we started making a new record last week. it’s nice to do something smaller again, and not have to worry so much about how everything coheres or to try and tell a larger story, or just to feel the pressure of a full-length in general. it’s just four little self-contained universes (univers...i? no shut up), and we can really spend the time to drill down a little more into each song.
anyway. i think they’re gonna be our best universes yet. the songs on the We Choose Pretty Names LP (which you can buy right here, please, my house is full of records, my family is dying, etc. etc.) are so old now, and i think we’ve covered a lot of ground as a band since then, and it shows in the new stuff - it’s the closest we’ve gotten yet to the sound in my head (which, ironically, was only possible when i stopped being so precious about the songs! who knew?!). it feels a lot more visceral. i know i’m trying to project outward a little more in my words. i’m not entirely sure what’s changed there, but so much of the LP was bound up in my head, and i think i can write better when i break out of that. it’s easy to get swept up in yr own psychodrama, i guess.
we haven’t recorded any vocals yet, and the lyrics keep shifting and changing, so i’m not quite sure yet how it’s gonna crystallise. but it feels more urgent. the whole thing of kermes only really started to cohere when i realised the nature of the connection i wanted to create. and the stakes are higher now, in the world, than they were four years ago. it’s a strange & contradictory moment in history to be A Queer, but i’m just tryna have some fun with it.
(if you own a fancy record label and are for some reason reading this.... hmu)
that’s all for now. come see us play a rock show soon, yeah?
p.s. here are some really good things i’ve read/watched/heard recently:
Close to the Knives by David Wojnarowicz
404 Page Not Found by Kate Wagner
Love in the Time of E-Mail by Antarctigo Vespucci
Le Guin’s Revolution by Ewan Cameron
A Guide to Supporting Musicians in the Streaming Age by Specialist Subject
[untitled] by mewithoutYou