Thought Forms: Songs About Drowning

If there is one album that you need to buy this year (apart from Nick Cave & the Bad Seed’s Skeleton Tree), it’s Thought Forms’ third album, Songs About Drowning. Released tomorrow, November 4th on Invada Records, it’s just sublime. It’s no secret that they are one of my favourite bands, both recorded and live, and it makes me so happy to see how far they have come over the years, using their talent and experience to continuously push themselves further and further. I love Ghost Mountain so much, and Songs About Drowning takes their sound and talent across the lake to a new, higher mountain top.

This is their most intense and deep album to date in my opinion. The theme of water flows through the entire album, gushing from the title, trickling and rushing around the lyrics and constantly an intrinsic part of the music, at times conjuring up an expansive ocean, at others the soft melody of a summertime creek. Water is pure, water is murky; it has hidden depths and cleansing powers, and it is both freeing and treacherous. Water is life but it is also a death of some sorts. Song About Drowning is both ocean and stream, or maybe it would be more accurate to say that it is river flowing into ocean flowing back out into a dark lake in the mountains.

While there is still that original Thought Forms sound that I love with all of my heart, Songs About Drowning takes on even more depth with the addition of Jim Barr on bass. Charlie Romijn’s vocals are stronger and clearer than ever, more powerful and beautiful, taking the lyrics and making them into poetry. As always, Deej Dhariwal and Charlie’s guitars sing to each other and their voices work in harmony, feeding off each other and bouncing against the melodies. Guy Metcalfe’s drumming has never been more powerful, rolling and beating a path through the album. There is darkness and sadness in the music, but also a certain form of hope and future pinned on a beacon in the sky. I challenge you to put your headphones on, close your eyes and find it.

While the album really works as a cohesive unit and should be listened to in one sitting I do have some personal favourites: Forget My Name which just makes my heart ache, Inland, which makes the hairs on my arms stand on end with its beauty and sadness, and The Lake which is just so poignant. There is so much heart and soul in this album it is impossible to not be moved to tears and to want to crawl inside the music and live through the lyrics again and again.

Songs About Drowning will be released on November 4th and can be purchased from all of your usual outlets, but there are still some formats left on the band’s PledgeMusic page (any funds past goal are going towards an awesome charity that is dear to my heart), and you can also order directly from the Invada website here. As with any Thought Forms record, the design and beauty of the album is fabulous. I suggest getting the vinyl because it’s gorgeous!

 You can check out the super trippy Wolff Music video below, and try to catch them out on their European tour with 65daysofstatic right now or next year on their headlining tour.

Through these pages I will absorb into me, and with these strings I will absorb into me" - The Bridge

Photo by Philipp Morozov

Thought Forms - Upcoming New Release!

It’s no secret that I adore Thought Forms and just love everything they do. I’ve seen them evolve over the years and while they have never left the signature Thought Forms sound behind, each release is an adventure, a new path and direction as well as a sea of new sounds and stories. Each and every Thought Forms track contains layers of sound that you can peel back one after another, and even after multiple listens you can always find something new to uncover.

On November 2nd, their third full length album, Songs About Drowning will be released on Invada, and I can’t wait! Joined by Jim Barr on bass and with stunning artwork by Chris Reeder, this album is going to just simply be amazing. In the meantime you can hear the first single from the album, Forget My Name, right here.

Thought Forms will be going on an extensive European tour with 65daysofstatic this autumn, and will be supporting Bob Mould on a few UK dates over the next week. They have a PledgeMusic campaign going on right now to help with tour financing and you can pre-order the album in different formats, as well as loads of other fun things. I would honestly much rather pay the band directly anyway, so I think this is an awesome set-up!  Check out their PledgeMusic page here.

If you have never taken the time to listen to Thought Forms I suggest you do right now as you are really in for a treat!

Thought Forms Official Website

Thought Forms Facebook Page

Recent interview with Charlie Romijn

Photo by Philipp Morozov

Review: Garbage - Strange Little Birds

So, I’ve kind of been waiting for this one ever since Not Your Kind of People was released in 2012. That album came at a perfect time in my life and it just reinforced the fact that I could always count on Garbage to produce a collection of songs that would literally sing to me. Listening to Strange Little Birds lying on my bed, I feel the same way as I did in exactly the same position thousands of miles away in 1995 when I listened to Garbage's first record. The fact that a band could do that to me at 17 was pretty normal seeing as I was an angsty teen obsessed with girl fronted rock bands, but that they can twist my stomach in the same, good, way 21 years later is pretty spectacular.

Strange Little Birds is so REAL, the lyrics dig deep. Our Shirley is really letting loose here, it feels like she's finally letting go of every dark thought she has ever carried and handing it over to us. I’ve always related to most of Garbage’s songs, so I’m not surprised at how much I relate to nearly every song on this album, but I feel there is some kind of inner peace at work within the band. They are doing what they love to do, giving the fans a huge dose of what they want, and not worrying about what anyone else thinks. I love it. Deep, dark and proud.

Shirley is an amazing artist, her voice is both beautiful and powerful (it's even better live by the way), but Garbage has never been just her. The band a so TOGETHER, so cohesive, they seem to feed off of each other, know exactly what they want to create, together, as one. Their sound is always polished but raw at the same time. Shirley Manson, Duke Erikson, Steve Marker and Butch Vig are a real powerhouse of creativity, always giving us a bunch of anthems that you are never really able to categorize. One moment they are pure rock, another electronica, another pop, with a bit of trip hop and shoegaze thrown in there.

Having already listened to Strange Little Birds quite a few times, I still can’t pinpoint my favourites, but that may be because I love the album as a whole, and I also feel like I can listen to each song separately, as its own entity.

In Sometimes I feel like the band is talking directly to me (sometimes I feel like I vanished in thin air, sometimes I feel I'm not here), the eerie melody resonating so well with the vocals, twisting the knife in a little further into the heart. Empty could have been an outtake from 1995, it’s a serious classic Garbage stomping sound, and comes across just as well as it would have back then.

I love the electronic vibe on If I Lost You, slow and trippy. I love those Garbage songs that have the more poppy vibe, mainly because I have always felt uncomfortable admitting that I like them, just because I love stompy badass girl rock. But Garbage is just as badass in its poppy sound as it is in its rock sound. This one is kind of trip hoppy. Love it.

Who can't relate to Night Drive Loneliness?! It's sad, it's beautiful and it's life. Who hasn't felt like this before?! Of those stupid things that I've said, there's one thing I regret, in the moment that I said it, I wanted to kill it, I still feel sick about it. And Even Though Our Love Is Doomed rises and rises from deep down and makes me cry.

And then you come to So We Can Stay Alive with its electronic rock sound, makes you want to dance along with those awesome guitar riffs, shredding with the beats. When you finally get to Amends it feels like you have been pulled through a wringer, but in a GOOD way; music always tends to help me let go in a way. Therapeutic for those who create and for those who listen.

So it's a shame that we don't talk, I miss your face and life is short, get off your cross cause long goodbyes, come every time, come every time

I feel like I can always count on Garbage to deliver an album that delivers exactly what I need right THEN. An album that I'm going to know off by heart before long and give to my girls because they will also love it, even though they don't yet know it.

Road trip with your best friend, the wind in your hair and an adventure in your mind anyone?

Strange Little Birds was released today, June 10th, on Garbage's own label, Stunvolume.

Review: The Kills - Ash & Ice

From the first notes of Doing it to Death my body relaxes and my heart sighs with relief - it's going to be another scorcher, another Kills album that I'm going to play over and over again and never get tired of hearing.

The Kills are one of those bands that I've lost count of how many times I have seen live. Webster Hall, Music Hall of Williamsburg, Bowery Ballroom (for some magazine party I think?!), Terminal 5... There was one performance at Webster Hall in 2008 where there was some kind of fire in the roof and the show was suddenly stopped until a fireman came out on stage and yelled "the show must go on!". I still remember quite vividly sitting right above the stage at Terminal 5, watching my friends hit the beats on those drums, beating the sounds right into my heart.. I have a long history with this band and feel like they will be forever sewn into my life as it moves along. Ash & Ice is one of my most anticipated albums of the year, in addition to Garbage and Nick Cave’s new endeavours, and I'm so happy that yet again they have given me another reason to love them even more!

Some bands change it up completely with each new album; some develop their sound and stick to it. There are risks with either approach, the former alienating their fan base, the latter boring their fan base, but if you find that perfect balance you can only create great things. The Kills have always had their own sound, dirty, gritty, sexy rock with guitars that sweep you off the ground; chucking you in the air and slamming you back down on the sticky floor, while the vocals are both tart and sweet. Allison Mosshart’s voice is soulful enough to pull at your heart and gritty enough to make you want to be her when you grow up. They've stayed true to their sound but worked on it, improved it, taken their sound and pushed it every single time. No album sounds the same, you are happy to get that true Kills sound, but excited to hear new songs all at the same time.

I find that on the whole the album is more heavy on the synths than previous works, maybe due to Jamie Hince's recent hand surgeries, maybe not, but it works well, bringing a new take on their still unmistakable sound, a little more depth in some places, a little more lightness in others. I also found that the lyrics are deeper, more introspective, digging deeper than Blood Pressures did. I feel that Allison started putting more of herself into her lyrics on the 2011 release and just went further on Ash & Ice.

I love those songs that are stripped down with Allison's voice belting out heartfelt lyrics (Days of Why and How on Ash & Ice or Last Goodbye from Blood Pressures). She injects so much emotion and raw energy into every word she sings. Hum for your Buzz is so bluesy and those organ sounds that pop up in the song are just perfect, listening to it makes me seriously feel like I'm in a dark bar at 2am listening to a beautiful woman belt out her heartache under a blue light... Tom Waits could come stepping in at any moment to join her. That Love had me in tears and the strumming melody behind Jamie and Allison’s soft vocals convey so much nostalgia in Echo Home.

At the same time Ash & Ice is full of heavier rock tracks, like the first single off the album, Doing it to Death, Heart of a Dog or Impossible Tracks. The dissonant and fractured guitar sounds on Hard Habit to Break is the same sound that drew me to love this band from the beginning, and definitely not a habit I want them to break any time soon!

All in all I find that there is more emotion in Allison's voice, in Jamie's guitar riffs... Life happened and they captured it, digested it and spat it out separately and together all at once. Ash & Ice, the remnants of a fire and a deep freeze, opposites but together, the phoenix rising again.

You see, for me The Kills are my New York City, always will be. Any one of these songs on the album conjures up memories of drinking in a bar, walking down a street, sitting in someone's apartment the night after the night before. Memories that are sometimes best forgotten, but nowadays remembered with a smile. Black Tar really grabbed me by the guts in this aspect. Ash & Ice is every bit as good as previous albums and don't let any music critic say otherwise. There is so much emotion, pain and hard work dripping from every note and every word on this album and I can't wait to play it over and over again on our record player.

Ash & Ice was released today (June 3rd). The Kills are on tour right now, all information about tours, albums and anything else is available on their website.

Ramblings: How Beautiful You Are

Let’s preface this one with the fact that I am so jealous of anyone seeing The Cure on this tour. Like I would be jealous of anyone seeing them on any tour that I could have missed over the past 20 years. So I keep reading reviews and pretending that it doesn’t matter because a lot of the show appears to be a bit of “greatest hits” (and pretending that I don’t know that the other half is a load of rarely, if ever, played live shows and two actual new songs). So when my sister and friends get in a car and drive down to San Jose today to see them I will pretend I don’t mind missing them while secretly muttering in my head “but I AM the greatest Cure fan!!!”. Yes, I am a 38 year old mother of two who will continue to proclaim myself the biggest Cure fan out of everyone until my deathbed (although I do know a few as-worthy-as me Cure fans who also have the right to that title). Of course any biggest-Cure-fan in their right mind would have gone out of their way to get a ticket/find a babysitter and pump a gallon of milk in advance, but I’m too lazy. And a little afraid to leave both munchkins for that long. So I shall be seething with jealousy for a few hours and making my kids dance to one of my Cure playlists (that’s not difficult, they have been brought up on the songs).

But everyone has THAT band, right? No matter how old you get, or how old they get, they will always be number 1. You know every song off by heart and have done since each album was released, or at least since the first time you heard it. Each and every song reminds you of one or more specific memories, and those will memories and moments will continue to accumulate while you walk/run/jump through life. Every time you get hurt, want to celebrate, feel down or overjoyed there is a song that you immediately play without thinking. Every time you need to relax and get away from everything for a while you know that you can play this band (or singer for that matter) and you will get exactly what you need from it. You can listen with your headphones on in the dark, or belt out the tunes so the world can hear then, either way this band will help you feel the warm sand between your toes again and the sunshine brush against your cheeks. Or any other feeling that helps you feel whole again. See, this is what The Cure is for me.

My sister asked me to make her a Cure playlist today, but how on earth could I do that in a few hours?! So I pointed her to a playlist I had made on Spotify quite a while back, with 90 of my favourite Cure songs on it. I’m sure that will be enough to get them through the road trip down to Mountain View tomorrow. And in the meantime I will listen to it with the girls and laugh as Aurora bops along to Lullaby and Luna hums to A Strange Day. Of course my kids love The Cure. They’ve never known a moment when I didn’t play The Cure to them! Love Song was Luna’s lullaby during all of those sleepless nights, just like How Beautiful You Are is Aurora’s. Maybe one day the band will become to them what Tim Buckley became to me – a legacy that lived on through parents to children, loved and respected and still listened to.

I could recount memories for days, images stuck inside my head forever… Rolling down a hill in Grenoble in the dark, listening to 10:15 Saturday Night on my walkman; hiding a camera in the lining of her floor length coat, hoisting myself on a railing to take a shot of Robert hovering over the crowd with a puzzled look on his face, only to find the developed photos to be so dark that there was nothing to see; listening to Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me full blast in the basement of 200 Orchard with the other biggest Cure fan in the world; pushing ourselves up to the front of the Beacon Theater and seeing the first three albums played live, as if we were right there, back in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Falling asleep to Wish on a loop and waking up to the same song I fell asleep to, penetrating my dreams and subconscious thoughts; and singing along to Catch with my best friend while she was driving fast down the freeway late at night towards the city lights in the distance. Listening to Push while cleaning the bar late at night (early in the morning); watching my firstborn dance to every Cure song I play and feeling terribly proud (and silly at the same time for feeling proud); still, after all these years, aiming straight for the used section in every used record store, looking for Cure singles just because different regions got different B sides; watching Cure videos before going to sleep night after night after night; seeing Lullaby for the first time when it was released and being both intrigued and frightened at the same time, wanting more not less, even if spiders scared the shit out of me (still do); demanding 100 Years every time I closed the night out at the Mark XIII all those years ago… I could seriously go on and on and on. There isn’t a moment of my life after the age of 10 that I can’t associate with a Cure song.

And I just realised that I can’t even remember how many times I have now seen them live… I suppose that’s a good thing as it probably means too many times to count. Someone had better bring me a t-shirt back because no one can have enough Cure shirts in their closet! One day I would love to interview Robert Smith… I was lucky enough to interview Kevin Haskins of Bauhaus/Tones on Tail/Love and Rockets fame, so I still see interviewing Robert Smith as a possibility one day… Right?!

Review: Lush - Blind Spot

Miki Berenyi’s voice never fails to transport me to a me that I used to sometimes want to suppress, for reasons that are still unknown to me. That part of me that is dreamer, believer of magic, the me that always knew that there was something better out there, something that would fit my personality and person better than anything I had encountered up until then. The one that I gave up hiding and pushing away a while ago and who I now embrace quite fully. As soon as I heard the newest Lush single, Out of Control, I immediately recognized that that feeling washing over me – the one where I am floating on a cloud, listening to my thoughts, reaching out to something new.

I’ve listened to Lush on and off over the years, revisiting my teens in the early to mid 90’s, blasting Spooky late night in the bar after a long shift, screaming along to Hypocrite in my head (or out loud) every time someone would really annoy me. I never thought that they would actually get back together and record new material, let alone tour again, so I was really excited when they announced this late last year! I unfortunately will not be able to see them live, even though I now live on the West Coast, but listening to the new EP, Blind Spot, makes me really regret that I can’t just jump on a train and go and see them in San Francisco (especially as the amazing Tamaryn is opening for them). Their first North American date is tomorrow in Portland (the San Francisco date was moved from this past weekend to next weekend due to visa issues that more and more artists seem to be having problems with).

From the opening melody of Out of Control to the last notes of Rosebud, Blind Spot is a mist of golden and silver haze, a cloud of butterflies lifting you off your feet, a sadness that cloaks you inside and out, a rainbow that starts at your feet and leads to somewhere new, a thousand stars surrounding you, a world that is comprised of both only you and the uncountable essence of millions of others. Lush has always been the perfect name for the music that they create, as it IS just lush, layers of music and vocals, both dreamy and melodic, waves of guitars pushing and pulling the vocals along, lyrics of love and lost love, life, nature and beauty. You know, the Lush that we all know and love. I’m so happy to have them back again.

Blind Spot was released on April 15th. You can learn all about Lush, their releases and tour dates on their official website.

Change has already begun
I'm feeling I'm falling the future is calling
Out of control 'cause you're in such a rush
Sweet in the centre it's all an adventure
Out of control and I love you so much
Seasons are changing our love's rearranging
All that I want is the joy of your touch
Twisted together my love is forever
Out of control and I love you so much.

Lush - Out of Control

Ramblings: Best Live Music Experiences

I think about the things I should be missing sometimes, and I realize that there are not many at all. I think part of why I am happy to have had kids later rather than earlier is that I got a lot of stuff out of my system, stuff that I would be very happy never to do again. If I never have a shot of whiskey again I won’t be upset.  If I never set foot in a club again I won’t be sad. If I never end up in some random party full of celebrities again I won’t care. But one thing I do miss is going to shows. Live music.

The anticipation of waiting to see one of your favourite bands go on stage and play those songs that you have listened to day in, day out, right there in front of you. Randomly going to a venue and hearing a new band that sends you into a tizzy of excitement and emotions. Standing with two feet on the alcohol-sticky ground of ages being transported to another place by the sheer sound of a voice or a guitar. Of course, you can do this at home with your stereo, or in the streets with your headphones, or blast music from your car or your workplace, but there is nothing comparable to seeing musicians on stage playing the music that makes you happy (or sad, or both). Whatever type, or types, of music you may like, whether you prefer stripped bare or spectacle, there is something so amazing about a live show that has the ability to make you feel like a different person, to inspire you and to take you to places you couldn’t really imagine.

It’s not that I will never go to a concert again, or that I can’t physically go now, it’s just a little difficult right now. Hopefully we will be able to take Luna to some outdoor shows this summer, before her sister arrives, and then when the little ones are toddlers and not in any weird separation anxiety phase we will be able to start going out here and there and leaving them with a babysitter. But until then I shall reminisce on some of my favourite live music experiences. This is going to be a tough one as there are so many! I feel very, very lucky to have lived in a city where most artists play, and also very, very lucky to have seen most of the artists that I have wanted to see. There remain a few, such as Tom Waits or the Rolling Stones that I would really love to see, and some that I unfortunately will never get to see, such as Tim Buckley, who will always remain my number one favourite singer of all time, or Type O Negative, that I could have seen and now never will due to the untimely death of Peter Steele. And then also some that I regret not seeing when I could, like Marilyn Manson, but will hopefully have a chance to see again. There are also those that I regretted spending money on as they weren’t what I thought of them, and others that I thought I didn’t really care about but who changed my mind once they were on stage.

Here are some highlights of my favourite moments, in no particular order and definitely not exhaustive:

Anytime I have seen Nick Cave. I can’t choose a favourite time, he is has blown my mind in both the Bad Seeds and in Grinderman live, multiple times. I’ve seen him perform in both Lyon once and NYC many times and will never get enough! He has so much charisma and talent, but it’s not just him alone, his band makes every performance into everything. That voice! Deep, sexy roar, sarcastic shout and oftentimes beautifully in tone and fitting to the music. One day I will put my 20 favourite Bad Seed songs together, but in the meantime all I can say is that every song has its place live, whether stripped down of full force. I actually posted a review I wrote of the 2001 tour here .

The Cure Beacon Theater (Reflections Tour 2011) - I wrote about this one here . Although I don’t really think I actually wrote about the show, more like I strung a few sentences together to say that I was there and that I couldn’t explain how amazing it was. Another band that I have seen more than once, and also one of my absolute favourite bands of all times, so every time I see them I leave giddy and happy. But this performance was just way above anything else. One of my good friends scored us last minute tickets and we ended up making our way to the front of the venue (the act of which got us kicked out during the encore, but by that point we had seen what we needed to see anyway). I saw the entire performance of Three Imaginary Boys, Seventeen Seconds and Faith with the original line-up from about 10 feet from Robert Smith and Simon Gallup. Amazing. Seeing as these albums were released when I was learning to walk, talk and try to pull my baby sister’s head off I’ve only ever seen certain songs performed, never the entire albums. Actually, I’m going to listen to them in their entirety now. I doubt I will ever see such an amazing Cure show again in person (one can hope), but it was definitely a lifetime experience for a fan like myself. Oh, and if you haven’t already realised, I LOVE THE CURE.

Interpol’s last show of Antics tour Webster Hall – October 2005. I had only been in NYC for a few months, and one of my best friends was over from Ireland, and we were a little giddy about seeing Interpol together on the last show of the tour. We managed to get the really enviable spot on the right side balcony right above the stage at Webster Hall (still my favourite spot for any show). While it was my second time seeing them amongst many to come, this one was just really special. That tour had been really long and extensive and you could tell they were so happy to be home, and really gave it their all. And for me it was kind of a closure of my days walking the streets of NYC city alone, exploring and discovering, while listening to Interpol, because not long after that I started to find good friends and places to go.

Each and every Spiritualized show – just like with Nick Cave, I can’t seem to choose one that stood out more than any other to me, they were all just absolutely brilliant. Wait… Ok, maybe I lied. Radio City Music Hall, July 2010. Spiritualized played Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space in its entirety and it was sublime. The acoustics in that venue are the best and the album resonated perfectly. The album itself is already just wonderful (and I think most likely still my favourite), it just sounded even more exceptional that night. Spiritualized are also the last band that I saw live, Webster Hall September 2013. The only band that my daughter has seen live too, albeit in utero. Every time I have seen them has a very special meaning to me, one that I share with one of my best and closest friends. A Spiritualized show is not the same without her.

Portishead – Autumn 2011. I blogged about my Portishead experience here .  Not only did I get to see my wonderfully talented friends Thought Forms open for them, I got to see one of the bands I never thought I would get to see. I think my previous blog post says it all, so I will only add that the experience was just magical.

Leonard Cohen, Radio City Music Hall, May 2009. If I’m not mistaken he played here for three nights, and he hadn’t toured in a while. I never actually thought I would get to see Leonard Cohen perform. He is one of those artists who came to me from my parents, his voice soothing and probing at the same time. I tried to get tickets as soon as they went on sale, but they sold out in seconds, so I paid double. I would have paid triple if need be, because this is without a doubt one of the best shows I will ever get to see in my life. I went alone, although I had friends with seats elsewhere and ended up laughing and crying with the lady sitting next to me. He sang for 3 hours and I just didn’t want it to end, pieces from his entire repertoire. He danced, he joked, he talked, and that smile!!! Amazing. Since then he has released a couple of albums and has toured some more, but I haven’t had the chance to see him again. It doesn’t matter; I will always, always remember this!

NIN Summer 2000 – I’d never been to the US before, and as my mother was moving to California with her work she took me with her on a trip to look for a house. A couple of her friends were going to see NIN on The Fragile tour, so they got me a ticket and took me with them. It was in an amphitheater in the middle of the desert at the end of June and it was BOILING. We were right down at the front, in the pit, and A Perfect Circle opened (it was around that time that Maynard had shaved his head and started the shows with a wig on and then whipped it, and most of his clothes, off a couple of songs in. When dusk fell NIN started their set, with the awesome lights, projections and sound I was completely blown away. I had loved them for so long (and still do), and it was absolutely amazing to see them live, there, in the middle of the desert, under the stars. I lived in a small city in France where you didn’t have that many big bands come (although we did have a few, The Cure played there once, as did Oasis and The Verve), and Paris always seemed so far away as a teen and then a poor student. Just for a show anyway.

Bauhaus 2005 – I bought tickets for this gig as soon as they went on sale. Bauhaus reforming just to tour?! Dream come true!! I then interviewed the drummer Kevin Haskins for a zine, and he actually put me and two friends on his guest list, so I not only got to see the whole show from an awesome spot, I also got to meet and hang out with the band members (apart from Peter Murphy who had disappeared off to a private location). We all went down to Lit where David J’s photography was being exhibited. I had only been in NYC about 6 months and I remember being in awe of the fact that I was hanging out with some of my idols. The show itself was sublime. As much as Peter Murphy doesn’t seem to get along with anyone else anymore (or maybe that is just hearsay), they were all in it together and made it work. I’ve seen Peter on his solo tours multiple times since then and he is a real showman. But this was just so cool, all my favourite Bauhaus songs live, right in front of me. I posted my interview with Kevin Haskins on my blog a few years ago right here 

I could add a few more, but I don’t want to overdo it… If you have actually read this far then I applaud you! It’s taken me about 4 days to write it, 5 or 10 minutes here and there. If I start thinking of more it will take me another week! I have to start looking into which bands and musicians I can take Luna to see this year. I want her to have the same love for music as her parents do, and as my parents instilled in me. My mother is still an awesome music photographer, averaging one or two shows a week, and if you want to check out her work you can peruse her website here. We have to keep the love going through the generations! If anyone saw the same shows as I did (listed above) I would love to hear about your experiences!

Photograph: Beth Gibbons, Portishead, NYC 2011 ©JadeAnnaHughes

Music: GRAND BAIN

Sometimes you meet people in the most random of settings, you spend time with them, you see them often within a short amount of time, and then you both go elsewhere, in different directions. Often these encounters are just moments in time, never to be happen again, and usually both parties disappear, never to talk again. I met Erica in Brooklyn in 2011 when my roommate was away for work for months on end and we were subletting her room. We met in November and by December she had already gone on her merry way to brighter pastures. We did however become Facebook friends and I have recently become enamoured by her band GRAND BAIN’s songs. I didn’t even know Erica was a musician – for me she was this beautiful young lady with great energy and this wonderfully calm aura about her. This is also how I would describe GRAND BAIN’s music: beautiful, at times wonderfully calming and at others deeply intense, like an ocean in a dream.

GRAND BAIN is Erica von Trapp and Jules de Gasperis and was born in Paris thanks to a Craigslist ad for another band that is now defunct. Erica and Jules thankfully decided to continue to make music together, and have already recorded and released 4 songs that I cannot stop listening to. I find it hard to classify music, and I don’t really like to, but I think GRAND BAIN's own classifications of Indie Pop or Dream Pop works well enough, if you are looking to put them in a musical category. I prefer to say that GRAND BAIN’s songs appeal to a variety of tastes, dreamy but with a real edge to them (and the meaningful lyrics mesh really well with the melodies).

Listening to GRAND BAIN reminds me of those perfect weather days in late spring or early autumn, when you can feel a hint of impending winter or summer on the horizon, and you therefore appreciate the day even more. An autumn day just before the leaves turn, while the sun is still golden – those days that you dream of, those days that happen once in a while and leave hazy memories tinged with nostalgia. I seriously can’t wait for them to release an album (hopefully sometime next year).

No Country just washes over you, like waves crashing on the beach and the water slowly subsiding back into the vast ocean.

so you let it all out 'cause you never really had a doubt
with all the commotion you’re pulling away from the crowd
you see, I like the wings you put into my head
I hope, we’ll get to dance again before it’s dead – GRAND BAIN, No Country

Simple Things is just so pretty. Erica has a lovely voice, somewhat ethereal, at times light and soothing, other times powerful and dark. I feel like this song is a paradox, seemingly light and simple, with a darker undertone.

Leonie’s Dreams is just like a dream, the melodies and vocals pull at your heartstrings. It’s beautiful and so sad at the same time.

Leather is so nostalgic, dreamy and inspiring. By that I mean that it inspires me to close my eyes and breathe deeply, taking in my emotions, ready to create something from them.

then I entered a long path unwinding,
flies lit the logs with fires in their back.
everywhere you lived for me
was just another ending, another ending.- GRAND BAIN, Leather

I asked Erica and Jules to respond to a few questions about the band’s beginnings, meanings of songs and how the name GRAND BAIN came about. I could paraphrase but it sounds so much better in their own words so here goes:

JAH: How did GRAND BAIN come about?

GB: As all great beginnings, ours was on craigslist.  We met when Jules put out a listing for an English-speaking singer for a New Wave/Electro project he was working on.  After a few e-mails were exchanged, I came to the studio, we talked for like an hour before the actual audition, it went well, and we started working together.  We discovered a deep connection musically and personally quickly.  So, after the group broke up, not making music together seemed like a mistake.  We started writing songs based off of demos we had both independently arranged and collectively composed.  After toying around with many ideas and different potential members for the group, we finalized that the group would be us two, and GRAND BAIN was born.

JAH: What are your influences?

GB: Our influences, musically, stem from a two sources.  The first would be groups that write songs that have a heavy hitting resonance on an emotional and lyrical scale, such as The Arcade Fire, Interpol, Metronomy and The Kills.  From a position of musical arrangements and sounds, the production quality and instrumental creativity of groups like Moderat, Caribou, and Son Lux have inspired our sound selection and studio choices.

For the live show, Son Lux has also inspired us deeply.  We had the pleasure of seeing his intimate performance at Café de la Danse in Paris.  While the album is highly arranged with many sounds and textures, the live version was immaculately minimalist, played by three, with a mature selection of sounds to recreate, but not duplicate, the sounds you hear on the album.  It was supremely touching, and something we’ve reminded ourselves of continuously as we recreate the studio songs to be played by two.

JAH:  A few words on the four releases that you have to date:

GB: The songs we’ve released so far are the first ones that were born both as individual compositions and songs we created together.  Generally speaking, Erica takes care of the lyrics and Jules takes care of the musical production and melodic composition.  There are certainly exceptions.  And, of course, each song has a little story.

LEATHER - the arrangements for the song came to Jules in a dream.  The melody comes from a far more electro/dance song from a non-released song from the previous group we were in together.

SIMPLE THINGS - was originally written by Erica when she was upset over administrative complications.  The verses were born that day, and we developed the chorus in Brooklyn at the end of a two week long vacation when we were too tired to leave the apartment.  Ironically, the song, called “Simple Things”, was the most complicated to record in studio.  (But the easiest to play live, so there you go.)

NO COUNTRY - came about when we were improvising in the studio after rehearsal.  Erica is not a drummer, but for some reason was on the drums, while Jules was on the synth and analog bass.  A few chords came out, a quick rhythm started to be tapped, and a melody flowed.  Jules wrote the lyrics later.

LEONIE’S DREAMS - was written by Jules when he was living in Hong Kong for a year and a half.  The song started out very reverb heavy and chaotic, and was tightened up a bit to fit the style of GRAND BAIN.

JAH: Any plans for the rest of the year? Album release, shows etc?

GB: We’ll be returning to Paris after summer vacation to play our first show at the ParisParis Club on September 18.  After that, we plan to continue to play shows in Paris, France, and some European cities for the rest of the year while finishing up the album.  In 2015, we plan to relocate to Los Angeles for a quarter to tour the West Coast a bit, release our first EP, and work towards the first full album.

JAH: How did you decide on the band name?

GB: The band name was decided upon mid-sport.  To keep in shape we started swimming in Paris’s municipal pools together.  Mid lap-swim, we looked up from the water, and saw a sign that said “GRAND BAIN”, which translates to “deep end”.  It sounded good in both English and French (Grand BANE being more of the English pronunciation) and we agreed that if we didn’t find a name we liked more within the upcoming two weeks it would stick.  And it did.

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