M U SIC
REVELATORS SOUND SYSTEM: REVELATORS
[June 17; 37d03d]
Shapeshifters MC Taylor and Cameron Ralston’s new project, Revelators Sound System, basks in the collective power of creativity. BY AMANDA WICKS music@indyweek.com
I
n the late spring of 2020, as the pandemic stretched past its initial crisis-filled months and produced a longer reality shift, the Durham-based musician MC Taylor began recording a series of new guitar loops to channel his grief, among other burbling emotions. The abstract sounds didn’t quite fit the groove-structured indie-folk he normally creates as Hiss Golden Messenger—it was, at first, simply one artist processing the moment. But eventually, those loops called for something more. Taylor could hear different instruments and arrangements swirling around his initial ideas and, realizing it wasn’t a task he could execute alone, he approached Cameron Ralston, the bassist at Spacebomb Records in Richmond, Virginia. The two first crossed paths in 2014, discovering an easy camaraderie that extended to both their influences and intellect. They began discussing the emotions taking shape in Taylor’s new music and seeking out musicians to flesh out each rudimentary track’s feeling. The result became Revelators Sound System. The band’s forthcoming album, Revelators (out June 17 via 37d03d), transformed Taylor’s solitary grief into a communal outpouring about loss, adaptation, and, perhaps most importantly, the beauty and necessity of quiet, collective celebration. Taylor and Ralston didn’t set out to shape or release the music as a project, but it became too expressive a statement to keep silent. Taken together, the four tracks— some winding past 10 minutes in length—are an acid jazz tapestry, weaving together saxophones, clarinets, strings, psychedelic effects, synths, and more. “Grieving” traces the serrated spikes of that persistent emotion, following its downshift into more subdued—but no less painful—waves, while the more tranquil “Bury the Bell” ripples easily and fluidly, like water after a stone has displaced the surface. Revelators Sound System is at turns cacophonous, at others reverent, but ultimately it’s a testament to the collective power of emotion when a community rises up to speak. Ahead of the project’s release, the INDY spoke with Taylor and Ralston about how things started, how they evolved, and the community they found along the way. 54
June 15, 2022
INDYweek.com
MC Taylor and Cameron Ralston of Revelators Sound System INDY WEEK: What was the genesis of this project? MC TAYLOR: I started creating these impressionistic
sound pieces that were based on treated guitar loops. I reached a point where I knew I wanted to hear certain things on these recordings, but I couldn’t really accomplish them myself. I was thinking that Cameron would be a good collaborator—someone I could bounce ideas off and vice versa. It started out as me working through these complicated feelings in a very solitary way and then soon realizing that I was actually craving connection—and this was a method of connection. When Cameron became involved, the initial ideas changed quite drastically. For the better, I think. I can’t say it would exist in the same way had I continued on my own. Hiss music tends to follow a groove, and here you said you were following a feeling. How did that manifest? CAMERON RALSTON: The stuff that Mike [Taylor] shared
with me were ruminations. As I became more involved in the project, our conversation was always about the emotion of the music and it being instrumental music. When you think of instrumental music, the first thing that comes to my mind is groove-based music, like Booker T. and the
PHOTO BY TENDER WIZARD
MG’s or The Meters, where rhythm plays such a huge role. That stuff was secondary. Each piece has a feeling to it. TAYLOR: I found myself, during the pandemic, listening to a lot of Miles [Davis’s] later stuff, like On the Corner through Get Up with It. I was really drawn to what sounds at first like cacophony. I think what was actually drawing me to it was the sort of articulated anger and frustration that is present on those records. It felt like such a fitting soundtrack to a world that feels like it’s filled with so much static. We’re forced to press through the static to find the melody. Each of the songs has such different timbres. How did you decide which instruments led these feelings? RALSTON: That was more instinctive. I think a lot of
that was determined by the personalities we wanted on the record and what instruments they played. Mike had a lot of great ideas. He’s like, “I’m really hearing this, and I want to send this to my friend Stuart [Bogie], who plays clarinet.” Community was always a big touchstone. It seemed like we were imagining the people. I’ve always loved that about band leaders: Miles Davis and these guys who were masters at putting groups together because of the voices.
