Revista The 13th 67 - Interviews

AÑO: 7 | NÚMERO 67

THE 13th UN A REV I S TA I M A GI N A RI A

INTERVIEWS

MARTY WILLSON-PIPER HELIGOLAND - NICK HUDSON TWIN TRIBES - JULIAN SHAH-TAYLER CHARLIE NIELAND - PARA LIA INDIE SOUNDSCAPES

INDEX PARA LIA

04

JULIAN SHAH-TAYLER

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TWIN TRIBES

20

INDIE SOUNDSCAPES BLUE CANOPY

28 29

MARTY WILLSON-PIPER

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HELIGOLAND

42

NICK HUDSON

52

CHARLIE NIELAND

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Pueden presenciarlo en: www.youtube.com/c/NoMeEscuchoRecords

[ Interview with Rene and Cindy Methner from Para Lia by Diego Centurión.

Photographs: Rene Methner, Vivien Sorge and Christiane Schleifenbaum ]

PARA LIA: "THE DARKER THE SHADOW

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THE BRIGHTER THE LIGHT

Para Lia's second album, “Gone With The Flow”, was released digitally in October of the 2020 pandemic. But this work was released on vinyl and CD in February, for this reason, we took the opportunity to communicate with them, but also with the possibility of being able to talk to them about an art show with the artist Louis Renzoni, an interactive show with songs from this album, online that you can see at: https://www.sophisticatedape.com/gone-with-the-flow-exhibition

Hi Rene and Cindy!

Thank you for agreeing to chat with us today.

To begin with and putting ourselves in the context of this 2021, how are you doing through this endless pandemic?

Hello Diego, hello guys, it’s a pleasure to be featured in your fine zine again. We guess we do what all do right now – we miss the normal life, we try to stay in a positive mood and we try to get through this period as good as we can.

For those readers who don't know Para Lia yet, how would you describe your music?

A music zine recently wrote that Para Lia sounds in the best way old fashioned with a lot of influences of the 90’s indie rock – and this is right. Somewhere between post punk, alt rock and dark wave we are at home.

The name of this project has to do with Greece, tell us why did you decided to choose this name for this project? „Παραλία“ means coast or beach in Greek, and there it was where we have given us this name. We both love Greece, have friends there and we are often there – so there is a big relationship. Greece also is a big inspiration. Now in the current times we miss it very much to go there.

"Soap Bubble Dreams" (2019) was your first album. Please tell us about this album.

SBD was an album with an overall darker atmosphere and a good dose of dark wave mixed with guitar riffs with reminiscences to the 90’s indie and alt rock, framed by the title track and the somewhat growling ‘Who Gets Fooled Again’ – lyrically pointing to the global populistic tendencies. Musically some zines compared it with bands like Echo & the Bunnymen, The Cure, Editors.

How and when did Para Lia form?

Para Lia started in early 2018 at the moment we found out that we are not only harmonious as lovers but also in music with the duet of our voices. From that moment on the Para Lia songwriting was born with the contrasting interplay of the melancholic deeper male voice and the beautiful female voice with the ‘fairy’-touch.

Your second album is “Gone With The Flow”. Please tell us what differences do you find between the first album and this second album?

The idea of GWTF was born out of the fact that the NYC based artist Louis Renzoni gave our music from SBD a listen and felt in love with it, wrote us a message and so we came in contact – and vice versa

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we felt in love with his art and the way he paints. His credo ‘the darker the shadow the brighter the light’ suits very well to the Para Lia songwriting and sound. And so the collaboration was a natural thing. The main themes explored on this album are the muse and the continual struggle with that relationship, explored amid layers of sound and arrangements that continually swing from light to dark. The idea of collaboration also is to be heard in the music itself – because we invited guest musicians who became friends during the last years (from US, UK and Canada) and they join us on some album tracks.

Thinking about music ... What is your process like in terms of writing your songs?

The songwriting is the part of René: “It’s quite simple. When an idea – it may be a guitar riff or a hook line or a vocal part – comes into the head I try to record it as soon as possible. Then I start to work it out and add the instruments which already play in my head. The vocals of Cindy and me usually are among the last steps to record – before the mixing process can begin.”

You have just released the physical versions of your album. What formats are available now and where they can be found for purchase?

You can grab the album on Vinyl in the online shop of the fine Hamburg based indie label Sounds Of Subterrania (https://soundsofsubterrania.com/shop/ shop.php?pg=2&qb=11803) and you can order CD and Vinyl also on our band account on Bandcamp https://paralia.bandcamp.com/album/ gone-with-the-flow I was visiting the online exhibition you created jointly with Louis Renzoni. Tell us about this different experience for a band. Has this project been postponed

due to the pandemic?

The original idea was to show the deep connection between music and virtual art in a real exhibition at the same time in Berlin and New York. But in an early state of preparation Covid crashed – and we decided to place it as an online exhibition.

On sophisticatedape.com the exhibition found a virtual home in 3D – the guys are amazing in what they are doing. We get a lot of positive feedback – so we guess it was the right decision.

It is difficult to think of a future that can be planned. Do you have any plans for Para Lia in 2021?

After finishing the GWTF project it feels good just to take a deep breath without immediately hunting for the next project.

We are working on new songs as we always do – but without to have a fixed timeline or to know what it will become – an album, an Ep or just the one or another single? But one thing is for sure: We are looking forward to have a nice jam with acoustic guitars in our favorite beach bar in Greece, where the owner is a musician from Athens and where a cocktail is served with the name – Para Lia. Many bands have tried some shows with little audience, which has its pros and cons. Today social networks have established themselves as a place to show their activity. What is it like to promote your album during this strange period in time? How have you been using social media?

Shauna (Shameless Promotion PR) is amazing in what she does. I currently told her that her main profession must be ‘fairy’ – she is a total prof, best connected and she has the sense for the use of social media. Which all is so important for musicians – to spread the word and help the artists to get their music out into the world and among listeners. Para Lia itself runs so-

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cial media accounts too and we use it for sharing photos, stories, reviews and stuff like this. What we also did was to create three videos for tracks from GWTF. Two of them you already can watch in our Para Lia YouTube channel – and the 3rd one for our song ‘Children With The Flood’ will be released on March 3th on YouTube.

Do you make “live” performances online? If so, where?

No, Para Lia never was a live project or a band in the classic meaning of the word.

We invested all our energy and tons of time into the GWTF thing – because as indie musicians we did all by ourselves with friends on our side - and there was no room to prepare live stuff. But we keep this idea in mind. And hey, if you want to watch us perform give our music videos on YouTube a view and a listen!

And to close and thanking you and Shauna for the possibility that we are conducting this interview.

You have this space to say what you want to our readers.

Much love to everyone who reads this, stay positive and may everyone stay safe!

And if you like get some Para Lia onto your ears with cranked up volume!

Thank you guys for the time you have given us.

Thank you very much your interest, much appreciated. The pleasure is on our side.

All the best for you and your fine zine!

Cheers, René and Cindy

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[ Interview with Julian Shah-Tayler by Diego Centurión.

Photografs: Brian Ziff ]

JULIAN SHAH TAYLER: "THE TORMENT SUITE" ILLUSTRATES THE LAST 20 MONTHS OF SWEET TORMENT.

A few months ago, the name of Julian Shah Tayler or how the project carried out by The Singularity has been appearing on the radar of social networks. A man who makes elegant and exquisite music in the path of greats like David Bowie or Peter Murphy, to name just two artists that I really like. But thanks to Shauna Mclarnon (who I thank for the possibility that she brings us to do this interview), I was able to know much more about this artist. So settle into his seats, listen to his new EP "The Torment Suite" at: https://thesingularitymusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-torment-suite

Hi Julian, Thank you for agreeing to do this interview.

To begin, tell us how and when was this project The Singularity born?

The project is now called by my name: Julian Shah-Tayler. It was born in the dormitories of my boarding school as I started writing songs to sound like the Cure and Prince who were my great musical loves. I had to express myself musically as I was classically trained and tutored by first my grandmother then Durham Cathedral Choir school. Music began flowing through my veins like a torrent. The lyrics are my great desire to communicate that which I can’t put into perfect words in real life

“Twins” (2004), tell us how much do you think or feel that you have grown as a songwriter from that time until today?

Twins was the first album I completely produced and played and wrote with no other musicians.

As a songwriter I have stayed quite similar, although my lyrical abilities have grown more expressive and I think my Production has improved....

Your work has always maintained a fine pop channel, but you have flirted with all kinds of genres, dark, disco, funk, more gothic ... which artists have influenced you?

I love Bowie, Prince, The Cure, Radiohead and Depeche Mode, and my girlfriend has recently introduced There is a whole story before this me to Battletapes who are amazing. project, a story that involves a lot of art, tell us briefly your previous I have seen several videos where works to The Singularity. you cover different artists. Tell us, I was in many bands between my is it pure fun or do you take it as initial songwriting and now: magic a form of research about the way house in London, drinkme, Whitey, of composing that other artists Kerli, Adamandevil, Piel and many have? Because I believe that by many more. getting involved in the composition of another person you have to learn Observing your discography, if I to listen and understand their idea. am not in error, your first work is I have always covered lots of other

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artists. I used to busk in York where I went to university, so I learned literally hundreds of songs. It teaches you clever songwriting tricks when you learn Beatles/Bowie which then you aspire to emulate in your own work.

also taken up old songs. Tell us a bit about the idea for this EP. I wanted to illustrate the feeling of the last 20 months, which have been sweet torment. Everyone is separated from their loved ones.

I have been in a long distance Going back to the present and relationship which has been made your new EP "The Torment Suite". very difficult by the current situation, You have new songs and you have so you learn to collaborate via the

internet, zoom, FaceTime etc. so I It was obvious that music is so “collaborated” at a distance. (David important to so many people. The J was actually in my studio with his money isn’t there, but the hunger is mask) ravenous. It’s been difficult to survive financially, but without music I can’t I have seen that you often use function. social networks to stream, How do you prepare each presentation? And speaking of what's to come, And do you think streaming is what are your plans? one of the new tools that is here I have a show planned with my to stay? girlfriend Eva Strangelove which Facebook live is something I do a lot involves burlesque and rock and roll of. It’s ubiquitous now. In the absence as a kind of narrative stage show. of real live shows we’re working with One may compare it to rock opera/ what we can. I had a studio which I ballet perhaps.... watch this space. used to set up with a projector and backing tracks, but now I’m more on And to finish and thanking you the acoustic shows. That’s just about for the time you have given us, tell remembering/learning originals and our readers why they should and covers. where to listen to The Singularity?

You can download from And speaking of 2020 and 2021. thesingularitymusic.bandcamp.

How much did your view of the com world of music change with the Or stream on pandemic? https://open.spotify.com/

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www.mutanteradio.com

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www.indiego.com.ar www.indiego.com.ar

[ Interview with Luis Navarro and Joel Niño, Jr. from Twin Tribes by Diego Centurión ]

TWIN TRIBES: IT WAS A DIFFICULT YEAR FOR ALL OF US.

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We are facing one of the revelations of recent years in coldwave, Twin Tribes. This duo from Brownsville, Texas will release "Altars" on April 9, an album of remixes by great artists of the genre. It is like a blessing performed by bands that light up the firmament of post-punk and current coldwave. We contacted Luis Navarro and Joel Niño, Jr. and this they told us.

Hello Guys, I want to thank you for the opportunity to conduct this interview and I cannot fail to overlook the facilitation of this contact to Christian Bankes from Fade In PR, whom I deeply thank.

To start, tell us where your roots are from beyond living in Brownsville because you speak Spanish very well.

Luis – Thank you, I am originally from Matamoros, Tamaulipas. I moved to Brownsville at a young age.

Joel – My mom is from Mexico and was raised in Rio Bravo, Tamaulipas.

She came to the United States in her youth where she met and married my father. I learned Spanish as my first language, and according to my mom, learned English through watching Sesame Street.

How did the name of the band come about?

Luis - We went back and forth for about a month trying to figure out what our band name would be. At some point Luis threw out a name with Tribes in it. And we went from

there combining Tribes with other words, and eventually came upon Twin Tribes. It doesn’t necessarily have any meaning attached to it, it just felt right as soon as we heard it.

Well, I know it all started in 2017, as a personal project by Luis and then Joel joined when there was only a demo of the song "Shadows". The question is, how do you think that connection occurred so quickly between you, since a few months later you were recording the first album?

Luis - I think that once we heard the demos together, we were on the same channel. We were able to write seven songs in a short period of time, around 3-4 months. That’s what ended up being the album “Shadows”.

I heard that the first album "Shadows" was an album that, somehow, was recorded for an inner circle, without much expectation. After everything exploded and you became known, surelyyouhadanotherperspective on your position as a band within

the scene. The question is, were you surprised by the impact you had in such a short time? In fact, here in the south of the continent you are very well known.

Luis – Yes, definitely. We did not have that in mind when we were in the studio. The original plan was to just print on cassette, just for our personal pleasure. We never thought that it would be accepted in this way.

It truly is an amazing feeling how our fans were able to identify with our music.

Joel – All we really wanted to do was be able to have something physical that had this collection of songs. We were not expecting a lot, but we did feel when we were in the studio, that the songs were magical. We would be dancing during playbacks,

and along with our producer Allen Michael, really enjoyed our time creating “Shadows”. We are grateful to everyone that has supported us since the beginning. We would not be at this point without their belief in our music.

I have heard an anecdote of something that happened to you on your first visit to New York, to The Red Party. Can you tell our readers about that experience?

Joel - Yeah, that was not one of our best moments. Honestly, I believe it was the lowest point I remember having as part of Twin Tribes so far.

We had flown into New York from Texas, and we had left our little safe box in one of our luggage, safely between several stacks of t-shirts.

Keep in mind, this was our first time flying out for a show, and we were extremely clueless in the art of travel.

We unfortunately had complete faith in the security of our luggage going through airport security checks.

When we arrived at the place we were staying, I opened our luggage to make sure that our merch was in good shape, as we had brought cassettes with us. What I found, to my horror, was our safe box open, and all of the money we had saved for our travel and from sales of our merch was gone, save for one dollar.

Which was really a big f-you to us by the thief. It was a traumatizing moment.

Luis – Yes, it was such a terrible thing that happened to us. When Joel told me about what he had discovered it was a punch to the gut.

I started a “Go Fund Me” explaining what had happened to us. Within the hour, we had already recovered half of what was lost. It was surprising.

Fortunately for us we were able to recoup what we lost thanks to our fans. Every person that donated to us we thanked in the liner notes for “Ceremony” because they were the ones who made it possible. It was a beautiful feeling having so many people donate in our time of need, because they believe in you. We continue to be grateful.

Tell us about the experience of having recorded a “Part Time Punks Session” in 2018.

Luis - Recording the “Part Time Punks” session in 2018 was incredible. We recorded with Bee Hussey in Los Angeles for a few hours. After that, Bee made the mix and we launched it on cassette as “Part Time Punks Sessions” and

is also available to stream. We are thankful to Michael Stock for inviting us to record the session with such a distinguished name in our scene as “Part Time Punks”.

In 2019 you released your second album, “Ceremony”, a much more complete album from the sound and production, beyond the logical growth as a band, how do you feel that the band has grown between the first album and the second?

Luis – I think you can see the growth as a band when you compare both albums. “Ceremony”, is sonically a more complex album than “Shadows”. We were finding our sound with “Shadows”, and in “Ceremony” we were able to find exactly what we were looking for. It was also an album that was more personal and intimate.

Joel – In terms of song writing, I feel there was a real evolution.

We had a clear idea of what we wanted our sound to be. Much like when we were writing the songs for “Shadows”, there was a connection Luis and I had that got stronger. In my mind, we trusted each other to make the best decisions artistically when it came to the songs.

You guys have remixed Clan of Xymox, Astari Nite and Geometric Vision, at least the ones I know of.

How do you guys work this type of remixes for other musicians?

Luis: Yes, that’s correct. Those are the only ones we have made that have already been released, with more coming in the future. Usually, bands contact us directly and we try and work it in to our schedule if it’s possible. It’s fun to be able to give a

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Twin Tribes feel to the music of our friends.

Joel - It’s a process. We start by listening to the original track, and then we strip it down to the bare bones and rebuild. Luis really is the driving factor when it comes to remixes. He has become a magician with our recording software, and I feel as we have moved forward, we’ve learned so much.

2020 was a surprise year, which stopped the world. You take the opportunity to release live material like "Live At Fascination Street" and they released some previews of singles from the new album, which we will talk about later. Tell us, do you have any more live footage to release at some point?

Luis – Yes, we released “Live a Fascination Street” which was recorded in Nashville, TN on our last tour. When we heard the recording, we knew that we had to print that on cassette to give it the essence that it deserved. We loved it.

Joel – We still have some unreleased tracks from a second Part Time Punks Session we did. We haven’t had the chance to release it, but here’s to hoping in the future we can get it out there.

Vision, among others. Tell us how was this idea conceived and how was the contact with the bands?

Luis – To be honest, we did not have in mind to release an album of remixes until several artists/friends reached out to us to do a remix. We later listened to the first three, and the idea came about.

Joel - It initially began with NITE and Matte Blvck approaching us about doing remixes for some of our tracks. We thought it would be a cool idea, and when they sent them back to us, it kind of snowballed from there. We reached out to several other artists, and we had so many tracks to choose from. We really treated this album with the respect, and love that it deserves, as well as the artists that chose to be a part of it.

They really went above and beyond to deliver such amazing takes on the original material, and we could not be more excited for everyone to listen to the entire album.

Once you got the finished versions, what was your reaction?

Luis – My reaction was pure joy.

The LP, from beginning to end, is a proper album, and not just a collection of songs thrown together.

Each artist did an excellent job transforming and altering the songs to their styles and it makes us happy they were able to be a part of making this album possible.

Joel – Amazement. All the artists really made the songs their own, and in their own style.

You are about to release a remix album, “Altars”, scheduled for April 9, which will be distributed

by Negative Gain (North America), Manic Depression Records (France), and Young & Cold Records (Germany). An album of remixes including by She Past You have performed shows with Away, Bootblacks, Ash Code, She Past Away, Clan of Xymox, Wingtips, Creux Lies, Geometric and other bands from the scene.

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What show do you remember with great joy?

Luis - I think every show is special.

From playing in a house garage packed with people, to a sold-out crowd in a theatre. But one of my favorites was a festival in Tampa called Absolution fest. It brings me fond memories as we shared the stage with good friends that we frequently ran into throughout our shows that year. It was something truly special.

Joel – It is a bittersweet moment, with both extreme fear and joy! I remember a sold-out show when we opened for She Past Away in San Diego. I walked out onto the stage with my head down, took my place and waited for Luis to come on stage. Once the first notes hit of the first song, I looked up into the crowd, and saw a sea of faces as far as I could see. This was the biggest crowd we had played for up to this point, and my knees just locked. I was paralyzed, and instantly I knew this was stage fright. Thankfully, after the first song it wore off and I really got to enjoy one of my favorite moments in our career thus far.

and Equinoxious from Mexico, Autonomistas from Argentina, and while not necessarily from Latin America, Luz Futuro and VVV [Trippin’you] from Spain.

Among many of your influences, I have heard you mention Soda Stereo, what Latin American bands do you like?

Luis – Yes, Soda Stereo is one of my favorite bands. They were a huge influence on me growing up, and to this day. Besides Soda, I really love rock en español, in general. Caifanes, Heroes del Silencio, La Union, Los Prisioneros, Alaska, Miguel Mateos just to mention a few.

Joel – I’ll go recent here: Hoffen

And to end this interview by thanking you for the time you have dedicated to us. You have this space for what you want to say to our readers.

Joel – Thank you to all of the fans that are reading this that have been with us since the beginning, and to any new fans that may first be hearing about us through your publication.

We are so grateful to you for your time, thank you!

Currently there is a Coldwave and a post-punk boom that has been growing in recent years, and this 2020 pandemic was a very difficult year, I know they suspended a tour in 2020, and in 2021, how do you plan?

Luis – It was a difficult year for all of us. For the moment we have a planned United States tour in September, if everything goes well.

We are still monitoring the situation to see what is going to happen.

Where can you find your music?

Joel - You can find all our music on digital distribution platforms like Spotify, iTunes, YouTube Music, as well as on our Bandcamp.

As for physical media and other merchandise, you can find it at TwinTribes.bigcartel.com as well as our exclusive merch supplier for Latin America, El Chulito merch out of Mexico.

Thank You Luis and Joel!

[ By Fernando Rivera Rodríguez ]

INDIE SOUNDSCAPES TODAY: BLUE CANOPY

A brand-new and brilliant Indie tune full of nostalgia and enthusiasm Review of “Blue Canopy: Motovun"

Hello my dear friends! In the first place I wanna tell you that I hope all of you are very healthy and well-protected against this pandemic that affects us all in different ways than ever before.

Unfortunately, in my experience, I have known many friends who have contracted the virus and most of them are fine but others are not. In my case, and thank God, I have not been infected and neither has my family. Happily the vaccine has arrived and we must be very optimistic and patient.

I've been very busy this year seeing many things, but I was in the need to quickly return for writing a new article, including New and fresh Music in 2021 for your greatest pleasure. It takes a lot of time and dedication to search, find and share a brand-new song to satisfy our senses and tastes with the best atmospheres, harmonies and melodies possible.

Sometimes can be very difficult to find a unique and amazing song because many bands can sound very similar and boring without passion, emotion and honesty. But, in the other hand, happily we can find incredible and talented Musicians anywhere in the world, cultivating different styles and surprising us in the best way fulfilling all our expectations.

Finally, after an intensive exploration and listening many New Music, I came across a true gem entitled "Motovun" that excited me so much because of the awesome mix of styles and sonic details. It´s rewarding when I hear a contemporary tune and I can´t classify it with a couple of styles only. In this way, listening more and more, it was surprising to discover, little by little, many more styles and hidden sounds and melodies.

"Motovun" (2021 - GRIND SELECT), is the most recent single of the innovative and talented band BLUE CANOPY and the theme is a fantastic and nostalgic trip recreating outstanding textures and detailed atmospheres.

Blue Canopy is the solo-project from the Multi-instrumentalist ALEX SCHIFF coming from Portland - Oregon, USA and the theme "Motovun" (a town located in Croatia) is included in his brand-new second EP. Alex Schiff started as a keyboard player of the band Modern Rivals sharing the stage with bands like RA RA RIOT, THE BLACK KEYS and STARS. BLUE CANOPY´s debut EP "Mild Anxiety" (2020 - GRIND SELECT) showed his skills to compose a variety of great songs with a Jangle, Indie and Twee-Pop style

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and some Psychedelic vibes like "Keys To The Garden", "656", "St. Albans" and "Always".

This time BLUE CANOPY will launch his latest and second EP called "Sleep While You Can" (2021 - Grind Select) which is in pre-order form and it will be available on March 5, 2021. This upcoming EP is the evolution from the "Mild Anxiety" debut EP with a more mature and introspective feeling bringing incredible and colorful soundscapes and joyful atmospheres.

The first single of this extraordinary EP is entitled "Motovun" and it´s simply a wonderful and gorgeous piece of Art that will transport us to a world of fantasy and happiness. It´s very complex to describe it because it has many styles.

My first impression was to feel a big influence of the mythical band THE FIELD MICE, TREMBLING BLUE STARS and THE RADIO DEPT. (Bands that Alex didn´t know, as he told me, and this often happens with authentic artists). When I started listening to it more I realized that it has a wide palette of styles and influences with the unique trademark and originality of ALEX SCHIFF a.k.a BLUE CANOPY. These influences were so huge and went beyond like Synth-Pop, Indietronica, Ambient and Experimental Music, Psychedelia, Dream-Pop, Shoegaze, JanglePop, etc., opening his Music to a new and magnificent Musical world...that´s so exciting!. I also feel many vibes of SLOWDIVE, M83, APPARAT, THE OCEAN BLUE, FUTURE ISLANDS, ULRICH SCHNAUSS, THE ESSEX GREEN, MOTORAMA, BROWN RECLUSE, many bands of the SARAH RECORDS label and ELEFANT RECORDS, etc., etc...I can continue, but it would be impossible to finish.

Let´s listen this delightful song and hope you can feel a lot of enjoyment and pure nostalgia. Also, this golden theme will captivate your hearts with quite optimism and enthusiasm. Thanks so much for reading and listening and stay safe again my friends!!!

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[ Interview with Marty Wilson Piper by Diego Centurión.

Photographs: Olivia Willson-Piper. ]

MARTY WILLSON-PIPER : BUY A DECENT STEREO SYSTEM

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His scrolls mention The Church, All About Eve, Noctorum, his solo career, and his website https://martywillson-piper.com/ where he performs a Pharaonic music research assignment at https://www.indeepmusicarchive.net/ We haven't talked to Marty for a long time and we know that his project with Niko Röhlcke, MOAT, has a new album, “Poison Stream” released on February 12 by Schoolkids Records.

We take advantage of this new release to catch up with an artist that we will hardly find without a new project in his mind.

Hi Marty!

Thank you for agreeing to conduct this interview.

Before starting I want to thank Olivia for the information received and for agreeing to also manage this contact.

To begin with, I cannot stop asking about this virus that has changed the planet in 2020 and still continues to fight us. How has the Covid affected your life?

It kept Olivia and me in one place for 9 months which is unusual and disconcerting. But it did allow us to work in the studio with my Noctorum project collaborator Dare Mason and finish different projects that came to us through my Songwriting and Guitar Guidance venture.

together with Niko Röhlcke back in 2012? And tell us if there was a specific musical direction at the beginning of Moat.

MOAT was a project that was imagined by a mutual friend of Niko and mine. Sigge Krantz is a producer/ engineer, live engineer and bassist.

He got the idea in his head that Niko and I would work well together, he was right. Niko comes from a band called Weeping Willows who are very successful in Sweden but he is a multi-instrumentalist and also works on a lot of soundtracks but he doesn’t sing or write words. There wasn’t really a direction, it was just get in a room and see what happens, although we did immediately start writing strange pieces of music. Most of the songs were based on Niko’s You are a person who is always soundtrack moods, with us working traveling the world. Where are on the music together where we you currently living? needed to expand the idea, some I’ve recently moved to Portugal with we wrote together and two of them my wife Olivia and we live in Porto. came mainly from me with Niko adding his flavour.

Give us an introduction about Moat for those readers who are In 2013 they released their selfnot familiar with the project. Tell titled first album. Tell us what us, how was this project born do you remember from that

recording?

It was recorded in the Swedish countryside and we had quite a few pieces by the time we were ready to record. We recorded some with drums, some with acoustics and some with keys to get the basic shape to tape and then filled in the gaps until they sounded right, I guess that’s a pretty normal way of doing things.

But we had guitar overdubs, brass

and string overdubs to add later on, then vocals. I remember we did the vocals quite fast.

This 2020 was a year with little activity in terms of shows in places with people, but it was very conducive to remote recordings.

Is "Poison Stream" an album made during the pandemic?

No, it was pre-pandemic.

What differences and similarities do you find between "Moat" and "Poison Stream"?

Well, Niko and I are the same but with some different collaborators, and after you’ve done one album you get a better idea of your second album’s heartbeat and I think we paid a little more attention to detail and got the best out of the songs, a little more thought went into it.

Now I am going to appeal to your gaze as a musician with several decades of experience and, taking advantage of your critical gaze as a musical connoisseur, how do you see music today in this new millennium? What do you find good and bad about the way music is distributed today?

Distributed or made? If you mean streaming? Well, the album is called Poison Stream! That says something in itself, streaming is a double-edged sword. For me, as a record collector,

I love the possibility to hear so much music online and the fact that small labels release small runs of hard to find records on vinyl is wonderful.

The fact that I can listen to so many genres is wonderful. The problem is that streaming has made selling physical records much harder, only the hardcore fans buy them and if you are in a small or medium-sized band your sales are very small. But then in the past, a record deal with a corporation didn’t see you have a big cut of a record anyway as they would pay all the costs to make it and there used to be this thing called a budget - a major label budget. Nowadays you gotta be big already to get a big budget or fabulously young with hits in your and the record company’s eyes. Nowadays most musicians are a cottage industry trying to make back their costs with a core following on a small planet, mega-successful musicians are from Mars or is it the other way ‘round?

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Thinking in these days when everything is lived at high speed and, although I will ask you about this in another question, they have released an album with 10 songs, have there been any songs left out of “Poison Stream”?

Actually two songs on this album Judgement Day and Helpless You were recorded for the first album but we didn’t realise them and we already had 10 songs anyway. They were too good to leave off the second record. Of course, some songs were written that didn’t make it for various reasons, some didn’t work, some didn’t fit, some didn’t get finished.

In the introduction I mentioned that you are a musician who always has a new project brewing within your mind. Are you already thinking about the next step you will take?

I have lots of projects all the time, collaborations through my Songwriting & Guitar Guidance sessions (www. songwritingandguitarguidance. com), as well as projects with betterknown artists which you’ll become aware of as they come out later this year and next year.

To finish and thanking you for the possibility of this interview.

Close the interview with what you want to say to our readers.

Buy a decent stereo system.

Thank You Marty and Olivia!

Thank you, Diego MARTY WILLSON-PIPER www.martywillson-piper.com www.noctorum.band www.indeepmusicarchive.net

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[ Interview with Karen Vogt and Steve Wheeler from Heligoland by Diego Centurión. ]

HELIGOLAND: IT FEELS LIKE PERHAPS THE MOST IMPORTANT RECORD THE BAND HAS EVER MADE.

After four years of silence, Heligoland have returned with a new album entitled “This Quiet Fire,” once again featuring dream pop guitar guru Robin Guthrie. It is an album that shakes off the dust from those years of silence and uses those specks to infuse delightful misty spaces with autumn hues. “This Quiet Fire” is a beautiful record and we asked Karen and Steve to tell us more about it.

In March 2018, we conducted an interview with the band about their previous EP “Coriallo”; you can read it at the following link: https://issuu.com/revistathe13th/docs/the13th_n_44/30

First, I want to thank you for the possibility of conducting this interview. We have had Karen as a soloist at our NMER Festival, for which I am still grateful. Second, I want to thank you for this new record, which I do not stop listening to daily.

We talked about “Coriallo” in 2018. What has happened in Heligoland since that time and this 2021?

Karen: Thank you for the kind words. We’re happy to chat to you again and thrilled to hear that you are enjoying “This Quiet Fire”! Since we were last in touch, finishing this new album has been our main focus.

After we released “Coriallo,” the third in a series of EPs, we felt ready to make another album. Making those EPs was a wonderful experience and I’m happy that we went on that journey, but it was great to get back to writing a bunch of songs for an album. It took quite some time for us to finish the new record, but we are really happy with the result. While we were working on “This Quiet Fire” I was also making a lot of other music: collaborations, guest vocal appearances, production work, and various solo projects. But Heligoland always is my priority.

When did you decide to start writing this new album and what was the process like?

Karen: The initial writing process was not dissimilar to the way of working we fell into when we made those three EPs. The most important thing was to get out of Paris into the countryside and find a place where we could spend time exploring new ideas and writing songs. We did a series of writing sessions like this, gradually building up a collection of song ideas. What was different this time around was that I had my own recording setup, so I could work on the rough vocal ideas from the writing sessions and refine everything in my own time. The other difference with the previous album and EPs was that Robin was more involved in the initial stages of “This Quiet Fire,” offering feedback and suggestions on the songs as they developed. Because I had the time and equipment to work on the vocals separately I was able to get a lot done quite early in the process. As a result, I was sometimes a couple of steps ahead of everyone else, which gave me a different angle on the material and I could start to see some patterns forming between the songs. This proved really helpful when it came

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to writing the lyrics. Of all the records we’ve made so far, this is the one I’ve spent the most time working on the vocals and lyrics.

Steve: One thing I would add to Karen’s description is that not all the material was finished prior to the recording process. She wrote three of the songs on “This Quiet Fire” midway through the process when it became clear we needed a few more tracks for the album. “Palomino,” the first song we released from the album, was one of them. Recording the bass parts for the album was a lot of fun. I spent quite a bit of time going back and forth with Robin on all the parts, bouncing ideas around and discussing how everything should fit together. I came up with the bass for a couple of the songs in the studio, which led to some quite different results to what I tend to write when I’m working at home.

The disc contains a tear wrapped in silk, that is, a difficult year 2020 and a brilliant result. I feel like they have achieved a fantastic fusion between dream pop and strange times for humanity, with introspective songs and hopeful sweetness. What have you wanted to convey with these songs?

Karen: It makes me really happy to hear that people have found the album to be comforting or reassuring in some way. When a song, or any other type of art, resonates with you on a personal level it’s a beautiful feeling. I hope that listeners can find some sense of connection or acceptance among these songs.

It’s never easy to describe your own music, but we have always felt like we’re somewhere on the fringes of

dreampop.It’snotreallyaneasygenre to define and I’m not sure we have all that much in common musically with some of the other artists people often mention. My main focus when writing songs is to use that three or four minutes to express a mood and find some way to connect with the listener, even if it’s just a single line, or a few words that go to the heart of things. I try to come up with words and melodies that leave space for the listener to associate them with their own feelings and meanings.

All these songs were written prior to the pandemic so perhaps there is some strange sense of timing at work here. We’ve always tried to make the kind of music that takes the listener someplace else for a little while. Any sense of escapism or transcendence, however brief, has probably never been more important for many people that it has been during the last year or so.

If we’ve been able to bring any of our listeners some small degree of comfort, or even just a short respite from everything else that’s been going on the world, that would be wonderful.

“Atinycaféinoneofthecavernous terminals at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris was the somewhat unlikely location for the band's first meeting with producer Robin Guthrie.” This phrase appeared in the press release for the band’s 2010 album, “All Your Ships Are White.” What do you remember of that first meeting and how has this collaboration grown since then?

Karen: The thing that I remember most about that first meeting was just how warm and genuine Robin was. We also had the connection

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of being from somewhere else and having moved to France. There was immediately lots to talk about. It was an exciting meeting, but, at the same time, I also felt quite relaxed. It wasn’t at all intimidating, or anything like that.

In hindsight, this was a good indication of how we would work together. It’s really important to have the right sort of energy between everyone involved, so we all feel comfortable discussing the songs and Robin can also be honest with his own impressions and ideas. When I look back on that first

meeting it’s a nice feeling because he very quickly set everyone ease it was the start of something really and we had a great conversation. wonderful.

Since then we’ve made a number of records together and the process Steve: I remember being extremely has been slightly different each time. paranoid about arriving on time for When we made “All Your Ships Are that meeting! If I recall correctly, we’d White” we put together the basic spoken on the phone maybe once or tracks at a recording studio in Paris twice about him producing an album and then did the vocals and mixing for us, but nothing had been agreed with Robin at his studio. For the EPs and we hadn’t had a chance to meet that followed we recorded a lot of up in person and discuss the project in the different parts ourselves at the detail. Robin had a few hours to spare locations we wrote the songs and he at Charles de Gaulle airport before then recorded the vocals and mixed catching a flight to South America the songs at his studio. “This Quiet for some concerts, so we arranged Fire” was mostly recorded at home, to meet him there. Initially, it felt like including the vocals. We recorded a bit of an odd place to be meeting parts for a few tracks with Robin, to talk about making a record, but but the time in the studio was spent,

for the most part, assembling and other aspects of the recording mixing the songs. process. I now feel comfortable diving in, getting started, and even if I ForKaren’ssong“We'reFloating” make some mistakes along the way, the vocals were recorded by I learn from that too. Robin is not at Robin. There is a different way of all snobby or precious about gear or recording it, something that we recording equipment, and is always hear on their album “I Just Want more interested in getting the most to Feel” and that is also heard a out of whatever is at hand. I’ve tried lot on the new Heligoland album. to adopt that same approach and just How much has this collaboration focus on the tools I have available to helped you unleash your vocal me. Given how tentative I was about musicality? getting started recording myself, I Karen: Over the last few years was really proud that I was able to I’ve gradually managed to get to record all my own vocals for “This the point where I feel confident Quiet Fire.” Recording everything recording my own vocals. It took myself saved a lot of time in the me quite a while to figure out how to studio and also meant that I could get a result I was happy with. Robin spend as much of my own time as I was really supportive throughout wanted exploring different ideas. It’s this process, helping me get started really important to have people in with a simple recording setup and your life who encourage you to learn showing me that I could learn to do new things and believe in you. this for myself. The vocals for “We’re Floating” were record a little earlier, As for the lyrics, tell us about the at a time between the period when writing process. Do you have a I recorded all my vocals with Robin working method or does it change in his studio and when I was up and according to each song and the running with my own setup. I’m still feeling you want to convey in catching up with a lot of the material conjunction with the musicality?

I’ve recorded in recent years. Once Karen: When I start working on a I figured out how to record my own new song, the vocal melodies always vocals and the basics of mixing, my come first. The words are never the creativity went into overdrive and I starting point. In those moments recorded lots and lots of different when I’m first listening to a song, I material. There’s a number of begin hearing vocal ideas. As the projects I’m working on finishing up melodies settle in my mind, the words and releasing. start coming to me. Sometimes the very first lyrics emerge fully-formed, My first solo EP, “I Just Want to at other times they’re just a sketch.

Feel,” is a bit of an outlier in this In some cases, I might feel drawn to process because I didn’t sing on it. a particular word that just intuitively This was a conscious decision. For feels right for the song. That word that release I wanted to focus all might then lead me somewhere, or my attention on the writing, mixing, it might become a departure point to and production. I’ve also learned a go down another path entirely. I try to lot from working Robin about these trust my own intuition and be open to

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different possibilities. In the past, I’ve often enjoyed sitting outside at a café with a pen and paper listening to a song on headphones and trying to figure out what the words need to be. I haven’t been able to do that during the pandemic, so I’ve tried to find other ways to create the right space where I can really dive into a song and try to understand what it’s saying to me.

Talking about the songs themselves is a very difficult task, albeit charming, but how would you summarize in a few words the first feelings when listening to what they had composed, the result, with the Robin mix?

Karen: Being in the room when Robin is working on a mix is always a really special experience because you hear the song coming to life and all the parts starting to shine and sparkle. When a new mix is finished, I often feel like I’m hearing the song as a whole for the first time, rather than a collection of separate parts. It’s a very different perspective. During the writing process, I am always totally focused on trying to get all the individual parts right and thinking through all the step-by-step choices involved in that process. When a song is being mixed, I feel like I can finally step back and take in the big picture.

Finally, thanking you for this space that you have given us. To our readers I recommend Heligoland and their new album “This Quiet Fire”, which will undoubtedly become one of my favorite dream pop albums of this 2021. I leave this space for you to say the last words to close this interview... Thanks Karen and Steve!

Karen: I’d just like to say thank you for inviting us to take part in this interview. We’re really happy to talk with you again and are grateful for your support over the years. I also want to thank all the people who have reached to us on Bandcamp and through social media about the new album. It’s always wonderful to hear from a listener that they were touched in some way by the music, felt some sort of connection with the record, or that a particular song resonated with them. These feel like really important connections to make. Please be sure to let artists know if you connect with their music, it’s always really lovely to receive messages like that.

Steve: I’d like to thank everyone who has supported our music over the years and continues to support us with the release of this new album. “This Quiet Fire” is a really personal and meaningful record for both of us. In some ways, it feels like perhaps the most important record the band has ever made. We’ve been thrilled to hear from people that this record struck a chord with them too. Thank you.

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[ Interview with Nick Hudson by Diego Centurión. ]

NICK HUDSON: THE HUMAN HEART IS DRAWN BY LOVE

We have the opportunity to ask Nick Hudson a few questions, who in addition to being the lead singer of the band The Academy Of Sun, is about to release a solo album called "Font Of Human Fractures"at the end of April. But first, since you will be performing at the NMER Festival, we have several questions to ask you at this time. To begin with, I would like to thank Shameless Promotion PR for this opportunity and thank you for your involvement.

In 2020, we spoke to you Nick about your latest album by The Academy Of Sun. Readers can find it at : https://issuu.com/revistathe13th/docs/the13th_n_62/18

The first question has to do with these rare times that we are living in. How are you making it through this pandemic / lockdown?

At this point, in all honesty, it’s really starting to drag, for all of us I’m sure, so it’s really a dayto-day appreciation of present-tense joys that are keeping me going through each day. I’m grateful to have creative projects with which to keep me focused, and for friends, loved ones and my community of artist friends around the world. I have a magical entity dwelling with me at the moment which is definitely softening the exposed nerve-endings in a manner for which I’m exquisitely grateful.

That and drinking, cooking, and reading Herzog’s memoirs.

I have done some research on your solo career and it is so wide and dispersed between Bandcamp and Spotify that it is difficult to put together a chronological order, can you give us a brief review of your work and those that have meant the most to you?

My first solo album proper was TERRitORies of disSENT in 2009, which Julian Cope, in a

profanely glowing review described as “highly fucking beautiful”. Then I issued four others in rapid succession - the best-executed of which I think is Letters To The Dead (2012) verging on neo-classical - which was also a short feature film (and my only vinyl thus far until the imminent Font Of Human Fractures).

In between the solo records I’ve also written and recorded hundreds of songs that remain either unreleased or scattered across a raft of “Basement Tape”-style digital releases.

I have been particularly fascinated with the 2020 album "Night Sweats And Fever Dreams" that you have made with Oli Spleen. Tell us what this album is about.

Ah, Oli is a dear friend. And he won’t mind my saying that twenty years ago he was very close to dying of AIDS. Fortunately for us all his diagnosis fell on the cusp of a turning point in terms of medication and thus he is still with us today. He asked me to compose and arrange and co-produce the music for Night Sweats And Fever Dreams and the writing partnership has become one of the most joyous, freeing creative collaborations of my life. Oli is a rare jewel. We aim to make more records together.

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2020 was a Lockdown year. But you have taken the opportunity to release accumulated material from your archives.

In the midst of all these releases, you also released an album as The Academy of Sun, which we have already talked about in another interview. Tell me how much saved material do you have that has not yet come to light?

Enough to fill three juggernauts, the pit of Sarlacc, the Mariana Trench (which incidentally would be my drag name), the Yamal sinkhole and The Sorbonne.

I keep finding truffles I forgot I’d foraged.

For instance there are around six tracks we recorded for The Quiet Earth that have yet to see the world.

and the video?

I’d long fetishized the notion of pitch-shifting the most robust of instruments. A church organ is architecturally integrated, so to make malleable something so anchored in solidity held a compelling charm for me. We did it - by creating a MIDI instrument out of the organ bass pedals. I wrote, recorded and mixed it at home over a 24-hour sleepless period of intensive obsession. The lyrics are patchworked from accumulated poetic fragments that may not even have anything to do with Vladislav Surkov, in much the same way that he denied authorship of his own novel. The video was filmed in Bulgaria. I spent a month there writing my novel and took a transcendent road trip with friends across mountains and monuments. I’m definitely channeling Andrzej Żuławski here.

You have just released the single "Surkov's Dream", the first taster of your Your music is very eclectic and very new album. Can you tell us about this song exquisite. But you write so many different

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songs for each of your projects. Do you think of songs specifically for each project?

Yeah, I write specifically for each project.

Some songs are definitively for the band, some obviously solo, and some less-easily housed. And thank you.

Like some samizdat, backroom faction of wonderful, strange people. I’d like to have a drink with each of them.

For our readers, perhaps also tell them why they should listen to "Font Of Human Fractures". Tell us what feelings does the new album "Font Of Human Fractures" How does it feel that you’re close to generate in you? releasing your album? Has it been a Catherine of Siena once said “the human challenge to get the word out about this heart is drawn by love.” This of course lends new solo music (or your latest TAOS itself to many readings. album for that matter?

As for what feelings the record generates I finished the record a year ago. Music in me - on an emotional level it embodies a moves so slowly. I’m excited to liberate it. cathartic and brutal self-scrutiny. On a musical When you make art that cannot help for the level it’s one of the few of my records that I insistence of its conviction but go against the can actually bear to listen to for enjoyment. grain and the zeitgeist it is always a challenge So that’s something. to have it connect with large groups of people.

Instead, smaller communities are forged, and To end this interview, we’d like to thank with a stronger and more meaningful resin. you for the time you have spent with us.

I couldn’t be more excited when I hear from people with whom the work deeply resonates.

Thank you very much indeed!

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http://madwaspradio.com/

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http://www.6towns.co.uk/ https://dimitriberzerk.bandcamp.com/releases

[ Interview with Charlie Nieland by Diego Centurión.

Photografs: Nancy Nieland and Jason Geering ]

CHARLIE NIELAND: "DIVISIONS" IT’S A DOCUMENT OF THIS WEIRD TIME.

I first encountered the music of Charlie Nieland with his Lusterlit project and now it is time for his solo stage, although I wasn’t aware that he had actually started in 2013 with the album “Under Dark”. His new album, “Divisions”, released on March 5 brings us a group of 13 songs where we can see the finest and most accomplished work of his entire career. Elegant pop and flawless production.

Thanks to Shameless Promotion PR we have the opportunity to ask Charlie some questions and this is the result.

Hi Charlie, thank you for agreeing to answer these questions.

To begin, I would like to know how this lockdown affected you by Covid?

As the first wave arrived here in New York City a year ago, I was sheltering safely with people I loved. But we were all caught up in the surreal horror of so much suffering. Then came the rising tide of Black Lives Matter protests marching across the Brooklyn Bridge every night. All against the backdrop of the previous president mounting an attack on democracy and callously botching the response to the pandemic.

The helplessness fired my urge to record this album. It was the only way I could respond.

Your first solo album is “Under Dark” in 2013. Tell us how was that first album under your own name?

I was in a band called Her Vanished Grace with my ex-wife Nancy Nieland for a couple decades. We made 16 albums of post-punk and dream pop between 1991 and 2012. I didn’t realize it at the time, but by 2013 the band was over. As a replacement for some gigs we’d canceled, I did several solo sets of improvised music using loop pedals and an array of instruments, including guitar, guitar synth, lap steel, trumpet and transistor radio. I edited the rehearsals for these shows into a

collection and called it Under Dark. All the pieces were spontaneous and have an unpredictably weird and cinematic feel. I would like to get into doing that again. It takes a lot of practice.

A lot has happened from that first album to your recent album “Divisions”. Tell us how you think your way of working and composing grew?

In 2013, I started to participate in a performance series here in Brooklyn called the Bushwick Book Club. Each month, a book is selected and a rotating group of artists write songs in response and present them all at a show. At that time, I was slowly working on an ethereal acoustic EP called Ice Age and was looking for another approach to writing. I became more involved, eventually producing an EP of songs for the BBC founder, Susan Hwang, and an album of my own songs about books called Hopeful Monsters. I found it liberating to allow styles of music to arise that suited the songs rather than concentrating on writing from a genre.

Since 2016. I co-produce Bushwick Book Club with Susan and we also have a band called Lusterlit. We’ve done events from London to New Orleans to Los Angeles. So I write new songs every month and have learned to trust my process. Something real always comes through even if it sounds bad

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at first. I’ve loosened my grip and I feel or an idea that correlates with what I’m thinking and feeling at the time. As my more creative. reaction to the dehumanization going on We are in a time of uncertainty and in the world grew, these songs began to I think the best way to cope is to appear as a cohesive group to me. The move on as you have with your new production process was an interesting job. Tell us, what was it like to record challenge. I’d initially performed all of them in a stripped down setting for in such a strange situation?

I was able to try new things. One of the Bushwick Book Club, but as I began drummers on the album, Brian Geltner, fleshing out the arrangements I had recorded his tracks at home and sent to discover what was the best way to me the files. It was unusual for me extract the most feeling and color from not to be in the room with whomever each idea. For instance, the title track, I’m working with, but we developed a inspired by The Hidden Life of Trees by nice method of him sharing early takes Peter Wohlleben, was composed with and me giving a few notes before he a lap steel guitar as accompaniment. It finished recording. I was able to record became obvious after I tracked it, that Billy Loose, the former drummer from the dense sound of the steel guitar was Her Vanished Grace who played on the too much for the whole song. “Twisting other half of the album, at my studio after on the brink of what’s to happen.” That things started to open a bit in September. feeling of anticipation led me to drop We both get COVID tests right before the steel from the entire first half and and wore our masks. I prepared tracks build it up slowly with electric piano, for both of the drummers, first, at my quietly pulsing synths, atmospheric apartment, with guitars, vocals and electric guitar and lots of space over programmed drums. The vocals were Brian’s tribal drum beat. When all the not meant to be final takes, but I used feedback guitars and keyboards arrive them anyway because they had a nice by the end, it’s shattering. The way I energy that I knew I would struggle to rebuilt the song Divisions became a recapture at the studio, even if I could template for the method of producing use a better mic there. So I allowed the rest of the tracks. the limitations of the strange situation to shape the recording process and I Tell me if there is a concept behind think that gave it a kind of urgency. It’s “Divisions”?

While the songs come at it from a document of this weird time. different angles, I feel that this album is How long did you work on about exploring the duality of our nature “Divisions” beginning from the even as we are actually just a wave of moment you conceived of this energy. As we dive so deep in our silos that we feel justified in demonizing album?

Songs from the past two years make anyone we think of as opposing us, we up the material that became Divisions. are still made of the same stuff. The dust Some were written in 2018, but most from stars. From the first track’s seeds of them were written in 2019 and 2020. in Brooklyn concrete to the last track’s While I write in response to books, the murder to the sounds of trumpets, we songs always stand on their own. I have to embrace it all even as we fight often let the books suggest a backdrop for humanity.

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They often compare you vocally to Michael Stipe from REM. Do you like comparisons or do they bother you?

Oh, I find them wonderful. Everyone hears something different. I love to encourage that by refusing to stay within the guardrails of genre. I love finding new combinations of styles. I definitely wasn’t thinking of Michael Stipe when I sang Tightrope. I won’t even say who I thought I was channeling, but after reading that reaction, I can hear what they mean. It really travels somewhere else by the end of the song though.

I know you are very active with videos. Do you have any way to present the new album in mind?

We are still in this live show-free zone for at least a while longer. So I will be doing some livestreamed shows

each week while experimenting with the presentation. Maybe mingling electronic and acoustic sounds, and messing with the visuals sometimes.

I do plan to make a few more music videos as well. I can hopefully bring some attention to more of the songs that way.

What has it been like to promote this new album and the advance singles?

I’ve known Shauna McLarnon since we crossed paths promoting our bands ten years ago. She was always the best and has really honed her skills over the years as she formed Shameless Promotion PR. So it’s been a pleasure working with her on this. I would have just flung it over the wall and tried to somehow get people to listen. She helped me see that being patient and slowly revealing the material was going

to get a much better result. And the most gratifying thing is the wonderful connections I’m making along the way, getting to know so many amazing people who take the time to curate all these diverse and cohesive radio shows and music sites. Look – I get to talk to you today too Diego!

Thinking back to 2021, what do you have planned for your solo career or what will be your next step?

I’ll keep writing, playing and recording and find some new way to meet the moment.

Thank you for the time you have dedicated to answering these

questions and to close this interview, please tell our readers why they should listen to your new album “Divisions”? and tell them where can they find your music?

I think these songs have a bit of the sound of the wheels turning. The sound of the earth and the sky. The sound of a story being told and broken down only to be told again with a new vocabulary.

I was just the medium. Everyone can buy the album on Bandcamp or stream it at Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon or the many other places.

Thank you Charlie!!!

Thank you Diego!

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