Echoed sounds collide: an interview with Rosetta

Philadelphia post-metallers Rosetta have recently released their sixth album entitled Utopioid [Will Not Fade review here] – a portmanteau of Utopia and Opioid. Utopioid is a concept album composed of four distinct sections that explore the extremes of texture and dynamic. It is also the band’s third independent release, offered for pay-what-you-want on Bandcamp. This is an interesting move in the current age of streaming, but the band not only recouped recording costs, but also achieved top-selling status on Bandcamp.

Believing Utopioid to be an album worth hearing live, Rosetta just underwent an extensive tour across North America. After a short break, they will embark on another tour throughout Asia and Oceania in a month.

Will Not Fade’s Joseph James chatted with guitarist Eric Jernigan about the album, the band’s philosophy, and touring.

Will Not Fade: Obviously you have reason to be proud of your latest record. What sets Utopioid apart from the other albums for you?

Eric Jernigan: Thank you! This is the first time everyone opened his contributions to direct criticism from another. As always the primary focus was to create something that spoke to us as individuals. But we also learned that each one of us does better work in collaboration, challenging as that process may have been at times.

With the four parts of the album, did you write each separate section in sequence, or did you write everything and then arrange them by mood? Because this album is cyclical, so I was wondering about the order it was written in.

We dedicated certain blocks of time to each movement, but if the creative fire went dark for a certain section we allowed ourselves to explore new ideas or tweak existing songs based on what we were in the mood for. Can’t waste time after all.

Does coming up with a concept make writing music easier or harder?

I think musically speaking many concept albums are born haphazardly and later sequenced to fit the story at the artist’s convenience. We avoided that by drawing the map for the concept shortly after we finished the first song structure, and we stuck to it religiously. It made certain aspects of writing feel more cumbersome, but we know it produced our strongest work to date.

Tone, texture and timbre are clearly important to you. What are some ways you try to achieve these things?

I’ve found lately that purposefully limiting the number of tools at my disposal can force some extra creativity to the surface.

To continue that discussion of collaboration, who’s idea was it to create the remixes of your songs included on A Dead-Ender’s Reunion? How does it feel hearing someone else’s take on music you wrote?

We’ve been friends with Will Benoit (Living Phantoms) for many years and deeply admire his work as both a producer and a songwriter. It’s a real treat to hear your music filtered through the mind of a respected peer.

With the recent record, you stressed that this was worth hearing live, and have tried to tour it more widely. Is it hard living on the road so much?

As long as we remain cognizant of the privilege inherent in sharing our music with audiences around the world it’s not hard. No one likes operating on minimal sleep for 30 days straight or sitting upright in a van for hours on end, but the reward is worth the effort.

How was the American tour you just finished?

It helped remind us we live in an unbelievably beautiful country. We found a few hours to visit Yellowstone National Park on a cold day in late October and saw a bunch of geysers, a herd of bison, and a pack of wolves. And then of course we ruminated on the crushing power of the supervolcano lurking beneath us.

What are you expecting from the upcoming Asia/Australia/NZ tour? You’ve chosen a good time of year as we are coming into summer.

It’s been 5 years since we were in Australia and all the rest of the territory is brand new for us. Couldn’t be more excited. Hoping as always to find extra time to meet interesting people and check out whatever sights we can manage.

sleepmakewaves are opening for you in Australia, and Spook The Horses in NZ. They are strong bands, and I actually thought sleepmakeswaves showed up This Will Destroy you when I saw them play together once [Review]. What is your process for choosing support acts?

Actually we’re the support for sleepmakeswaves in Australia, so we built the rest of the tour around that. Spook the Horses have been on our radar thanks to Robin from The Ocean and Pelagic Records, so we were stoked when our NZ agent suggested them. In general we aim to travel with bands who push music somewhere new and hope to make friends along the way.

I recently attended dunk!festival in Vermont, where Pelican and Junius were among the top billing acts. One thing I noticed is that they appear to have more cross appeal than many other bands who played the festival because they cross from post-metal through to doom/sludge territory. But then there was also Russian Circle, who don’t have vocals, and still have managed to achieve similar success. I realise that when Rosetta formed, the idea of post-rock/post-metal wasn’t so prevalent, but do you think that including vocals affects how accessible you are as a band?

To be honest accessibility has never been among our goals so we don’t spend much time thinking about it. Many of our friends in prominent instrumental bands receive unsolicited offers from random singers no one’s ever heard of: “Hey, obviously you left out vocals because you just haven’t found the right front person yet.” Likewise I’m sure there’s a contingency of people who’d prefer we didn’t incorporate screamed and/or sung vocals. Truth is none of that has any bearing on what we create.

After parting with Translation Loss Records, all your albums have been released independently. Talk me through that decision. How does staying independent compare to the option of re-signing to a label?

Translation Loss is a great label that helped us out immensely over the years. Independence simply gives us a more direct line to our listeners and vice versa. We value that connection.

If you were to give advice to a band starting out, would you still recommend the DIY route?

There’s no other way for a young band as far as I know!

When you first decided to offer your music at a pay-what-you-want price, did you expect to earn enough to cover recording costs? Has this helped you gain more exposure?

No, there was a lot of trepidation within the band on the eve of the release of The Anaesthete. We’re lucky to have a wide-ranging group of supporters who understand that music and art are valuable. I doubt it’s helped us gain more exposure, but who’s to say?

How does it feel to have gained best-selling status on Bandcamp?

We are immensely proud of that achievement. Again, we owe that honor to our fan base for their contributions.

Bandcamp offers different formats like FLAC and WAV, and I noted that you recently re-uploaded Utopioid at a higher res.. Do you care about how people access your music (iTunes, Spotify, Google Play etc…)?

For me the idea of caring about how people access our music is tantamount to exploring how people devote their attention to the consumption of music in general. If caring means I wish people would actively listen to our records rather than stream them from Youtube while reading pointless articles online, then yes. But I also recognize music serves different purposes for everyone.

Do many people still buy the physical albums when they are made available? Is there still a demand of supposedly outdated media like cassette tapes?

Yeah, with each album we expect more digital and less physical but demand for CDs and vinyl is actually increasing. We manufactured a small run of cassettes for Utopioid and have been psyched to see them selling through our Bandcamp page and at shows.

I see that you have offered bonus tracks on a few albums for the Japanese editions. Now that the internet opens up access to a global audience, do you feel that you still have separate markets based on location?

That’s a good question. For the most part I think the internet has effectively leveled things in that respect. Nonetheless, it’s tradition in Japan to have some bonus material on a CD. So far we’ve always had the extra tracks around so it’s fun to release them with a great label like Tokyo Jupiter.

Rosetta has been around for 14 years now. How does being in a band now compare to back when you started?

As you might expect the responsibilities of life outside the band weigh a little heavier these days. Luckily the balance is manageable for the most part.

Rosetta Asia/Oceania Tour dates

29/11 Kaohsiung TW – Paramount Bar
30/11 Taichung TW – Sound Live House
01/12 Taipei TW – Revolver
02/12 Singapore SG – Analog Factory
03/12 Kuala Lumpur MY – Rumah Api
05/12 Perth WA – Badlands
06/12 Adelaide SA – UniBar
07/12 Melbourne VIC – Howler
08/12 Brisbane QLD – The Zoo
09/12 Sydney NSW – Oxford Art Factory
12/12 Wellington NZ – Valhalla
13/12 Auckland NZ – Ding Dong Lounge
15/12 Launceston TAS – Greenwood Bar
16/12 Hobart TAS – Brisbane Hotel

Rosetta links:

Website: http://www.rosettaband.com

Bandcamp: https://theanaesthete.bandcamp.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rosettaband

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rosettaband

Instragram: http://www.instagram.com/rosetta_band

ALBUM REVIEW: ROSETTA – UTOPIOID

Perennial post-metal journeymen Rosetta began their sojourn into the dark recesses of cerebral rock in Philadelphia in 2003. In that time they’ve released some truly memorable records and became the godfathers of an underappreciated scene. They’ve now released their 6th album fully independently and continue their 14 year trend of challenging listeners with truly erudite songwriting.

Rosetta is a band perpetually at a crossroads. Never satisfied with representing one sound they venture to combine all the horror of a war torn landscape with that of the serenity of a deathbed. This is a band that has been dubbed as writing “metal for astronauts”. They are a thinking man’s band. Rosetta melds perfectly the 90’s hardcore sound of a band like Earth Crisis with the melodic undulations of If These Trees Could Talk. Layered on top of all these ingredients is a violent sense of urgency that keeps you listening.

The Philly boy’s 6th album Utopioid unabashedly continues the trend of never really letting you rest easy while listening. The first track “Amnion” is a perfect example. An instrumental piece, “Amnion” lures you in with it’s melodic stoicism giving you a false sense of security. When the final notes ring their end you go right into “Intrapartum” that begins with an almost choir like canticle. It isn’t long before you’ve realized your mistake. You’ve been too trusting. The snake has already deceived you with its poisonous tongue and there may be no way to go back. Songs like “King Ivory Tower” and “Neophyte Visionary” forego all pretense and immediately go for the throat. Interspersed throughout all the gloom is Rosetta’s unique touch of placing beautifully melodic passages in just the right places. These passages act like arteries that pulse new hope within all the savage din and cacophony, but just as you start to relax you’re thrust back into the melee fighting for air. It’s undeniably brilliant.

If you look at the song names and how they are ordered you definitely see a concept forming. Couple the lyrics with the song names and you recognize a story starting to unfurl. It seems to be a story about birth/rebirth. Of the rise to power and manipulating man’s desires. Of being taken advantage of and feeling culpable. Of wanting to believe but ultimately losing faith. Utopioid is about the futility of human effort. It borrows heavily from The Ecclesiastes, a book of the Tanakh that purports that all of man’s vanities and desires matter not one iota as death is the ultimate leveler.

You can recognize a lot of that futility in the song structures. From what lyrics I was able to discern there was a lot of gravity set on ushering in and building with light. Light in this case being a metaphor for knowledge or illumination of the mind. The Ecclesiastes hones in on this idea quite a bit. Gaining knowledge and wisdom is fine, but it’s all for naught. On Utopioid Rosetta does a wonderful job of conveying the duality of man through their ability to perfectly mix chaos with harmony. Clean and guttural vocals constantly do battle as the two opposing forces of dogma and living true come together to achieve the same goal.

Utopioid marks Rosetta’s third album while completely independent. The band and label Translation Loss Records dissolved their partnership in 2013. Since then Rosetta has continually been able to grow. They were able to fully recoup within 24 hours their self-funded album The Anaesthete in 2013 and were the top-selling release on Bandcamp for nearly a month. They’ve since decided to stay independent with the release of 2015’s Quintessential Ephemera and now Utopioid, giving credit to the old American adage “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”.

You can certainly hear Rosetta’s approach on their newest album. It was a collaborative effort from the first track through to the last. They’ve poured themselves put into every chord, syncopated beat and lyric. Rosetta may be a band 14 years in the making, but with Utopioid you can almost hear the band transcending to new heights in the empyrean firmament.

ROSETTA IS:

Michael Armine
David Grossman
Bruce McMurtrie Jr.
J. Matthew Weed
Eric Jernigan

Rosetta links:

Website: http://www.rosettaband.com

Bandcamp: https://theanaesthete.bandcamp.com/

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/rosettaband

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/rosettaband

Instragram: http://www.instagram.com/rosetta_band

Utopioid was produced by Rosetta and Francisco Botero at Studio G in NYC.

Live Review: dunk!USA Festival 2017, Burlington VT

dunk!USA 2017

The name dunk! may as well be synonymous with post-rock. dunk!records are one of the leading labels within the scene, and their long-running festival in Belgium has a fantastic reputation. Starting another festival in America was an interesting experiment. Would they be able to replicate the Belgium experience in this setting?

They were in good hands. David Zeidler, Arctic Drones writer and general post-rock authority, took it upon himself to run things. He’s a driving force behind the Open Language and Hemispheres compilations, so already had lots of contacts with bands around the world.

Appalaches

Burlington, Vermont, was chosen as the site to birth the American festival – mostly because that is where David lives. The rationale was that it is within tolerable travel distance for major East Coast cities like New York and Boston, and could also attract Canadians. As a non-American, I can’t comment on the most suitable location for the festival. However, I do know that America is an incredibly big country, so the reality is that no matter where you chose to situate the event, it will be a long way to travel for many people.

They chose to run it on Columbus weekend, which would give people the Monday off to travel home. While a good idea in theory, this didn’t help the festival because many Burlington hotels were booked out for the long weekend, making the festival more costly to attend for anyone from out-of-town.

Not that I, a New Zealander and dunk! virgin, understood any of those matters when I decided to go. As far as I was concerned, a band had offered to take me on tour around America, and there was no way I was going to pass up such an opportunity.

That band is Ranges. The tour has been brilliant to date, and dunk!fest was supposed to be the climax of the trip. Ranges have recently released their new album, The Ascensionist, so it made sense to tour America on the way to dunk! to promote it. CJ and Wilson from the band also run A Thousand Arms, a screen printing company that make merch and functions as a distro for bands and record labels. One such label is dunk!records, meaning that A Thousand Arms were responsible for the merch booth at the festival.

Emma Ruth Rundle

We arrived at the venue early on Saturday morning, slightly bleary-eyed, but excited for the weekend. Rages had played a show in Brooklyn the night before, and CJ had stayed up all night driving us to Burlington. I don’t know how he functions.

Higher Ground was a great choice of venue. They had two big rooms, each offering a stage so that acts could play continuously throughout the day. If a band was playing on one stage, stagetechs were setting up for the next set on the other stage next door. Initially there was a no pass-outs rule, but that was removed to allow people to get food. The venue was brilliant, other than the lack of food options on site. It sounded good, looked great, and ran smoothly.

Saturday 7 October

Zhaoze

Chinese act Zhaoze started of the weekend on the main stage, albeit slightly late due to sound issues. Central to their sound is a guqin – a traditional Chinese instrument that looks like a slide guitar crossed with a harp. The guqin is played with a bow or plucked, much like a violin. It was also plugged into various effects pedals. Their set didn’t blow me away, but the cool lighting foreshadowed the amazing light shows due over the course of the weekend.

Sad Turtle

Local band Sad Turtle baptised the second stage with their jazzy, indie-styled instrumental rock. It was instrumental rock music, but not like most post-rock we are accustomed to hearing. It’s refreshing to hear upbeat music that steers clear of restrictive genre clichés.

Ranges

So far on tour, Ranges have been using their own lighting rig. It includes blinders, strobes, red spotlights and Edison bulbs that flicker and glow along to the music. The light show syncs up to the music, making a Ranges set an impressive audio/visual combo.

Which begged the question: do they use their own lights, or take advantage of the light show offered at a big festival? In the end they opted to use the blinders, but drop the rest of their lighting setup in favour of the stage lights. It’s a shame, because their own setup is impressive. The show looked fine in the end, but lacked a component that usually wows people.

Ranges

However, they played great. Easily the best I’ve seen them play. I got a bit emotional watching them, seeing my friends reach a career milestone that they’ve worked so hard towards. If they were nervous it didn’t show, because they owned that stage. I still don’t understand how CJ can function without sleep.

If they needed any verifying that they’d done well, they completely sold out their first pressing of vinyl following that set, mere weeks after the album release date.

Of The Vine

Of The Vine showed that you don’t need an impressive light show to look impressive. All the members wore black or grey, and the band was starkly backlit by white lights. The stage was alive, with all the musos whipping about with intensity. One of the guitarists broke a string, so the band had to pause between songs so he could re-string. Usually a moment of boredom, the band told jokes to pass the time, and the crowd laughed along. It was a nice moment that represented the culture of the festival.

This Patch Of Sky

This is the third time I’d seen This Patch Of Sky this week, having shared the stage with Ranges for two dates on their tour. Sadly they’d had sound issues and inadequate set up for the mix both times. But thankfully, this time they shone. Maybe, despite their recent album title, they suit bigger spaces better than small clubs?

Boasting easily the best light show of the weekend, the band played their tranquil tunes bathed in lush hues. They have a lot of members, so took up the space on stage well. And they sounded great. I prefer energetic songs over dreamy music, so my favourites were the ones that featured heavier drum beats, and melodies on the cello, rather than mournful swells.

Appalaches

Similar to Of The Vine, Appalaches rocked the stark black outfits. Five members on a small stage looked crammed, but that didn’t prevent them from moving about erratically. The guitarist on stage right had long hair that looked fantastic as he head banged. Take note bands: long hair and frenzied movements make your stage presence so much cooler!

Tides of Man

Tides Of Man

Tides Of Man have shared the stage with Ranges for four nights on tour, and we have grown tight with the lads in the band. They are the best dudes, and their music is phenomenal. I joined the Ranges guys on the balcony overlooking the stage as we watched our friends show how it’s done.

Tides Of Man have a few songs that feature sweeping melodies that I find irresistible. They fill me with bubbling, intense joy. That, and the fact that the band members are so talented makes me rate them very highly.

Tides of Man

As a drummer, I’m drawn to the rhythm section. Josh is a monster on drums. His little flourishes and fills are the best. And Alan doesn’t just play bass, he plays lead bass. There is a difference. His parts stand out.

If you can’t tell already from my fawning, the set was superb. The band played four unreleased songs, making me very excited for the upcoming album. It was bittersweet though, because as amazing as it was, it was the last time I will see them play for a very long time.

The Eye Of Time

The Eye Of Time is a solo project. I didn’t catch much of his set because I’d been helping Tides Of Man and Ranges pack their gear away. He had visuals projected onto a screen behind him, with music coming from a laptop and cello.

Emma Ruth Rundle

Perhaps an odd fit for a post-rock festival, Emma Ruth Rundle brought variety to the day. I applaud whoever opted to add her to the lineup, because it’s nice to have a break from the same style of music after a full day of it, and because female artists need more representation at events like this.

Rundle, backed by her fiance’s band Jaye Jayle, looked the part. The room was thick with illuminated stage fog, making the atmosphere palpable. And they were all dressed sharply, with a cohesive image.

Emma Ruth Rundle

Chatting to one of the guys in the band after the set, I asked how he would classify the music. He said he doesn’t like pigeonholing their sound with specific genre – he just plays music. Fair enough. The music was eerie, touching on gothic. And it was spellbinding. Everyone I talked to raved about how great it was.

Astronoid

This is when the night started to get wild for me. Joey from Ranges beckoned me to the bar and handed me two beers. Turns out he’d just bought 10, and someone else had bought a round of whiskeys. “We’re double fisting!” someone shouted, and a group of us including Ranges, Tides of Man, myself and David Zeidler made our way upstairs to the balcony overlooking Astronoid’s set.

I’d already been helping myself to the beers in the green room for a few hours, so those extras I got given was enough to send me over the edge.

Astronoid played a blistering set. Again, a guitarist on stage right was a highlight, turning into a flurry of long hair. Cousin It crossed with the Tasmanian Devil.

Mark, the Ranges drummer, was having the time of his life. He was air-drumming along to the Astronoid set like a madman. His enthusiasm was infectious, and we were all cheering and yelling. After a few songs I decided to make my way downstairs to see the band up close.

Emma Ruth Rundle

I didn’t make it that far though. I spotted Joey backstage and went to see him. Next thing I know, I’m chatting with Emma Ruth Rundle while she has a smoke. Turns out she used to live in Wellington ten years ago, which is where I’m from. I got caught up in talking to her band and missed the rest of Astronoid’s set.

Pelican

Ok, I’ll admit that I’m super hazy on Pelican’s set. Too many beers are bad for you, boys and girls. I remember enjoying it, and thinking that the photos I took were really good. Sorry that I’ve let you down on the journalistic front. I also asked a girl to dance, and she politely turned me down, saying that it isn’t really dancing music. She had a valid point.

Pelican

Aftermath

After the set I made the most of any beers left in the green room, the last of which was confiscated from me by security.

The same crew who had been on the balcony during Astronoid gathered behind the venue. It was the last night Ranges and Tides of Man would be together, so we were all doing drunken goodbyes. Two men from Quebec joined us. No-one knew where they had come from, but it was in a backstage area, so we assumed that they were in a band. Eventually we found out that they just wanted to party. We all took a group photo together to commemorate our time together on the road.

All the beers in the green room had been exhausted so someone made the call that we head to a bar. CJ, who had been awake for roughly 30 hours straight at this point, wanted none of it. He just wanted to sleep, and understandably so. He climbed into the van to catch some zzzz’s and texted Joey: “Don’t let Joseph in the van or I will punch him”. Opps, maybe I was being a menace.

Pelican

The rest of us piled into the Tides of Man van for the drive into town. One of the Quebecers asked us to sing one of our songs, so we all joined in to “sing” a rousing rendition of Tide of Man’s “Young and Courageous”, shouting the tune to the guitar line at the tops of our voices.

I can’t believe I was allowed into the bar, being as intoxicated as I was. I don’t remember doing much though. Jared found an X-Men arcade machine that he played for a while, before smashing a glass. Someone rang David Zeidler to tell him the hotel had messed up bookings, so Ranges conceded their room and we headed to David’s to sleep in his lounge.

Sunday 8 October

As you could expect, I felt worse for wear the following day. A bagel or four from a nearby café helped my body replace what it needed though.

Au Revoir

Started the day off with a bang. Easily one of my favourite sets of the day. They made a speech before starting about writing music with a message, despite the lack of vocals. I agree with their anti-gun sentiment, but don’t know if it was an effective way to share their thoughts. Asking the government to regulate gun laws and then saying “Fuck the Government” with your next breath is an interesting move.

Au Revoir

Politics aside, it was a killer set. They deserved a later slot in the day. Seriously good stuff.

Unconditional Arms

I was beginning to notice a trend. Most bands on the second had minimal lighting, but crazy energy. Case in point, Unconditional Arms threw themselves around the stage, backlit by a stark green light. The guitarist was headbanging so hard that his glasses went flying. The slow songs bored me a bit, but I loved it when they were rocking out. And I loved the clean guitar tone.

Set and Setting

I didn’t like Set and Setting’s sound. Something about it was too discordant for me. I decided that my time was better spent trying to nap off my hangover, so I headed upstairs to crash on a couch in the green room. I slept through my alarm and completely missed KYOTY, which is a shame.

Pray For Sound

I woke up feeling groggy after about an hour. I zombie walked to the balcony to see who was playing. It was Pray For Sound. I have a copy of their latest album, and to be honest I never got into it much. But now I’m converted. Their set was great. The drums were especially good, and I think the drummer even broke his kick pedal half way through the set.

Pray For Sound

thisquietarmy

Reminding me of The Eye Of Time, thisquietarmy is solo show featuring projections up on the wall. He improvised as he played, building dark layers and textures of drony sound.

The End Of The Ocean

David Zeidler had told me that The End Of The Ocean were the party band at dunk!, so I was excited to catch this set. They started off on a good note, promising to play Nickleback and Creed covers for us during their sound check. Sadly, it was a lie. I still appreciate the humour though.

The thing that I enjoyed most about The End Of The Ocean is that they mixed things up. Whenever I’d expect them to launch into a crescendo they’d pause, or shift direction. I like how they avoided the conventional clichés of the genre.

The End Of The Ocean

The End Of The Ocean dunk!USA hospitality rider

They were fun too. Half way through the set they threw a dozen inflated beach balls into the crowd. And the two girls put on a show by whipping their hair around. Tara on keys got so into it that she fell over and sent her keyboard off the stage. Thankfully I was there to catch it, and helped her set it back up. Not all heroes wear capes.

The coolest part was a sample that played during an interlude. It was a quote from Walking Dead about how brains function.

Bonus points to The End Of The Ocean for having the most incredible hospitality rider. Read what they requested and enjoy how brilliant it is!

Coastlands

Portland crew Coastlands were fun. Consistent with most second stage bands this weekend, they had good energy. The drums especially were great – dude has chops!

Junius

Junius played in a gloomy haze, lit only by a few dim Edison lights attached to their amps. It made taking photos a nightmare, but it was super effective at creating atmosphere. Hindsight is 20/20, but after seeing how cool that sparse lighting was, it is clear that Ranges should have used their own lighting rig the previous day.

Dimly lit in front of their backdrop, the band delivered a pummeling set. I was surprised that the vocals were not as sludgy as I’d expected, but sounded great.

Arms and Sleepers

I missed most of this set. I was busy chatting to guys from Coastlands backstage, and lost track of time. It’s a shame, because it looked like a cool set up. They had an electronica vibe, courtesy of many racks of keys and synths stacked upon each other.

Russian Circles

Although Russian Circles are a big drawcard, I wasn’t that excited about seeing them .This is mostly because I’ve already seen them play in my hometown of Wellington a few times already.

They played well. You don’t get to this level by being sloppy. But the stage fog was so thick I couldn’t even see them. I love watching technically adept drummers play live, but I couldn’t see him. The music was fine, but to me it didn’t feel like much of a show. I preferred seeing them play a small club in Wellington.

Pelican

Conclusion

It would be nice to see more variety in the lineup – it felt like I saw the same band four times over the weekend. Post-rock has become clichéd, and bands need to work on having a point of difference in order to standout. There are also some bands that sound fine on record, but need to put in more effort onstage if they don’t want to bore their audience.

That said, there was still a good mix offered – local, international, solo projects, bands with vocals, heavy, dreamy… It must be hard as a promoter to decide upon which acts to book to draw a crowd with wide appeal, and they did well.

Au Revoir

It has been a while since I’ve been to a big scale concert, so seeing things like the impressive light shows you only find at larger gigs was great. Refining still needs to happen, including changes like perhaps changing the date and offering food options for attendees. But for a first attempt, the festival was amazing. Hopefully there will be another next year!

Words and photos by Joseph James

Poster by Error! Design

The End of The Ocean hospitality rider courtesy of Bryan Yost

Album Review: Glacier – Though Your Sins Be As Scarlet, They Shall Be White as Snow; Though They be Red Like Crimson, They Shall Be As Wool.

I’ve never seen a glacier in real life, but I can tell you the following things that I know about them:

– My dad proposed to my mum at Franz Josef Glacier, down the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand (yes, imaginative place names, I know!). Funnily enough, Mum turned him down! Fortunately for my existence, she gave in when he asked her again the following day.

– A fjord is a glacial valley filled with water, whereas a sound is similar, but was forged by a river instead.

– There is a Boston post-rock band named Glacier who are about to drop an album which earns them the award for the release with longest title that we’ve reviewed for Will Not Fade (up until now Red Hands Black Feet held that position).

Said release is quite the mouthful. Try say this ten times really fast: Though Your Sins Be As Scarlet, They Shall Be White as Snow; Though They be Red Like Crimson, They Shall Be As Wool.

The release runs just shy of 30 minutes, despite only having two tracks. It’s set for vinyl pressing and I can imagine that it would work perfectly on the format, with each track taking up an entire side.

The two tracks are ominous and heavy. Think along the lines of Junius and Isis (am I allowed to reference that band without being put on some federal watch list?). You know the deal – washy cymbals, distorted guitars, powerful drumming, thundering bass – all combining to create something devastating. It helps that the band features three guitarists (two of whom are named Ryan), which helps them to create their expansive layered sounds.

Given the style of music they play, Glacier have picked a suitable band name. It’s like they’ve harnessed something brimming with power. Like Glaciers, their songs slowly make progress, ripe with danger, full of icy crevices and threatening avalanches. Ok… so maybe I’m taking the simile a bit too far…

There are a few vocal pieces included, and like the Lost in Kiev album I reviewed last year, I’ve had a good attempt at trying to make out what the sampled passages are saying. But with the mix being the way it is, can only clearly hear snippets.

Image: The Rev from Return to the Pit

In typical post-rock fashion, the band clearly have a theme that inspired the release, but choose to stay cryptic when asked about it, wanting to leave interpretation up to the listener. I’m fairly certain that Christianity comes into discussion, with the biblical song names and the samples within the songs. New drummer, Jesse Vengrove [Tim Schmoyer is the drummer on the recording, who has since moved to New Mexico to start his own recording studio] shared that

“On this record we wanted to convey the juxtaposition within organized religion that encourages the best and worst in people, by using the unsettling nature of our songs paired with the message of street preachers and religious zealots.”

In fact, biblical is an apt description for the overall project. This could be the soundtrack to a great flood wiping out all civilisation except Noah and those on his ark, or the Red Sea crushing Pharaoh’s armies in wake of the fleeing Israelites, or ushering in an apocalypse of some description. This doomsday feel definitely sets in during the second track, as the drums speed up and add blistering urgency. Have a listen and see if you agree that this imagery fits.

This two-track album is a mammoth release. Dark, unsettling, and with great sonic depth. Pre-order the vinyl record for the full experience, and allow yourself to be lost within the heaviness.

Though Your Sins Be As Scarlet, They Shall Be White as Snow; Though They be Red Like Crimson, They Shall Be As Wool. will be officially released for download/streaming on 7/7/17. Glacier will also launch a vinyl pre-order (through Bandcamp) with vinyl expected to ship in early fall.

Glacier links:

Site – http://www.glacierband.com/

Bandcamp – glacierma.bandcamp.com

Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/GlacierBandMA/

Instagram – @glacierband

Twitter – @glacierband

Glacier is:

Ryan Traynor – Guitar

Ryan Dooley – Guitar

Matt Vincenty – Guitar

Derek Dooley – Bass

Jesse Vengrove – Drums

Joseph James

Live Review: Alcest at San Fran, Wellington

Alcest

w/ Hiboux and Into Orbit

San Fran, Wellington

Sunday 23 April 2017

Teenage Memories

When I was 18 I lived with the guitarist of Wellington hardcore band Declaration AD. Always up for adventures, I jumped at the chance when the band offered me the opportunity to come along with them on their first tour. I took a few days off work and we all drove up to Auckland and Hamilton in a hired van. The first night they played in Auckland at Zeal West. The following night they played a venue called Void in Hamilton.

I contacted a girl I used to work with who was then living in the nearby town of Cambridge. Turns out she was also going to be in Hamilton that night, and she wanted me to come watch some other bands with her and have a catch up.It was an obvious choice. I seldom saw my friend from Nelson, but could watch my flatmate’s band any weekend.

After helping to carry some speakers and amps into Void, I promptly ditched my mates to head to another venue. I don’t remember the name of the venue, but I do remember that it was below ground level. As I entered I was greeted by mesmerizing primal music of an instrumental trio. I liked them, but was confused to see that they had no singer. I was a fan of 65daysofstatic and maybeshewill at the time, but wasn’t yet aware of what post-rock was. Years later I made the connection that the hypnotic trio was in fact Jakob, who are now one of my favourite bands.

I met up with my friend and her boyfriend and we had a great night. The headliner was an Aussie prog-rock band called Butterfly Effect, which was fitting because my friend and I both shared a love for the similar sounding band Karnivool. That night was the first time I had ever had shots at a bar. Before then we had always sculled spirits at teenage house parties.

For some reason the Alcest show tonight had me thinking back to that night in Hamilton – probably because the lineup consisted of brilliant post-rock acts opening for equally awesome prog-rock.

Hiboux and Into Orbit

Having recently reviewed albums from both the opening acts, Hiboux and Into Orbit, I was looking forward to seeing them again in a live setting.

Hiboux were just as great as when I saw them open for Tortoise, and I enjoyed watching them even more now that I knew their songs. As a relatively big band (five members), they know how to do effective layering, and they do it with finesse. Gentle picking, light flourishes on the cymbals, subtle build-ups. But they also know how to give it a nudge, with distortion and washy cymbals and plenty of energy. A great choice for the opening act.

Despite being a mere two-piece, Into Orbit were still able to command the stage as well as Hiboux. Drawing almost entirely from their latest album Unearthing, they performed a monstrous set. Guitarist Paul Stewart was doing a great Cousin It impression, hiding under a long mop of hair. The tones and noises he can elicit from his guitar are other-worldly. And I’ve always loved watching Ian Moir smashing away at the drums with such force and precision.

I found that with both bands, I had a newfound appreciation for the songs that I had reviewed. It was neat to notice how they played with the dials on the effects pedals, or added parts to craft the atmospheric music we had come to experience.

Alcest.

Ironically enough, it seemed that I was one of the few present who hadn’t come to see Alcest. Don’t get me wrong – I wanted to see them – but I wasn’t actually familiar with their music. If anything, I came based on the recommendations of the support acts.

I had streamed some songs from Alcest’s latest album, Kodama a few times, but in truth was just hoping to be pleasantly surprised. And I was. In spades.

I had expected post-rock that sits on the heavier end of the spectrum. And that’s what I got… in a way… but the band also sat well within what I consider prog-rock.

For one, they had singing. Not something you often find in post-rock. But the singing was fantastic. Don’t ask me what they were singing about. I don’t speak French. But I do know that the singing and the harmonies were excellent.

And they were heavy like I expected, but at the same time had a sweetness to their sound. Serene picking and great vocals added a balance to their sound. I guess that the terms black metal and blackgaze used in their description had me expecting some unpleasant, but I was simply in love with their sound.

The four Frenchmen all sported long hair, and circulation-restricting skinny jeans. Frontman Neige had a bright white t-shirt and a peacock feather necklace around his neck, while the other three all wore obligatory dark colours. They clearly enjoyed their time performing, shyly offering thanks at times throughout the set with coy smiles. It was great to see their long hair whipping around as they grooved along to their own music.

And I can understand why they danced. It really rocked. It was like an arena metal gig, with brilliant guitar solos and pummeling double kick and infectious beats from the drums. I didn’t know any of the songs but I felt pulled to dance along to many of the songs. It me of some recent shows I’d attended like Caligula’s Horse and Opeth, and the aforementioned Butterfly Effect show from when I was a teenager.

All in all it was a fantastic night. Three incredibly talented bands putting on brilliant shows. I was surprised at how packed the venue was considering that it was late on a Sunday night, but after being blown away by Alcest’s set I can understand why.

Joseph James