of a vast majority of the spare parts in my inventory is a mystery to me.
What does your studio look like most of the time? What are some things that you always have at the go in there and what are some things that have filtered through over the years?
The workshop usually has a few different projects going on at any time. Sometimes, sculptures need to be put aside for months, or even years, while waiting for just the right salvaged part. I’m fanatical about keeping parts organized, so that they are easy to find. I don’t have “regular” items always onhand, as most of the parts come from old machines. I do, however, always keep all sorts of fasteners, nuts, bolts, etc… stocked in bins, so I’m not running out to the hardware store everyday.
Are there any objects that you have kept in full without using it for any specific project yet?
I try not to take things apart if they are rare and still functional. But most parts are beyond their useful life by the time they make it to my bench. There is one microscope that I have not yet disassembled because, I think, it’s a work of art just the way it is. (See photo.)
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Talk a little bit about the process of collection the objects, cleaning, and eventually putting everything all together? After I bring parts to the studio, they are cleaned, disassembled (if necessary), sometimes polished, then sorted. Each piece begins with finding the personality in an object, then test-fitting combinations together, and cutting, drilling and grinding until reaching a natural-looking fit. Many hours are spent taking things apart and figuring out how to put things together that were never meant to be connected.
Do your creations and creatures come as an image to you before you get the material, or do you find that once you have found a certain material it inspires the creation?
What I make depends on what parts I have on hand. A 1930s air compressor looks like a classic Buck Rogers rocketship, a 1940s vacuum cleaner motor housing may look like an old Bugatti, metal spatulas like bug wings … and I go from there.
With your different creatures do you create different narratives for them along with the name? Sometimes my friends’ kids will come over and have a fun time making up stories to go with the pieces, but I don’t post any narratives. People sometimes see things in pieces that I didn’t even think of. So I let people come up with their own stories.
What do you feel inspires the thematic approach you have with your creations? Is there a specific theme that you like to take with your work in general? I suppose my inspiration comes from all the comics, mythology and science fiction books and movies of my youth.
How do you hope your work will grow and expand in the future? Is there something in particular that you have been itching to try and approach in your work?
I started creating because my collection of salvage yard finds was getting large. I had to do something with it and it was fun to decorate the house I had been working on for years. Even though the house is now full, I keep up the art because it’s just so much fun. Sometimes days go by and I don’t leave the property because the workshop is where I want to be. Luckily, my sweet wife is okay with that. As for the future, I just want to keep doing what I’m doing.
CANCER BATS @cancerbats
cancerbats.com/
Recently, Cancer Bats celebrated their ten year album release of Hail Destroyer. For their celebration they went off on a small world tour, performing the album front to back for all of their fans. Not only this, but the band also had a bit of a surprise for the world, releasing a brand new record, The Spark That Moves, seemingly out of the blue. During this time of celebrating both the new and the old music we were able to meet up with vocalist, Liam Cormier, and have a conversation about their work, both the classic as well as the fresh music.
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ith both the ten year anniversary of Hail Destroyer as well as dropping The Spark That Movies there was a lot to talk about with Liam Cormier of Cancer Bats. For one, at that moment Liam was over in the United Kingdom and had just finished loading in some gear into the venue before taking the time to discuss the details of how they were touring with both the new record as well as celebrating the anniversary. “For us, a lot of our band comes from the position of the fan first. I think because we are actual fans of bands, we go and see an anniversary tour and it’s like when ... I am ripping the pit for Hate Breed I know all the songs and I want to listen to them in the order of the record that I’ve been moshing to for twenty years,” Liam explains this to be reason why they still had played Hail Destroyer front to back on this tour specifically, “I’m not dominating too much of the set with material people don’t know. So even though we are celebrating this new record at the same time people have only heard it for a week, so we don’t need to play eleven new songs.” Hail Destroyer, though not the bands first record, hold a specific place in their hearts, and they also realized in the arts of many fans. “The biggest thing with that
album is realizing how much putting life experience in a very specific way would then in turn relate to a lot of people. That’s something I started to learn while we were writing Birth Me The Giant and working with Gavin Brown that I really honed on with Hail Destroyer,” Liam recognized that people were gravitating towards specific songs, songs that held his own personal narratives but then they would see themselves in it with a unique situation, specifically with a song such as “Sorceress.” Liam states that, “People look at that song as something to help them through a break-up when really it didn’t have anything to do with a relationship, it just had something to do with a bad person. I like that there are so many people that were able to connect their own experience to that song.” Once conscious of this connection, Liam decided to try to do this sort of thing as much as he could. It was something that helped him gain a lot of confidence as a song writer and opened himself up more to use his own emotional experience. One of the beautiful things about Hail Destroyer as a record was all of the bands that brought it together. Due to who Cancer Bats had been touring with at that time in their life they were able to
reach out to several artists and have them feature on the record. “The whole album is so much about tour, so I had been asking those guys while I was writing the album if they could be on the record and in all of the cases they were like, ‘Yeah, for sure.’ We were on tour with Rise Against for the second time in 2007 and Tim is playing bass with us on stage since we didn’t really have of a bass player at that point, just a fill in guy. Tim was just as stoked on the record as we were. Plus the Billy Talent guys were around, the Alexis[onfire] guys were all around. Everyone was about being part of that whole record.”
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With this new record ten years later, the guys in Cancer Bats had to approach it in a unique way that they previously had never done. Since they had done the record by themselves they realized they did not have to adhere to specific plans on how to release the record and essentially could avoid the ridged structure that is often placed in the music industry when it comes to content releases. “For us, we were like, we have people who have supported our band for the last ten to twelve years, we are doing all of these shows, these are the people that I want to just bring the record to and sell them right there are the show. So why do we need to do a full lead up teaser campaign?” Liam continued to state that it was particularly interesting because outside of their circle of maybe ten people no one had a clue that the record was even going to be released let alone when it would be. It would be a surprise to everyone, journalists, fans, and other musical officials and everyone across the board would have to have the full fan experience. “It was really fun and freeing in a way because all we want to do is tour, back to what we originally wanted to do and have fun and hang out,” He finished. They also approached the record in a way where they would have music videos set up for every song that were similar as well as released at the same time, with the exception of “Gate Keeper” acting like the actual Gate Keeper of the record. “I like the idea that people can gravitate to whatever song that they want so there are no singles. There are no songs that you are supposed to listen to it’s just whichever one people like. It’s interesting to see people’s response and what songs they do really like. When you think about it
with the video you’re choosing what you’re putting out there and what you’re letting people here. With this all of the songs are given an equal platform. The idea with the graphics we wanted to have this live, really colourful record, harbouring back to the album art work that we really liked in the 90s. We found that this record really had a 90s vibe to it as well. I was sending the designer tons of inspiration and album art that I was super stoked on in 90s references,” Liam commented, further adding that once they gave their design ideas to the videographers that the band would just let the other artists do with the video what they would. There were a few different videographers who showed off their different perspectives including a group from Winnipeg that had been just kids learning how to edit and the band extended out to them to make a video for the record. Then there was another artist, a seventeen year old neighbour of Liam’s, who was going to film school in New York the following year so he ask them to make a video as well. For him, and the rest of the band, they were far more interested in the perspective that these others, including a seventeen year old would have with the songs than everyone else in the band weighing in on it.
Zombie in our songs.’ You know, those fun conversations and ideas that are less strategic and is more like, why do you want to make music? I found that really refreshing with this album.”
Cancer Bats fully embrace the idea of focusing and following your own path as an individual. That’s how they have made the members moving to different parts of Canada work, and in general, The members of Cancer Bats are now a how they structure their adult lives. For little more spread out than they had been them, they enjoy touring more than in the past. With them being in different anything, integrating it into songs such cities in the most recent year it has forced as, “Road Sick,” and touring as much as them to alter how they write. “For us they possibly can, even if it’s just a month the biggest shift was that it wouldn’t be at a time so that they can return to their the four of us every single day jamming families and live a semi-nuclear life on together. It became whoever has an top of the lifestyle of a touring musician. idea will take the charge and where we As a group they genuinely just believe would go from there in terms of writing in putting the best parts of themselves new songs. It was nice to break up the forward and doing the thing that makes dynamic that way,” Liam states noting that them happy. This is why they released previously they would all get into a room The Spark That Moves the way that they together and just jam in order to get the had, even stating that if it wasn’t for work done. This time, there was a little Spotify and Apple Music they more than more of a relaxed approach due to the likely still would have done the Run the distance. Liam dove into a little bit about Jewels approach and have the record the writing process stating that, “Jay and available for free. I would get together and Jay plays bass but it would come that I play drums and Now with the new record available Jay would play guitar and that was where and that they have finished up with the a lot of the six or seven of the basic bones ten year anniversary of Hail Destroyer of the songs on the record were written the band anticipates that they will still by the two of us. That was really different continue their masses of touring every to kind of have that where it’s sort of like other month. They are set up to please when you first start a band and you’re Winnipeg for the National Metal Fest and with your buddy just jamming music. We are ready to hop in the van and on a were working on demos and listening to plane to wherever they music brings them White Zombie and would be like, ‘This next. You can be sure to continue seeing is sick, we need to have more White more of them over the next year.
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CHRIS MALLOY @mistermalloy
chrismalloyphotography.com/
I am a photographer who documents vignettes of the past found within the context of today’s landscape. I create anachronistic scenes that present human elements which are chronologically out of place in their environment. Drawing from the aesthetic of cinema, the cover of night brings a sense of quiet solitude to the images. I work with a combination of medium and large format film and digital imagery.
You specifically go out and search for objects that contrast with our current modern time. What is it about this contrast that intrigues you enough to go out and search for it? Why do you While a lot of your work is think this idea is so important to enforce in landscape photography primarily at night, you have photographed different scenes in specifically? the day. What is it about the nightI have always had a strong sense of time work that makes you pursue nostalgia, so there’s a certain element of this kind of work instead? that driving my work. I also love finding peculiarities, just things that seem odd to me for some reason. Sometimes they’re out of place chronologically, sometimes they’re just objects, lighting, vehicles or structures that seem out of place. I think embracing the quirks of the world around us plays a big part in being able to embrace the world we have and the people we share it with. I think there’s a lot to learn from the act of finding beauty in the everyday instead of creating contrived, super polished versions of landscapes that trick people into thinking they’re something that they aren’t.
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There are a few reasons why I have been doing so much work at night. First, I love the aesthetic of night. It adds a sense of mystery to everyday scenes that doesn’t exist during the day. Much of what I photograph includes the suggestion of recent human interaction, but never the interaction itself. Working late at night allows me to create the photographs without people in them and lets me work in peace, most of the time. I also have a young family, so my daylight hours are already spoken for, late at night just happens to be when my ‘free time’ is.
When you do work in the day what sort of conditions do you aim to work with?
It depends on what I’m shooting I guess. I have always thought that the most adverse weather conditions produce the most interesting photographs. That being said, sometimes a photograph isn’t about the conditions of the environment at all, so it’s sort of hard to say. If I’m working with architectural subjects, as I have been lately, I prefer the conditions to be fairly neutral, allowing the subject to be the focus of the image, not the weather.
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Would you say you work primarily with film versus digital or is there a cross over? What do you find to be the most significant purpose of using a medium format film camera versus working on a dslr?
I have shot probably 75% or more of my ‘art’ photos on film for the last two years, but I often have my digital camera with me to help me compose or sometimes meter difficult scenes. There are a few reasons why I choose to shoot film for my personal work. First, and most importantly, I prefer the look and feel of the final images. I shoot primarily expired film, so there are factors such as age, how the film was stored and how it was processed with greatly impact the final product. Occasionally I prefer the look of a digital image, but not very often. One of the advantages to working with medium and large format film cameras are the perspective controls that they are capable of. My large format camera has enough ‘movements’ to allow me to control any converging verticals or depth of field issues that a scene may throw my way. I also have a shift lens for my medium format camera that allows me to do the same thing. Of course there
are tilt/shift lenses for digital cameras as well, but that’s no fun. The other significant reason that I that it allows me to control a huge amount of the process from beginning to end. It starts with the hunt of finding the specific film stocks I need, expired or fresh, in the right format. Next, I get to select the format, camera and film for that exact scene. Creating the actual image with a film camera, especially a large format camera, is a very different ritual than using a digital camera. There’s a specific ritual, a critical sequence of events that needs to happen each time. After the images are shot I develop and scan all my own film at home, providing me with another layer of control (or opportunity to blow it). The result is a huge investment of both time and effort in each image I create, and I think that has really distilled my work. I absolutely love each step along the way.
In terms of the routine of finding these scenes, setting up for the image, taking the image and then working on the image, what does your work flow look like? Do you find that you stumble across the scenes or is there a lot of purpose over each location that you go to?
With your project “What Are You Doing?” Specifically, do you take on the stance of the pedestrian and walk from location to location?
That’s right, I’ll drive around until I find an interesting location, then I’ll park and explore the area by foot to get the best I touched a bit on the routine above, but compositions that I can find. It depends in terms of finding scenes there are a though, sometimes it’s just safer to park few factors that I consider. I don’t set out close and stay by the car. I avoid any to find specific things, instead I prefer sort of confrontation if I can avoid it. to explore different areas and capture what stands out to me as interesting. Occasionally I find locations while I’m out running errands, and I’ll take a photo of them with my phone which geo-tags them. Especially with the night scenes though, that location often looks extremely different after the sun goes down.
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Being where you are located, do you find that there is particularly an influx of “natural” imagery or have you found most of the spots around your city? How often are you able to leave Calgary and venture to new locations?
I live in Calgary, which is less than an hour from the Rockies, so there is a massive amount of incredible landscapes to take photos of. I love taking landscape photos, but I don’t think I have anything new to offer the world in terms of capturing the local landscape here as art. I spend a lot of time exploring the city itself, all parts of it, nose to tail. I’ve been trying to focus a lot lately on appreciating the everyday and finding beauty in that vernacular. Recently I have been working on a project documenting small rural towns in the southern half of Alberta, so that has been a great experience. I love getting out on the backroads and exploring off of the beaten path.
Is there a particular place that you are hoping to travel to in order to continue pursuing your work? And is there a place that you found was most interesting to create your images? Right now I’m really looking forward to visiting more of the small communities in this part of the country and working on that project. I would love to spend some time in Northern Ontario as well, spending some time in the communities around Lake Superior.
In what ways do you find that working with a vehicle in the foreground makes your work more successful?
Interesting question. I just always think of vehicles as adding such an element of interest. They’re something that people interact with in such a wide variety of ways and they also add a time stamp. People associate different vehicles with different eras, even though the vehicles remain on the road long after that time has come and gone.
You had a series of images where you would take urban structures and place them in the most rural places, “Rurban Landscape.” Can you talk a little bit about this older series of images? Is it something that you are still a little interested in pursuing?
The Rurban Landscape images are really fun to create. The concept is based around the concept that there are buildings that live in the city, but seem to have a distinctly rural charm to them. They’re usually old structures that the city has grown around, and to honour their years of service they finally get put out to pasture, to live out their final years in a peaceful rural setting. I really liked the challenge of finding the buildings, and then pairing them with a landscape that seemed to continue their story. I love the freedom that a project like that affords you, being able to create an entire scene, instead of relying on reality to present one to you. The goal is for them to feel real enough that even people who are familiar with the buildings aren’t able to immediately identify it as a composite, or “collage” as some of the kids are calling it these days.
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What sort of imagery are you hoping to pursue in the future with your photography? Do you have any shows that people should be looking or for or a new series of work currently being developed?
I talked a little bit earlier about a new project that I’m working on with a focus on documenting the small towns and rural areas of southern Alberta, so that’s ongoing. I’m also working on adding a few new pieces to the Rurban Landscape series, which will be exciting!
MAYDAY PARADE @maydayparadeband
maydayparade.com/
For years, Mayday Parade had been consistently putting out music with the same core group of people. They’ve played huge festivals around the world including Slam Dunk, Warped Tour, and South By So What, just to name a few. With the release of their fourth full-length record, Sunnyland, the band is ready to continue their adventure with music and keep moving forward with what they have done so well in a little over a decade’s amount of time. We were able to take a moment with guitarist, Brookes Betts, and talk a little bit about the bands long lasting motifs as well as the exciting new release of Sunnyland on Rise Records.
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ver since their first full-length, Lesson In Romantics, Mayday Parade had written beautiful ballads, and powerful love songs, encompassing romantic partners or friendships. They are reliable for these songs, showing off a pop-punk meets alternative rock rifts and clear story-telling vocals. Even when I asked Brooks about their themes he stated that, “I think that they are pretty similar to a lot of the other records, where most of the story lines and inspiration comes from true, and sometimes fictional, stories that we have experienced.” With the themes following along the narative nature of the band, Brooks comments how there is a bit of a shift on this album in particular when it comes to styles, and mixing it up a bit. Especially for Sunnyland, Brooks notes how there is a healthy mix of their classic sounding songs, some ballads, as well as a few heavier songs on the record, which is no surprise with their recent switch up in labels from Fearless Records over to Rise Records.
the more ... Edgy type,” Brooks paused at the last two words rethinking them for a moment before continuing, “So that process and learning was really interesting. Some of those guys are in their own way of processing band and they way that they work with them, their whole work flow, day-to-day schedule, everything. At the end of the day, even if some things weren’t quite what we were used to, and with those guys it was a little bit difficult but we got a very good end product and a beautiful record.”
For the last ten years Mayday Parade has upheld their original line up and remained a cohesive unit. Even now that all of the members are in diffeent cities Ultimately, the change in labels did and different parts of the United States not change the band as a whole. They they still are able to fully function as a are still the same group of people who band. Brooks went on to comment that, enjoy working together and still create “It doesn’t really affect our relationship the music that they enjoy creating. If besides the fact that we just don’t see anything, Brooks notes that the labels each other often just to hang out, it’s are really similar in the way that they both have been fantastic in enabling the more sort of business things since we band to do what they wish to creatively have our own family lives separately now. and do not restrict them from doing thier It’s never been a conflict, where a lot of own thing. What really pushed the band bands have trouble keeping it together to evolve on this record was production or working with each other. It’s always been a pretty easy thing, not to say it’s and the entire recording process of not difficult because it can be difficult it all. Sunnyland became one of the sometimes but it’s not difficult since we records that they have spent the most time working on, both writing and studio grew up working together. It wasn’t just time spent. Starting off in L.A. The group a mix-mash of people the being thrown went to producer, Howard Benson, that together. That chemistry works, it’s they previously have never worked with. something that worked before we were “They hae a very different process from even successful.” They have grown and
evolved as musicains regardless of any distances between them and are just able to make everything work out based on the true musical chemistry that bonds them, “It’s pretty easy to stay on course with these guys.”
images them all feel, they decided that it worked with what they were doing with Sunnyland. Brooks mentions that, “the idea [of Sunnyland] is that it’s turning everything to sound more positive more than it’s supposed to make you feel dark.” Brooks attempts to think about As well as their line-up Mayday Parade how it comes out sort of ironic with the has kept a few things from their first darker imagery paired with the bright record attached to their music and positive outlook that Sunnyland brings as design world, included the very a record, but the imagery still made them specifically styled faceless man. While all feel a particular way that resonated he originally featured in the earlier design with the record. works, he started being phased out of being on the front cover once Monsters “Like we always do, we are going to In the Closet was released. “I think it’s tour our asses off,” Brooks laugh at his important to have a thing to reconize comment when asked what to expect and the Faceless Man is such a good now that the record is released. He character. He doesn’t really symbolize continued speaking passionately about all of our artwork but with some of the the subject, “We had a lot of time at specific concepts that we did I think he is home, we spent a lot of time creating this an interesting character ... He’s just kind record and it would be a totally diffrent of the face that represents our band and record if we didn’t take that bunch of what we’ve set up,” Brooks also goes on time. So with all of this hard work, we got to comment that even previously in Black to head out.” Lines the Faceless Man never made the cover, but he still is an important symbol for them coming from the beginning of it all. Even further with the umbrella that the Faceless Man carried on the cover of Lesson in Romantics and how the umbrella also had it’s own little symbolizm that the band can now use as things such as their merchandise and posters, even if it is not directly plastered on their cover art. With Sunnyland, they have gone with a picturial sort of cover that came about when the band was touring through Atlanta. There was a day where they were out in the woods and ended up taking a bunch of images, really enjoying the look of it all. They ended up going back through Georgia and took another photo while out there. Particularly enjoying the colour scheme and how the
38
PVRIS @thisispvris
www.pvris.com/
In a short amount of time New England band, PVRIS, has taken over the globe with their alternative-pop like sound pushing the boundaries of listeners. This band has a strong presence in multiple music scenes and a very strong visual aesthetic making them one of the most memorable bands in our current time. During their time across Canada, we were able to meet up with vocalist, Lynn Gunn, and discuss their most recent release All We Know Of Heaven All We Need Of Hell as well their identity in the community.
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T
here was a time when PVRIS was playing shows with their track “St. Patrick” being the only song out and available to listen to. They would open up larger shows and automatically were gaining attention from the musical powerhouse of the full group as well as the unique vocal delivery from Lynn Gunn. The day that “My House” was released people became even more intrigued, awaiting the release of a full length. White Noise was released on November 4th, 2014 and lead a trajectory that would take PVRIS across North America and through Europe. The band had still been relatively new, and Lynn goes on to say that they had just met their producer, Blake, and recorded White Noise in his bedroom. By the time that PVRIS got to record their sophomore record Blake had become a good friend of years and Lynn went on to state that, “The second record was much easier to communicate what we wanted and we wanted and what we didn’t want, and dialled it in as much as we could. He really brings the best out of all of us in terms of musicians and creatives. I think also just coming off of tour and having three years of touring under our belt and having that whole perspective change and a shift in energy, maturity and mental spaces.”
Between the two full lengths you can tell that PVRIS has a particular style that is specific to them. While there are certainly big differences between their first and second albums, there’s a consistency that Lynn describes being attributed to the fact that each album was already diverse song-to-song, opening them up to have that same opportunity with every future release. Now they are able to branch off into whatever they feel fits in the future, being dynamic, while also keeping up with a consistent theme. “I think White Noise touched on a lot of mental anguish,” Lynn paused to laugh for a moment while talking about their themes, “That’s an extreme word for it ... and I think this last record touches a lot on that more but with more understanding and openness and acceptance towards it. [We’re] not shying away from it or masking it with any metaphors or anything. I think that’s the biggest shift, was opening it a little more and having a bit of a different perspective on it.” Everyone in PVRIS deals with their own ‘anguish’ in unique ways but ultimately they address it
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head on and work to fix whatever they are dealing with and g it’s a lot of this perspective that Lynn took into account while they were writing All We Know Of Heaven. It’s because of this high importance that the group places on mental health that they ending up teaming up with the Ally Coalition. The organization is dedicated to promote LGBTQ+ Equality through music and arts. With that organization they have set up most of their tour dates to have different local organizations that will represent themselves and set up a table at the shows with volunteers and essentially just promote the organization. “What really inspired that and made us want it to happen is a lot of times in this day and age there’s crazy shit going on and the biggest thing is that the youth is especially informed and opinionated about it but they don’t necessarily know what they can do to help, so this is kind of offering that little hand that is like ‘here’s what you can do in your neighbourhood.’ They keep us updated from city to city, we get a daily email
that’s like ‘this is what’s going on in this city circling around LGBTQ issues, this is good, this is bad, they give us a summary on everywhere we go.” The night that we met up with them there was an organization called Skipping Stone that specifically centered around Trans Equality and the mental health and medical procedures that might accompany them. Every night of tour is different and highlights the different organizations in the cities. Each member of PVRIS also has their own separate outlet that is attached as well as detached from the music that they make together. They all have a lot of respect for visual arts and it tends to leak into their presentation as a band. Most of the time on tours Justin is drawing, as well as Lynn likes to dabble. Alex looks at everything from its visual perspective and is constantly inspired by it and Brian is also a photographer. “There’s a lot of happy accidents in the intentions,” Lynn states when we talked about their own art coming through with the music and visual presentation of the band. She further goes on to state that they tend to have a theme, “Visually speaking, definitely the monochromatic look. I think that would be the biggest one and keep[ing] it a dark atmosphere. I feel like there’s always going to be some little taste of cynicism or negativity but maybe it will be expressed in different ways. I wouldn’t even say everything is really dark it just has a heavy emotion to it so whether it’s a positive love song or a negative one they will each have that same sense of longing or kind of ... very heavy emotion powering it. I think even when you take the happiest of emotions you can turn it into something beautiful and heart wrenching.” For PVRIS, their intentions is to come off having that gut feeling, using their own emotions to show other people that same twinge of emotion
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when you listen to their music and the atmosphere that music brings also leaking into their visuals. Before they released All We Know Of Heaven All We Need Of Hell, PVRIS had a social media black out. For them, it was a way of showing off that White Noise was done and it was time to move on and into the next direction. There was a moment where they didn’t know what they were going to do with the visuals, realizing that they had a particular look to them. “I was super intrigued by Victorian Art and turn of the century visuals and photographs and architecture. I feel like this could get steered the wrong way or perceived the wrong way, almost too gothic. I was a little uneasy with going that direction and then one of the first phone calls I had with Raúl, our visual director, about the next record he had brought it up on his own,” She stated excited that they could follow up on this expression. Continuing on she stated that, “While we were in studio, the environment we were in was a very industrial turn of the century town and the church we were in was built in the early 1990s and everything surrounding us was kind of from that era and kept
feeding into it. I think we found a decent way to incorporate that passion for that era for the videos for a bit. We tried to keep it kind of neutral but with hints in there. It’s kind of always been around us and this was finally like, ‘Oh this is what that is.’” With the band being from Lowell it is not too much of a stretch to embrace this visual either with the older architecture that New England shows off. Though there is no doubt that PVRIS encompasses their themes in all of the things that they do, ultimately their focus is the music that they create. Music will always come first and naturally. Now that they are off of their tour across Canada and the United States they are set up for Slam Dunk Festival in the United Kingdom with some following European festivals. From there they are going to Japan and then Australia. There’s a few more things in the work for the group, as any time that they are off of tour they are working on something, but for now it’s a little bit of a secret. Just know that there will be more to expect from PVRIS that is currently being brewed.
46
REBECCA STEVENSON @thatwaxlady
rebeccastevenson.net/
My work has been described as ‘a kind of uncanny rococo’. I sculpt animal and human bodies that appear to be in a state of transition, of unravelling, transformation and decay, somewhere between life and death. Wilfully pretty and decorative, coated in sugary surfaces and stuffed with dewy roses, the works are coquettish, attracting the viewer in like the fleshy voluptuousness of a carnivorous flower. But the spectacle is neither as innocent or as sweet as it seems – on closer inspection it becomes unsettling, ugly or downright perverse, like finding a worm in an apple.
Most of your sculpture separates your subject with one solid colour and then becomes essentuated by the colours of the objects disecting through it. What is the purpose of the colour isolation? I use colour to create a striking visual contrast between the surface and the interior of the pieces. Isolating the colours in this way reinforces the twofold nature of the work, especially when viewed from a distance.
Thematically speaking, what is something that you are exploring with your work? What are you hoping that people can grasp from it?
My work addresses the traditional functions of sculpture, sometimes referencing conventions such as the portrait bust. Historically, sculpture is frequently about monuments, the expression of heroism, masculinity or success. In my work these values and meanings are subverted by a relentless and perverse desire to destabilise and feminise the sculptural object. By ‘wounding’ or creating openings in the works I not only feminise them in a crude psychoanalytical sense, I also seek to unravel the sense of a clear boundary between object and viewer.
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With a lot of your work you have to look inside or see the details of what’s going on. Do you build these sculptures in hopes that people will take their interactions a little more intimately with your work? I’m really glad you picked up on this as that is exactly what I hope to achieve and it’s not always easy to understand by just seeing photos of the work. Experiences of looking underpin my practice: a formative experience for me was the anatomical drawing I became hooked on as a student. I would spend hours making drawings from cadavers and dissections, fascinated and repelled in equal measure by the messy and unexpected internal landscapes of the body. I became interested in playing with these two different experiences of looking, what I would call a ‘sculptural’ gaze, in which a discreet, intact object is viewed from a safe distance, and a more intimate, voyeuristic or bodily type of looking where the gaze literally enters into the body/work.
Do you feel that working and living in London has had a specific affect on the work that you have created? What were some of the lessons that you were able to take from having a formal education in the arts?
London has been my home since I moved here to go to art school in the 1990s and it’s certainly been an influence. In one way there’s a selfconscious nostalgia or longing for nature in my pieces, a kind of tongue-in-cheek contemporary pastorale if you like. On the other, there is the continual wealth of inspiration in the extraordinary galleries and museums here (my favourites: The Wallace Collection and the V&A). Plus the streets of South London where I live and work are full of material, from the colours of the African fabric stores to the street markets and Halal butchers’ shops, all of which feed into what happens in my studio.
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What is it about working with wax and resin specifically that you are so drawn to?
Wax is associated with the creation of doubles or stand-ins for the human body and I’ve always found this fascinating. Whether used to create anatomical models, votive objects, funeral effigies or life size simulacra of contemporary celebrities, wax is so explicitly visceral that it not simply represents flesh: it is transubstantial. The wax votive body part magically facilitates the cure of the diseased part in real life: the wax celebrity offers the chance ‘meet’ and be photographed with your idol. There is a slippage between the real and the desired body, a chance for transcendence, transformation. At the same time, in the Fine Arts, wax has often been denigrated as a material. It has been mistrusted, seen as temporary or unreliable, ‘too soft’ or ‘too lifelike’. I seek to exploit all these associations in my work. Both materials have a translucent quality and both allow me to embed colour right through the material of the pieces. Both can be used in a myriad of ways, and wax work for me especially can be a kind of a dance of processes: sculpting, brushing, cutting, folding, twisting, casting, modelling, drawing. Both materials move between liquid and solid states, which links to the idea of destabilising Sculpture, embracing transgressive ‘non-sculptural’ qualities such as fluidity and deliquescence.
How did you come to discover this medium of work and eventually master the construction? I’ve developed the techniques I use over a process of many years and as far as mastery goes, that is something I am a long way from, and maybe don’t ever want to arrive at! The tension between me and my material, my desire to control and shape the material is always in tension with the changes which happen by accident or chance. Recently I’m increasingly interested in objects that exist somewhere on this border between success and failure.
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What is the process like for your work? How long does it normally take for you to work on a specific sculpture?
Process for me is complex and I usually work on several pieces at once. It’s not unusual for me to put a work away for a while and then return to it later, I often find it helpful to move back and forth between processes and pieces. A small work might take me a month or two to complete whereas a large piece might take a year, or even longer.
Tell us about your work in the group exhibition, “Anthophile.”
“Anthophile’ means ‘lover of flowers’ and I’m thrilled to be involved in Is there a direction that you are this exhibition which explores the hoping to take your art work in the use of flowers by a diverse range of near future, if so would you mind contemporary artists including Tracey explaining a little bit about it? Emin, Ann Carrington, Gordon Cheung and Phoebe Cummings. I’ve recently become fascinated with I’m showing two new sculptures, auricular style, a rather trippy 17th ‘Rapture’ and “Sweet Slice”, which both century North European fashion mainly feature deer, a recurrent motive in my associated with silverware and the work. The compositions are loosely decorative arts that was based on the based on Dutch still life paintings, curves and folds of the human ear and where dead deer and other animals other elements of human anatomy - so expect to see some auricular whackiness are displayed as part of a spectacle of abundance with clusters of fruit, and, of coming through in my next batch of course, flowers! pieces!
Is there anything else that people should be on the look out for with your work or any other exhibitions that are coming up?
Yes! Look out for ‘B.A.R.O.C.K: Memento Mori, Scandal and Globalisation’, which will be happening in and around Berlin in Summer 2019. Featuring four artists whose work uses Baroque imagery and content to explore contemporary issues, the project will see specially created artworks installed in the lavish interiors of Schloss Caputh, a 17th Century summer palace on the banks of the River Havel, as well as interventions in the wunderkammer at ME Collectors Room, Berlin. Follow me on Instagram @ thatwaxlady for more details!
BEACH HOUSE
ALBUM S I N R E VIE W ______________
7.4
Glow”. After an incredibly solid beginning, I find 7’s first misstep in the increasingly repetitive refrain on “L’Inconnue”, whose kaleidoscopic resolve keeps the track from being a complete dud. Despite the fact that Beach House songs are more about the blissful vibe than anything, I find Victoria Legrand’s refrains to be consistently sticky on tracks such as “Drunk In LA” and “Woo”.
7
Sub Pop 11.05.18
Beach House are dream-pop duo from Baltimore, Maryland, who have just released their seventh studio album aptly titled “7”. I caught on to Beach House after the release of their 2015 album Depression Cherry, and promptly ventured through the band’s fairly consistent and reverb-drenched discography. Lately it seems Beach House has been peeling back the layers to deliver a more personal, skeletal, and unfortunately blander sound; thankfully the duo takes their seventh LP in a more psychedelic and experimental direction.
Many of the tunes on 7 progress in the same way; gradually adding layers until the listener is nearly overwhelmed by a hulking wall of instrumentation. My favorite example of this formula is on the dreamy “Dive”, whose upbeat drums and driving guitars propel the track towards a climactic finish. This songwriting formula is slightly squandered on the meandering “Lose Your Smile” whose instrumental never really pans out into anything very interesting. Fortunately this album has an awe-inspiring closer - building an immense wall of sound with a dreary piano melody as the foundation. Overall the duo took this project in the right direction experimenting more boldly and working with a vast array of colorful sounds and textures.
Everything kicks off with the gutpunching “Dark Spring”, a track with a Best Track: Dive potent sense of energy and momentum Worst Track: Lose Your Smile that I did not expect from a band that is so typically laid back. This introduction glides seamlessly into the lumbering “Pay No Mind”, which then flows effortlessly into the bouncy keyboards on “Lemon
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BOW VALLEY WOLF PACK
7.8
Lucy [EP]
Self-Released 27.04.18
Lucy is the sophomore project from experimental hip-hop trio Bow Valley Wolf Pack. The EP opens with one of the trio’s strongest songs to date, “Sinners”; a track laced with melodic, airy vocal layers and lush, tropical flavored instrumentation. Accompanied by a visually striking music video, “Lazy Susan” is a quirky, bass heavy banger with an intoxicating, nocturnal vibe. Lucy maintains its consistently low-key direction with the lead single “Lucky Charms”; I love the descending synthesizers on this track, as well as Matt’s clever Justin Beiber shoutout. “Watson” maintains the minimalistic aesthetic of Lucy, but I don’t think the track pans out into anything very interesting, and the airy flute sounds a bit harsh on the ears. This song somewhat kills the momentum of this short project, but the trio bounces back with “Ten of
Hearts”, an upbeat tune with bouncy synthesizers and an awesome sung hook from Jared. The line on this song “She’s my little Mononoke, after sushi she can always get the Poke” never fails to crack me up. The self-titled finale is an interesting change of pace for trio, as the vocals play more of a background role while the instrumentation adopts a more danceable tone. Taylor’s stunning production on this track really propels this song and the EP towards a satisfying resolve. There is a definite improvement in the group’s songwriting, and Taylor’s production is more textured and progressive than the material that landed on Enter The Dragon. I love almost all of the material on Lucy, but unfortunately on such a short EP everything needs to be all killer no filler, and even one dud track can really drag things down. Best Track: Sinners Worst Track: Watson
GHOST
band’s retro sound. “Miasma” is a solid instrumental detour, but it’s the blazing saxophone at the end that really sells the track. “Pro Memoria” has a hilariously morbid lyrical theme, but the extremely repetitive refrain pushes the song past enjoyably cheesy and into cringe-worthy territory.
7.2
Prequelle
Loma Vista 01.06.18
Prequelle is the fourth studio album from Swedish Heavy Metal band Ghost. The band’s approach to layering sounds and textures is greatly improved on this new record. This increase in detail and complexity reflects the album’s unbelievably impressive artwork.
“Witch image” and “Dance Macabre” are fantastic examples of Ghost at their peak on Prequelle - sharp and catchy songwriting, huge choruses and just an overall fun vibe. I love the airy flutes and sinister piano arpeggios that set the tone for the massive “Helvetesfonster”; a track that I was initially disappointed with being instrumental, but completely justifies itself through numerous shifts in tone, pace and texture. “Life Eternal” follows this penultimate track, which is a stunning piano ballad that closes out an ultimately solid Ghost record.
The eerie nursery rhymes open the album on an effectively spooky note, and the band quickly segues in “Rats”; a Best Track: Witch Image tune that I was admittedly disappointed with despite its awesome outro. Ghost’s Worst Track: Pro Memoria sharp hooks are the main reason I love the band, and repeating the word “rats” with a simple “Woah-oh” pattern just comes off as a lazy chorus. “Faith” would have been a much more appropriate opener, considering its crushingly heavy riffs, blazing guitar solos and potent energy. Ghost’s implementation of synthesizers into tracks like “See The Light” fit surprisingly smoothly into the
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KALI UCHIS
8.2
Isolation
Virgin EMI 06.04.18
Isolation is the debut album from Columbian singer/songwriter Kali Uchis. This album was one of my more anticipated this year as I had enjoyed her slew of recent features as well as the fantastically catchy single “After The Storm” with Tyler the Creator and BADBADNOTGOOD. My anticipation peaked once the production credits for this album were released, seeing as she was collaborating with the likes of Romil Hemnani, Kevin Parker and Thundercat. My expectations were high, and were exceeded as a result of Isolation’s strong melodies, diverse production and wellwritten tunes. The album opens with the smooth and sexy “Body Language”; Kali sounds incredibly mystical as she entices the listener over twittering reverbed flutes and Thundercat’s nimble bassline. Isolation continues to serve up excellent tracks with the sunburnt “Miami” and
the infectiously groovy “Just A Stranger”. I feel an Amy Winehouse influence seeping in on the soaring ¾ swing of “Flight 22” as well as the lovesick and soulful finale “Killer”. Kali Uchis breaks down genre boundaries on the discoinfluenced “Dead To Me”, and I can’t help but be perplexed and impressed by how well she fits over the 8-bit sounding Gorillaz collaboration “In My Dreams”. There is a lull in the album as Kali and her collaborators indulge in a couple of Latin-tinged dancehall tracks, neither of which pulls the album in an interesting or unique direction. This lull in the track listing is only short-lived however and Isolation picks back up for an incredibly engaging and well-written second half. “Tomorrow” sees Kali Uchis singing over the dreamy and psychedelic production of Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker; I love the moaning synths and subtle guitars on this track, and Kali’s chorus is as catchy as it is intoxicating. The horn embellishments and upbeat percussion on the soulful “Feel Like A Fool” make for another highlight amongst Isolation’s strong finish. Overall I found Kali Uchis’ debut to be very impressive; her knack for sharp songwriting and strong melodies carry her almost effortlessly across the vast sonic array of incredible instrumentals. Best Track: After The Storm Worst Track: Neustro Planeta
PUSHA T
8.0
Daytona
G.O.O.D. Music (Def Jam) 25.05.18
DAYTONA is the latest record from American rapper Pusha-T, and was produced almost entirely by his fellow G.O.O.D. Music associate Kanye West. The project is a watertight seven tracks and sees Pusha-T delivering his typical drug laced lyricism over some of the most creative and bass-heavy production I have heard this year. I’ve always preferred Kanye behind the boards instead of the microphone, and as anticipated his beats on DAYTONA are detailed, sample-heavy and hard-asnails. “If You Know, You Know” kicks off the record with a unique motif; as Pusha-T drops a number of obscure references to drug dealing that would typically go over listener’s heads, unless of course “They Know”. I learned rather quickly that I, in fact, do not know… The slinky guitars and dramatic horn samples on “The Games We Play” sound fantastic
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and make Pusha-T sound like some sort of cocaine-dealing cowboy out of the Wild West. “Hard Piano” starts with a questionable opening line, but the beat’s melodic progression and Rick Ross’ solid appearance make up for the shaky introduction. I love the juxtaposition between the grim, bassheavy verses and soul-sampled refrain on “Come Back Baby” and the transition from this track into “Santeria” is by far the dopest moment on the entire project. I do enjoy the progression and beginning of “Santeria”, but 070 Shake’s deadpan hook is not very enjoyable, and because she takes up a significant portion of the song I’m not entirely sold. “What Would Meek Do?” has an enjoyably dark vibe, but I don’t think Kanye’s verse adds anything to the track that Push couldn’t have done better. The spacious and low-key “Infrared” leaves plenty of room for Pusha-T to stir the pot - taking shots at Drake, Birdman and poor old Lil Wayne. Despite the controversy behind this track as well as the album cover, which is in very bad taste, there is no denying that DAYTONA is incredibly tight, well written and consistent across its twenty-minute runtime. There are a few lackluster moments here and there but this project is an undeniably enjoyable front-to-back listen. Best Track: Come Back Baby Worst Track: Santeria
THE WEEKND
6.3
My Dear Melancholy Republic / XO 30.03.18
Canadian alternative R&B singer The Weeknd has returned with the new EP My Dear Melancholy, a noticeably more focused and dark collection of tracks than what was delivered on his previous LP Starboy, albeit an equally inconsistent listen.
songs with Gesaffelstein. The wailing synth lead on “I Was Never There” becomes incredibly grating incredibly fast, and although the track slightly improves towards its resolve, the song still ends up being Abel’s weakest performance. “Hurt You” is a better song on the whole, but it just sounds like a Starboy B-side; unfortunately Gesaffelstein’s awful wailing synthesizer from the previous track is present here too. My Dear Melancholy, thankfully closes on a solid note with “Privilege”, whose minimalistic beat and reflective lyrics give this heartbroken project a sense of loose finality. This EP could have been a poignant return to form for the Weeknd, but unfortunately the collaborations with Gesaffelstein fall completely flat and really ruin the ability to enjoy My Dear Melancholy, as a full piece.
The EP opens with “Call Out My Name”, a forlorn ballad that waltzes from a Best Track: Wasted Times subtle beginning into a passionate and Worst Track: I Was Never There explosive vocal performance. Abel sounds equally heartbroken on “Try Me” over a more energetic instrumental, layered with colorful and dynamic synthesizers. “Wasted Times” is by far the catchiest and most upbeat track on My Dear Melancholy, whose instrumental blossoms towards the second half with chopped and pitched vocal layers. I find the first half of this EP to be enjoyably moody and pretty consistent, but everything falls apart on the collaborative
KANYE WEST
with “All Mine”; Ty Dolla $ign’s falsetto hook gets a pretty tiresome and the beat overall is too skeletal to be very engaging.
6.8
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Ye
G.O.O.D. Music / Def Jam 11.05.18
I enjoy the rubbery sub bass and PARTYNEXTDOOR’s singing on “Wouldn’t Leave” but Kanye is unfortunately the weakest link here and doesn’t deliver anything more than a nice sentiment. “No Mistakes” feels like an extension of the previous track, and the soulful samples pair nicely with Kanye’s more energetic performance. In contrast to Kanye and Pusha-T’s album DAYTONA, I actually enjoy 070 Shake’s feature quite a bit, as her powerful hook saves “Ghost Town” from Kid Cudi’s insufferable moaning.
Ye is the latest miniature studio album from American Rapper/Producer Kanye West. In the past, Kanye West has typically been a visionary when it comes to his studio albums, pushing boundaries and innovating within his genre; but this My favorite song on Ye is the final track “Violent Crimes”; which finds Kanye in record seems to be following trends a uniquely vulnerable place. The song more than setting them. is dedicated to Mr. West’s newly born “I Thought About Killing You” is a tense daughters, and explores his many introduction in which Kanye delivers a fears and concerns about her growing uniquely chilling spoken word passage up; Kanye is playing the worried father about murder and suicide. I enjoy how and it is quite intriguing to hear him so the track progresses in the first half, but insecure. As much as I was hoping Ye this is far from Kanye’s best opener and would grow on me, the album displays I don’t think the song serves up any an inherent lack of effort in comparison interesting ideas throughout the second to Kanye West’s other releases, and was half. “Yikes” is another unique track in not consistent enough in its quality to its inherent duality; Kanye has delivered make it an really enjoyable front-to-back one of his best bangers in years, but listen. proceeds to sour the track by praising Best Track: Violent Crimes himself for writing such a good song. Worst Track: All Mine The album hits a pretty weak point
UNDEROATH
Up”. I would be more on board with the band going for a softer sound if Spencer was a better singer, but he simply isn’t. He doesn’t have the dexterity to carry a forty-minute album especially considering Aaron Gillespie’s vocals take a significant backseat on Erase Me. The lead single “On My Teeth” is a blistering track containing massive shots of guitars and drums in the verses with a Erase Me somewhat nu-metal inspired chorus. The Fearless track had a nice balance between Aaron 06.04.18 and Spencer’s vocals that I wish carried Returning from an eight-year studio over on the rest of Erase Me. “Sink With silence, Christian Metalcore outfit You” maintains a surprisingly sinister and Underoath have returned with a new heavy atmosphere throughout and has a sound and a new philosophy. A lot pretty explosive surprise ending to boot. of controversy surrounds Erase Me The back end of Erase Me has some as a result of lead singer Spencer highlights such as the unique vocal Chamberlain’s complete abandonment manipulation and experimentation on “No of Christianity; this makes for a Frame”, as well as the effectively soaring unique album for Spencer lyrically, but refrain within “In Motion”. The mix and unfortunately every other aspect of Erase sounds on this record are actually pretty Me sees the band punching severely great; the resonant bass, thick guitars, under their weight. punchy and especially the vibrant electronic production sound fantastic, This latest record feels like a painful but there are too many unsalvageable compromise between Underoath’s tracks. Compared to their older material, previously heavy material, and Erase Me comes of most of all as lazy; Sleepwave’s mainstream rock and “You’re the only thing that gets me high electronic influences – the result is an and I hate it”… At least when Underoath album that feels afraid to do anything thumped Bibles they were a bit more too bold in either direction. Erase poetic than that. Me sees the band collaborating with Best Track: On My Teeth producers such as Matt Squire and Worst Track: Wake Me Up Johnny Andrews, the latter of which is likely responsible for Underoath’s awkward attempts at mainstream rock on tracks like “Rapture” and “Wake Me
5.6
FLESH & BONE in the pursuit of artistic passion
FIN