5 minute read
Rare DM
rare dm
PHOTOS BY LISSYELLE LARICCHIA
WORDS BY KATE ZALIZNOCK
BROOKLYN-BASED RARE DM (REAL NAME ERIN HOAGG) IS CULTIVATING
A SIMULTANEOUSLY NEW-YET-NOSTALGIC SOUND FOR HER
GROWING AUDIENCE. INSPIRED BY ARTISTS AS DIVERSE AS
INTERPOL, KATE BUSH, YEAH YEAH YEAHS AND LADYTRON, HOAGG
PRESENTS HER OWN SONIC OFFERINGS IN THE FORM OF DREAMY
REVERBERATING VOCALS, SYNTHS, DRUM LOOPS AND EFFECTS.
HER FRESHMAN ALBUM, VANTA BLACK, IMMERSES THE LISTENER
FROM THE START WITH THE BOUNCY AND HAUNTING “PANAM,”
WITH THE ARCH OF THE RECORD INCLUDING OUR MUST-LISTEN
PICKS OF “ALMOST A YEAR” AND “SPELL CAST.”
Tell us a bit about the creative process behind your debut album? Vanta Black has a lot of different processes going on. Songs like “Caracal,” “Almost a Year,” and “Think Quiet” were more straightforward to write—I wrote a bass line, had a melody in mind, did a few vocal takes, picked my favorite lyrics, and workshopped the rest until I was almost happy, rerecorded vocals then tweaked it to death, adding new instruments, etc.
Songs like “Softboy,” and “Best” are kind of more “emotional vomit”/ stream of consciousness songs (they are about the same person, no surprise there) and all involve me recording a synth loop, some machine drum takes, riffing lyrics and then really not changing anything. Both songs have the original take of improvised vocals.
“Spell Cast” and “Jade” were the last two songs finished on the album and I am probably the most proud of them production-wise, as I really stripped down the songs/focused on getting the lyrics and vocal takes right, and completely overhauled them with a thousand takes of Juno-60 to replace most of the original synths. I was in my studio for about 10 hours at a time just chopping up my favorite synth takes, and the Logic projects are a total mess to look at. (I’ve switched to Ableton since and I feel more organized now. Color coding and grouping is very helpful.) Stemming them out to get them mixed was a trip.
Throughout writing this album, I have acquired more gear and really grown as a musician skill-wise/as a person through getting my heart broken a few times. I actually found a Casio CZ 5000 on the street in NoHo at work one day, and it was fully essential to several of the songs on this album— particularly the vibraphone synth on “Night Watch,” and the “human voices” chord progression on “Wholeheart.”
What are sources of inspiration behind your aesthetic? So many things inspire my aesthetic and define me as a person. Treasurehunting in the form of Craigslist, antiquing, vintage, and rock collecting in Leland, Michigan. Fine art and going to museums; experiencing art that tests your perception of reality. I like well-made things and natural fibers. Cinema such as Alien/Akira/ Paprika/Cowboy Bebop/The Thing. Books (usually fantasy or sci-fi) such as The Abhorsen series, Alice in Wonderland, and Dune. Swimming, dancing, biking, driving. Modeling, especially for shoots with my great friend Lissy. I love how being a musician allows me to explore so many different mediums of art. It’s the perfect combo of art/fashion/dance/ music.
What has been your experience as an artist living in Brooklyn? Brooklyn is cool, people are down to business, and you really gotta work to make a place for yourself here. It’s also surprisingly small; you can run into people when you least expect it. New Yorkers have a rep for being cold, but people really watch out for each other. It’s easy to meet like-minded people; the community of artists here is neverending. I have met a lot of great friends from shows, galleries, even through Craigslist, from buying a drum machine or looking for an apartment.
Who are your favorite musicians when you were growing up? I still listen to these three albums on repeat all the time: Interpol - Turn on The Bright Lights, Ladytron - 604, Beach House - Devotion.
Also: The Knife, The Blood Brothers, Gang of Four, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Metronomy, The Rapture, The Strokes, Billie Holiday, Kate Bush.
Who are some of your favorite visual artists? Dan Flavin, Cy Twombly, Rothko, Marcel Duchamp, René Gruau, Gustav Klimt, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and obviously my parents Douglas Hoagg and Kathleen Hoagg
What is your favorite song to perform? “Night Watch” because it’s the most minimal song I have, the first song finished on Vanta Black, and one of my darkest lyric-wise. It’s a very visual song to me—I wrote the bass synth thinking of a heart rate monitor in the hospital, and the lead vibe synth was a single take I never changed. “Night Watch” was written when I was feeling rejected by someone and reflecting on the last relationship I had before them, which was with a heroin addict. They told me no one was going to love me like they do, and I’m just going to get used over and over again. I feel very connected to my audience when I perform “Night Watch,” and I feel like they understand my music better afterward.
Conversely, my second favorite has no vocals, was written very recently, and is my most “techno” song. It’s not on this album, and I still need to name it. I like playing that one because it makes people dance and I really get to jam live with my machine drum/drum triggers. It’s very fun.
Who would you most love to tour with? Oh man, there are a lot. If I had to choose my top 5 in no particular order: DAF, Nitzer Ebb, Yaeji, John Maus, U.S. Girls.
Who are some fellow emerging artists we should know about? My friends, Hot Throb, Bunny Lowe, and Margo.
