you resource for all things shoegaze & dream pop.
25 August 2013
An Interview with [aftersun] by Elizabeth Klisiewicz and cross-posted from The BIg Takeover.
An Interview with [aftersun]
Interview by Elizabeth Klisiewicz
I can’t recall when I first heard this Brooklyn duo. Maybe it was on Strangeways Radio, where my friend Amber Crain does her weekly radio show as an adjunct to her excellent blog, When the Sun Hits. No matter, I instantly recognized that these guys were operating from the same sonic palette that has informed my own musical tastes. Imagine an infusion of The Cure, Joy Division, and maybe even The Chameleons (“You Make Me Change”), and you’ll be in the ballpark. Comprised of Stephan Cherkashin and Adam Humphreys, the band has a massive sound that belies their slim numbers. Read further for more on this great band as they discuss their new album, Always Is Right Now, and what they’re all about.
Tell us a bit about the band’s origins, including your stints in Telltale and Audn.
Stephan: Audn formed in 2007, and it was kind of a dream pop, shoegaze, space rock band. It really opened my eyes as to what guitar can do. Half of the band members departing Audn before the recording of our new material led to a search for new members, without any luck, so that project eventually came to an end. At that time I started playing with Telltale. They had more of a post punk and noise rock approach. A much darker sound. I was good friends with them at the time.
Telltale recorded a full length album and toured promoting that album but soon decided to part ways as well due to professional differences. I am still good friends with all of them though! At that time, I had a few songs I’d been working on, in my spare time, over the past few years that I wanted to develop further. I decided to record and release some of these songs by myself under the name [aftersun].
Who are you working with currently?
Stephan: At this moment, it’s just two of us. Myself and Adam Humphreys. We haven’t been working with anyone else.
The new album sounds wonderful. How long did it take to pull together?
Stephan: Thank you! Honestly, it took almost a year and a half to finish this album. We actually had to re-record the entire thing twice. Also getting a consistent recording schedule was tough because of our day jobs, or actually my night job at a bar and Adam’s day job.
I really like the track, “Born Again.” Who sings the female vocals?
Stephan: Thank you very much. That one actually fell together pretty easily. LeeAnn Falciani sang on that track. She is also the designer of the album cover as well.
Some of the tracks like “Last Night” shoot me straight back to the 80s, but in a good way. It has that menacing, post punk sound combining Joy Division and maybe a bit of Jesus and Mary Chain. Was that intentional, or merely an organic process? In any case, a marvelous track.
Stephan: I would say that it was definitely an organic process. We didn’t set out to specifically write a song that sounded like ones done by those bands.
Adam: We’re both definitely influenced by those bands and that era, though, so it makes sense that there are similarities. I’m just glad you didn’t say it sounds like Michael Buble or something!
How about “I’m On My Way”? I love that dark edge it has, and yet there is always a glimmer of light hovering at the edges.
Adam: Thanks. That’s one that I came up with as a recording experiment on my computer. And yes; I was attempting to go deep into the depths with that experiment! We decided to use it on the album so Stephan wrote the lyrics and tricked me into singing it by saying that he needed a vocal guide track to help him understand the melody. If you listen closely, at the very beginning, you’ll hear a sample that I made in an underground tunnel with a walkway and cars passing through it in Rome!
About the song “Drowned”, is it in any way influenced by Dead Can Dance? It sure reminds me of them.
Stephan: Yes and no. I love Dead Can Dance and know their first two albums very well, but I’m not as familiar with the rest of their records. If you’re talking about string arrangements, I’ve been always interested in making something massive. Classical instruments have always been something I wanted to work with to achieve that big and timeless sound.
Describe the recording and production process. Do you do all this yourself?
Stephan: We did all the recording ourselves. Totally DIY, recorded in our apartments. Because of scheduling differences, we usually recorded separately and then traded files. It was an interesting process that I’d never tried before. I never knew exactly what Adam was recording until he dropped off the files.
Adam: Yeah, same with me. Sometimes Stephan would give me files, and that would inspire different parts that I would then come up with but, at least during recording, that rarely happened face to face.
Stephan: We also learned a lot about recording and production methods while we made this album. That’s one reason that it took so long to finish. We basically recorded the album and then re-recorded it using everything we’d learned. I mixed and mastered the album as well, which I also did with an [aftersun] EP that I released called Pain Sounds. I made Always is Right Now a bit more radio friendly.
What drives your song writing process? Is there any particular element, such as literature or art, which influences you, or is it an amalgamation?
Stephan: Most of the melodies were made walking down the street, riding on the train, at random, and then recorded onto cell phones. You then have an idea that turns into a song skeleton and we build a shape around that. I believe that most of the best songs are written spontaneously. I’m also not a fan of jamming. The song writing process is a reflection of our experiences and everything we’ve gone through. I believe that when you’re creating something you should always trust your instincts because the result would be something that you would hopefully enjoy presenting to the world. The first guitar part you write is usually the best.
Adam: My approach to song writing is to imagine what a band would sound like that had Camus on guitar, Kafka on keyboards, Nietzsche on drums, and Herman Hesse bringing it all home behind the microphone and then trying to re-create that sound!
How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard you?
Adam: A dark mix of delicious nightmares.
How do you achieve the [aftersun] sound? Do you have any specific gear you rely on, or is it more of a kitchen sink approach?
Stephan: Experimenting. Trying new things and seeing where they go. I used mostly Alesis HR-16 samples and classic 808 samples for the drums. We programmed a few instruments as well using different VST plugins to complement our classic guitar band setup.
Adam: I recently went on a guitar pedal buying frenzy! I was obsessed with it for several months. Before that I had always used a big multi-effect unit, but it’s amazing what you can get out of little boutique specialty pedals. There are a lot of really cool pedal companies out there like Devi Ever and Lovepedal that are making great stuff. I run keyboards through my guitar pedals a lot as well.
The music industry has changed so dramatically in the past ten years. How does that impact bedroom artists such as yourself? Does online music help or hinder getting music out to fans? Bandcamp seems to make it easier.
Adam: I don’t know, we’ve definitely relied on the Internet for promoting this album, but it’s still not easy to reach a lot of people. Everyone is using the internet to promote their albums, even big artists and labels. We’re thinking about robbing a bank while wearing [aftersun] T-shirts and then getting caught on purpose. Or breaking Pussy Riot out of jail while wearing [aftersun] T-shirts.
Have you toured at all?
Stephan: We haven’t even played live yet! Originally [aftersun] was conceived of as a studio project. Since we’ve been getting a lot of requests for playing live, we may change our minds and start working up a live show. At this moment, though, we’re concentrating on writing and recording new material.
What music has most influenced you? Any favorites in the current shoegaze/dream pop realm that you think people should hear?
Stephan: We’re mostly influenced by the darker side of 80s alternative music. We don’t really follow the current music scene closely, but there are some bands that we like, like Dead Leaf Echo, The Stargazer Lilies, Screen Vinyl Image, Ulrich Schnauss, and many others.
Adam: I think Vinyl Williams is doing some interesting stuff.
What do you do when you’re not playing, writing, and recording?
Stephan: We have jobs because so far we aren’t able to pay all our bills with music alone. We’ve been living in New York City for a while. There’s always something interesting happening here every day. It’s easy to get distracted. We drink wine from coffee mugs more often than most bands, I think.
Adam: I love to travel. I’ve been reading a lot of UFO books lately as well.
What do you have planned looking forward in terms of writing?
Stephan: We are trying to get ideas together for our next release. Learning new things about production and all of that. Trying new things. Not planning to tour in the near future, but local live shows may happen next year.
Adam: Ideally, I would like the band to tour the galaxy in a UFO.
Any final words of wisdom for fans?
[aftersun]: You’ll never walk alone.
Head on over to Bandcamp to partake of the band’s delicious musical fare or visit them on Facebook
Strange Week in Music on the Strangeways Radio blog, feat. Soft Metals and more...
WTSH cross posts it only partially, with a link to the full article provided.
Strange Week in Music gives each Strangeways DJ an opportunity to highlight one track that is related to his/her show that week; the article will include information, links, images, a video/stream of the tracks and where they can be purchased. You can think of it as Strangeways' Week at a Glance.
If you are new to Strangeways Radio, or are curious about other station shows aside from WTSH, this weekly feature on the Strangeways blog will be the perfect introduction. Below is WTSH's latest contribution.
Strange Week in Music || DJ Amber Crain Selection
Artist: Soft
Metals
Album: Lenses
Song: Lenses
RIYL: Chromatics,
Glass Candy, Kraftwerk, John Carpenter
Where to buy:
Amazon or Captured Tracks
Soft Metals is multi-genre duo LA-based Ian Hicks and Patricia Hall. Brought together by a common love of 70s and 80s synthesizer music, their electronically rooted compositions are dark, ominous and often lacking any discernable hook or cathartic crescendo. Their songs are built from moody, improvised sessions together using exclusively electronic instruments, often incorporating nods to krautrock, psychedelic rock, and shoegaze genres, and heavily featuring Hall’s ethereal, distant vocals and unnervingly detached lyrical persona. Soft Metals is signed to Captured Tracks and just released their newest LP, Lenses, in July 2013...
News: Captured Tracks 2 Day Outdoor Festival hits next weekend - feat. DIIV, Wild Nothing, Beach Fossils, Soft Moon, Blouse and more...
Captured Tracks turns 5 this year and to celebrate they are throwing a two-day
festival next weekend. The two-day outdoor festival will be held
August 31st and September 1st at The Wick with performances by DIIV, Mac
Demarco, Wild Nothing, Beach Fossils, Soft Moon, MINKS, Soft Metals, Blouse,
Widowspeak, Chris Cohen, Heavenly Beat and Alex Calder.
If you are remotely close and can make it to this festival, DON'T MISS IT. This may be the line up of the year!
Dates:
August 31st, 2013
September 1st, 2013
Address:
The Wick
272 Meserole St
(between Bushwick Pl & Waterbury St)
Brooklyn, NY 11206
Tickets:
- a two day pass gets one time 10% off used goods ($50 or more) at the Captured
Tracks shop in Greenpoint – which is due to open this August
- includes: special gift bag of exclusive merch and a one time 20% off used
goods ($50 or more) voucher at C/T Shop
Line Up || Day 1 – 8/31
DIIV
Mac Demarco
Soft Moon
MINKS
Chris Cohen
Heavenly Beat
Line Up || Day 2 – 9/1
Wild Nothing
Beach Fossils
Widowspeak
Blouse
Soft Metals
Alex Calder
24 August 2013
Album Review: Weekend || Jinx. Reviewed by Ellie Sleeper.
Album Review:
Weekend || Jinx
Reviewed by Ellie Sleeper
If one scours recent interviews with Shaun Durkan and his cohorts, one will notice a fairly consistent theme: the men in Weekend have frequently stressed the importance of bringing vocals to the forefront in their new album, Jinx. To an extent, they have succeeded. There’s a new found sense of space in what Weekend is doing, and Durkan’s delivery is more melodic, more polished, and more emotive. There’s a more plaintive and pleading spirit that has begun to shine through, both in terms of how things are being sung and in regards to the actual lyrical content; there’s a bit of a bruise that hides under the sheen, perhaps one that wasn’t as visible when Durkan was obscured by monolithic distortion.
However,
the new found breathing room does occasionally turn on Durkan on moments when it
becomes apparent that more could have been done vocally. It’s not a constant
problem on Jinx, but one of the standout tracks actually begs for just a bit
more of a push. On the blistering “Adelaide”, it is hard not to hear room for a
call-and-response moment in the choruses; the delay on the vocals almost
creates that effect, and there are actually backing vocals hidden in the din,
but this proves more of a frustrating tease than a full realization of what
could have been. The problem is more a fumble in production than in songwriting,
however.
Songwriting
on the whole of Jinx has to be commended all the same, especially as it applies
to what Weekend has been previously. The version of Weekend presented here
actually sounds the most like a band that knows exactly who and what they are,
a band quite comfortable in their own skin. There is still plenty of room for
development and evolution within this framework, but it’s solid and feels
unique enough to not appear derivative in the slightest. If their goal was to
escape merely being known for being loud, the gentlemen have surely succeeded.
The power of the quiet is perhaps most evident on “Sirens”, whose slow and
steady burn is anchored by motorik-inflected drumming; it’s classic post-punk
with just enough of something unique.
The
characteristic roar hasn’t entirely vanished, but it is tempered, entirely for
the better. The two disparate halves presented between Sports and the Red EP
that preceded Jinx have been unified now. Snarling guitars still growl and
seethe, but they do so beside a new sonic palette that more readily appreciates
a wealth of textures, instead of just one. Those who may have been waiting to
see Weekend bloom into their full potential should not be disappointed with
where they’ve arrived.
Buy
It Because:
Jinx presents a varied range of moods, tones, and textures without
feeling scattershot or disorganized. Available for purchase via Slumberland Records.
Standouts: “Adelaide”, “Sirens”, and “Just Drive”
Standouts: “Adelaide”, “Sirens”, and “Just Drive”
Goes
Great With:
Decades
Frankie Rose
Decades
Frankie Rose
Hearts
of Black Science
The
Soft Moon
Set List for WTSH on Strangeways Radio. Aired August 21, 2013.
band
name || track title
Soft Metals. Lenses.
Superhumanoids. A Gjost.
Roxy Music. Out of the Blue.
SISU. 2 Thousand Hands.
My Bloody Valentine. Only Shallow.
Fleeting Joys. Destroyer.
Ecstasy of St. Theresa. Absinth.
Pink Playground. Never Was.
Plastic Flowers. In You I’m Lost.
The Jesus and Mary Chain. Only Happy When
It Rains.
Chimera. Slow Burn.
Ride. Like a Daydream.
The House of Love. Christine.
Sleepover. The Heavens Turn by Themselves.
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