An Interview with Pacific Threnodies

by Brandon Nurick

In the short year since its founding, record label Pacific Threnodies has established itself as a purveyor of excellence in the underground music market. From the guttural blackened doom of Nan Elmoth to the jazzy drones of Spirals, the diversity seen on the label is rivaled only by the sheer brilliance its content exudes, and with seven releases already in the bag for 2018, it’s showing no signs of slowing down.

Recently I was blessed with the opportunity to talk with the founder of PT, and chat about the music tastes, the local scene, and finer details involved with running a record label in this modern age of digital media.

Brandon: I was scrolling through Pacific Threnodies Facebook page the other day when I noticed the label recently celebrated its one-year anniversary. Firstly – congratulations! When you started PT, did you expect it to make it to the one year mark?

PT: I started Pacific Threnodies as an avenue to be able to realize "official" releases for me and my close friends' music projects. I had a backlog and was getting impatient waiting for other labels to do releases for me - so it was as simple as making a few web pages and finishing up a few designs to make it happen. I did not think very much about extending out into the future, but hoped to continue making monthly or semi-monthly releases for as long as I could. The first year flew by and I was barely cognizant of it.

Brandon: Well, it certainly seems like the world was cognizant of you! Within the last few months specifically it seems, like the underground music scene has really taken a liking to Pacific Threnodies. Has the good reception you've seen made you approach the way you operate any differently?

PT: It's certainly very heartening when I start getting positive feedback on a release, moving units, and hearing back about how much people like a given piece. This is a "boutique" label and a very small operation so we only choose to put out things that fit our own specific tastes. I suppose I'm just glad I'm not the only one who likes these bands and their music, and it feels good to clear out space for the next one as stock moves.

Pacific Threnodies Logo

Brandon: Speaking of tastes, Pacific Threnodies has released music from a variety of genres -black metal, drone, dungeon synth, ambient, etc... - even though all these styles of music are different, for you is there some kind of common thread that links them together? Something shared in all of them you see as being a quality of Pacific Threnodies? And, what is it you look for when thinking of having another artist join PT?

PT: I had originally intended this to be a specifically black metal label, as the first two releases were all I had to go on. I had the pleasure of meeting Lord Conifer from Acheulean Forests when he performed with his neofolk project, Trolljkerring, in Los Angeles. It was such an impressive, earnest, and dark performance that I immediately wanted to work with him - and he sent me this "Faerie Synth" album that was twinkly and imaginative and sincere and not dark or heavy at all! From there, the floodgates were opened - I realized that I didn't want to limit myself to black metal alone, when there was so much more music that piqued my interest and carried such an effulgent sincerity -- I suppose you could say that that's the one commonality in the artists and releases I choose is that they're each very sincere and earnest to the point of self-indulgence. That's the kind of music that excites me over anything else.

Brandon: So would you say your music tastes have grown more inclusive since starting Pacific Threnodies?

PT: I've always been attracted to the sounds and genres represented by our current discography; it was more just the focus of the label itself that changed.

Brandon: You mentioned earlier that PT was initially an outlet for your creations as well as friends – which PT projects have you personally worked on?

PT: Malfet is a solo project of mine. I've also performed with or worked as a part of the bands Spirals, Stygian Obsession, At Dusk, and Nan Elmoth.

Brandon: As someone who has heard the entirety of the PT discography I can vouch for the quality of all of those projects, but personally my favorite is Malfet. It seems like a lot of people feel similarly. What are some of your thoughts on the reception that project in particular has received?

PT: It's very flattering. I was largely inspired by how much I enjoyed Acheulean Forest's tape to make a pastoral dungeon synth album of my own. Compared to recording a band, it is much easier to record this kind of music and so I approached its creation much more casually in my spare time at home. I'm frankly blown away by how much people liked this one, as it was more of an experiment or side-project for me. The positive response has inspired me to take the project live, which has also been an awesome experience.

The first Malfet show was as support for a pair of absolutely breathtaking neofolk bands called Sangre de Muérdago and Latona Odola, which was just unforgettable, and more shows are coming up soon: a secret show local to my area and a "Dreamscape" performance in Los Angeles on September 23rd. I knew I had to repress "The Snaking Path" once I started getting shows put together as it was the fastest release to completely sell out and I knew I needed to have something to offer people to take home from the gigs.

Brandon: Now you mention Acheulean Forest as inspiration, I can totally hear that influence, especially in The Snaking Path's very fantastical/folklore-esque atmosphere. It's awesome that you're so open to inspiration from peers. It also seems like you're very inspired by your local scene. Would you say PT has good/or growing relationship with your local music scene? How important is your local scene to you?

PT: The local milieu is tiny, tight-knit, and somewhat volatile. There are very few places for loud, heavy, and weird bands to play so we're constantly working together to figure out how to overcome these difficulties. I'm personally somewhat fatigued by how much effort it takes to keep shows going, which is why I have so many studio projects and make tapes.

Brandon: Okay, on a bit of larger scale now ... how do you feel about the modern music underground particularly surrounding extreme music? Do you feel like it's grown to be more inclusive to newer labels and projects, or do you think it's become more close-minded to fresh ventures? To be more specific - blogs, online zines, Bandcamp, etc.

PT: My experience has been that the wider music underground is more accepting of upstarts than it used to be. We all have access to all the new material out there via Bandcamp, etc. and can more quickly recognize if some new project is of value or not. A number of blogs and webzines covered our very first release and have continued to write positive reviews about the things we do - Indy Metal Vault, in particular, comes to mind. There's so little cost involved in checking something out when you can find free streams of most projects - I think, with the exception of the way that music's become so oversaturated, that that's a positive thing.

Brandon: As someone who runs their own label, how do you feel about the modern collector's market in extreme metal music heavily favoring the side of label/distros? It seems a lot of labels - particularly more raw black metal related ones - can release something not really up to par and get away with it because of that project's obscurity. As someone who seemingly cares very much about the quality of the music being released under your name, do you think this kind of practice could eventually spoil the relationships listeners have with smaller labels?

PT: I've heard of this happening but haven't been burned by ordering any particularly crappy demos myself. I do have some gripes with intentional "extreme limitation" releases by more popular bands to drive the prices up, for example, certain Paysage d'Hiver releases, but in my case I simply don't generally expect to move enough copies of a given tape to justify pressing more than 100 maximum. If people are ordering tapes from small labels and being disappointed by their quality, I imagine they will move on and stop following that particular seller - so I don't see this as too much of a problem, especially since the cost of ordering a tape is rarely more than $10.

Brandon: What have been some of your favorite releases this year from smaller labels such as PT?

PT: Disgusted Geist has an album called "Reign of Enthrallment" out as a split release between Sunken Tomb and Not Kvlt Records that is just absolutely mind-blowing death-doom. Exquisitely, painfully heavy. Another tape I picked up from Sunken Tomb was a split between Drenched and Skulls which was also quite a haunting release. SOOT creates terrifying death industrial and just came out with a release on Obsolete Units, and Urghun / Mythological Eoarchean Cosmonauts did this fantastic dark ambient / dungeon synth split via Orb Weaver Collective.

Brandon: As expected, that's quite a diverse cast of cast of artist and styles. Before we close out - Pacific Threnodies has clearly had a fantastic 2018 thus far, both in quantity and content... what's on the horizon for the closing months of this year? Is there anything you'd coming up you'd like to give a shout-out to/promote?

PT: There are a number of projects on the horizon that are not as of yet set in stone, so I'm afraid I can't comment on upcoming releases before I make their respective announcements. I can say that there will be more black and doom metal before long.

Brandon: Well that in of itself is very excited news. As someone who has not stopped fawning over the work your label has done since I discovered it, I absolutely can't wait for what is coming next.

PT: Thanks! I’m glad you’ve been finding pleasure in these offerings.

Brandon: Oh, definitely! On behalf of Yer Scene, thank you again very much for taking the time out to chat and we wish nothing but the best in upcoming endeavors!

https://pacificthrenodies.bandcamp.com/album/the-snaking-path

https://pacificthrenodies.bandcamp.com/album/form-is-void