Mexican Summer compatriots Shadow Band are joining Dungen on the road for a few dates! Catch the fam together in San Francisco, San Diego and Pioneertown.
‘Wilderness of Love’, the smoke-coloured debut album by mystical virtuosos Shadow Band, sounds more conjured than recorded. When the sprawling collective decided it was time to document their dark craft, rather than choosing to work in a traditional recording studio, they dove headlong into their time honoured method of capturing late night jams on mouldering home-recording devices. Oblivious to life outside, the band laid down sounds that could only happen in these contained moments of silent enlightenment. The album that resulted is indeed a product of the wild. The eleven songs here travel on a misty journey through both lantern-lit psyche-folk dirges and depraved deathknell blues, wobbling in the balance of paranoia and universal understanding… We talk to Mike Bruno and Matt Marchesano about the band dynamic, conspiracy theories and wildlife streams…
TSH: How would you sum up the band dynamic in the lead up to ‘Wilderness of Love’?
MB: The band, whichever name it has existed under, has always consisted of whoever is around in the creative moment. When the wilderness was coming to life Morgan, Matt and I were living together and others in the shadows nearby, so we were regularly meeting up to play music together.
MM:: Our band dynamic can be described as vaporous, and probably less rigid than other bands. With ‘Wilderness of Love’, being aware of the space and allowing the songs to compose themselves was key.
TSH: What can you tell us about your ideas in doing a lot of thematic idea writing…
MB: I think the thematic writing on my part is circumstantial of my interests and meanderings, how they shape my world view and colour my oblivion.
TSH: In what ways did time spent considering your own insignificance seep into this record?
MB: A lot of songwriters in my opinion tend to be writing about themselves, a love interest or some other mirror of themselves; some about their crew, or where they came from; some get down with lyrical jabs at an opponent or rival.. Some write boastful or self-deprecating songs, some focus on politics, others just want to keep the party going all night long etc. I've poured out a fair amount of self-interested songs to some capacity, but to what end? Most of the songs on this record have little or nothing to do with inconsequential aspects of my personal life and rather take the narrative of a profane watcher observing phenomena like the living earth, the impending apocalypse, transmissions of the hive mind, planetary pulls and the man-made mythologies of self-unfoldment, redemption and salvation.
TSH: Which track on the record was the most collaborative?
MB: ‘Shadowland’ perhaps more so than the others in that Jake took the original guitar line and transposed/played it on the piano and we altogether ditched the guitar and re-structured the song during the recording session.
TSH: When you started production on ‘Green Riverside’, what intentions did you initially have in mind?
MM:: A sort of kaleidoscopic nature setting, crystal water bodies shining and the rippling patterns across a water surface.
MB: The song formed itself as most of the songs naturally do with those among the shadows who were present at the time of the recording. There is an earlier rendition of this song on an album titled 'The Willing of the Wisps,' in which the master tape was lost and we had to settle for a corrupted digitized version of the original recording. My mom listened to that one once and the poor quality of the recording proved detrimental to her being able to enjoy listening to the song, so I was excited to reanimate this one into a higher fidelity realm of existence.
TSH: Moreover, how pleased were you with the final result of such a top track in ‘Daylight’?
MB: Anna's singing in this recording I find so fantastically haunting and stirring, among all the impressionistic touches that rise and fall throughout. It seems only fitting that she guides ghost tours in Philadelphia.
TSH: With your recent work, was there a certain type of balance that intrigued you during the crafting process?
MB: Certainly there was a balancing effort in order to produce a high fidelity, accessible record that we could all be proud of. I had always been used to and preferred recordings to be organic, raw, impressionistically brought to life. With this record we made a point to challenge that method and create something utilising modern recording technology that maintained a level of chance in the actual playing of the music, but with a little more planning and structure than usual. Further, balance was essential in pairing my own acoustic folk preferences with the often electrified stylings of my bandmates, and balance is essential in allowing intricacies to breathe amongst multiple players. One must be mindful of the volume knobs on amplifiers to not blast away those intricacies.
TSH: What sort of atmosphere and feel do you look to generate with your live format?
MB: Ideally and most of the time the atmosphere is generated with the space and the audience. At our most recent show we did a stripped down set - myself playing a classical guitar and singing, Matt on a Casio keyboard and Jeff Johnson doing electronic noise and tape manipulation. We played some traditional tunes alongside some of our own more sparse, fingerpicky numbers. The result was supremely intimate and psychedelic.
TSH: What gives you most clarity in life?
MB: Distance and surrender to a sense of wonder I suppose do it best for me.
MM:: Sex, for about 5 − 7 minutes, for sure.
TSH: How much do you miss JJ the cat whilst on tour?
MM:: Endlessly. Beyond literal comprehension.
MB: Our noble John was sorely missed, however during our leave he had his romance with miss frappuchino aka chino ~ so he was occupied in learning the ways of love and romance.. Nonetheless upon our arrival home, and subsequently his arrival home, he dutifully reclaimed his post as guardian of the realm and has since slayed many a mouse and thwarted several vaporous enemies who had sought to do harm during the nightly witching hours.
TSH: Did you receive any answers after tweeting out ‘Any bat/bird/any animal stream sites you'd recommend?’…
MM:: Yes, my friend Juliet hipped me to Explore.org. Wildlife streams from all over the world!
TSH: What’s been getting most play on your recent YouTube binges?
MB: UFO documentaries, forbidden archaeology lectures, animal attacks and cryptid sightings caught on film.. I mostly use YouTube to catch up on coast to coast am broadcasts before they get taken down.
MM:: A fascinating wood-worker from Canada named Matthias Wandel, and “Through Time & Space”, lets you stream classic Jazz records. Both channels, highly recommended. Also everything Mike mentioned.
TSH: Which recent conspiracy theory would you say had you intrigued most?
MM:: (UFO emoji) & (Santa emoji) and JFK.
MB: The world is a conspiracy theory.
TSH: What are your top TV shows currently?
MB: I don't have the means to keep up with television shows but a close friend showed me the first episode of Stranger Things a few months ago and I liked it and would probably watch more if someone invited me over to watch it with them. At home we have a VHS player and a few X-Files tapes i like to watch sometimes.
MM:: Not sure, but Twilight Zone and X-Files have been most consistent in my life.
TSH: What are you mostly observant to with your future musical endeavours?
MB: I plan to continue nourishing my interest in traditional folk songs, in and outside of the creative pouring-outs of Shadow Band. I am also interested in the potential of soundtracking for film, or just visual/audio pairings in general. Someday I'd like to perform a concert for frogs in midsummer and collaborate more with non-humans in general. JJ has been working on an album so I've been working with him on the development end of things and may get credit as producer if all goes well (keep fingers crossed).
MM:: Stay above ground, create and harness the most good energy to further discover myself, and to hopefully inspire others to do the same.
