I am so happy to present this video and this interview that it nearly hurts. I’ve been corresponding with Michael and Aaron of Holy Spirits for about a month now. And it has been a process of communication and connection that I’ve really only experienced with friends and family over the internet. Turns out, I’ve grown very fond of them. 

Both the interview and the video are firsts for me. Experiments in my range of ability. So I hope these find you well, and give you something interesting to read and watch today. Making these was one of the more pleasurable things I’ve done while running this blog. Enjoy! 

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How long have you guys been making music? Individually? Collectively?

Aaron and Michael have been making music together off and on for a long, long time through many incarnations.  This current project, Holy Spirits, began when we decided to spend three weeks in a cabin upstate a couple summer’s ago in hopes to emerge with an EP’s worth of material. We couldn’t even complete a single song!  We just didn’t know how, I guess, or what a song meant to us.   When we first started playing out we had these really long, epic songs that were like sonic odyssey’s patched together from the pieces of many ideas.  It really wasn’t until we sat down to complete “The Afternoon’s Blood” that things started to come together, and we were able to fine-tune a great many things about our sound.   

 But yeah, we’ve spent alot of time individually.  Aaron has a collection of songs he wrote by and for himself.  Real creaky, vexed stuff we hope he has the opportunity to put out one day.

 I love hearing about the process you guys took to record “The Afternoons Blood”. I actually had written a question earlier for you guys asking if you guys ever struggle with music? Why do you think it clicked with “The Afternoon’s Blood”?

Oh we definitely struggle with music.  Sometimes we’re just wrestling with material until we are sick of it and wish it would go away.  But, it was time for things to take shape and we were more determined than with our previous efforts.  We had been working on stuff for a while, on and off, but nothing was ever specific enough or altogether satisfying.  Slowly but surely we got to where we felt there was a distinct voice emerging from the different recordings we were making and we knew that we were gaining some momentum and insight into the writing and recording process.  What is probably accountable for things clicking is that the initial idea of Tongues was written and recorded in a random flash of inspiration.  Then some months later Contain popped out rather quickly, as well.  And from there we had some steam and solid things to run with.

 How long have you been in Brooklyn?

Aaron’s been here longest at 6 years.  Michael at 4 years.  Roberto moved here this past November.  This is the longest Michael and Aaron have lived anywhere if you can believe it. 

What are your day jobs? We all have day jobs right? 

Yep, gotta have a day job.  We are busy guys.  Aaron waits tables part time and dances with a contemporary dance company on and off throughout the year.  Michael works full time as an assistant editor at an independent publishing company.  He’s also writing a book and some of his poems will be published soon.  Rob works full-time in a designer chocolate factory/shop and his street art can be seen around Brooklyn.

Do you find being in a popular place like Brooklyn helps or hinders your musical experience/contribution?

It certainly helps to be in Brooklyn.  Brooklyn is where it’s at.  It’s hard to compete with the great concentration of fantastic independent music that can be found here.    Sometimes the collective ambition of the city can be overwhelming but we don’t want to be anywhere else. People are always curious about the emergence of new bands around here.

Have you found any sort of musical community in Brooklyn? What’s it like? Has it been easy to make friends?

It has been a slow build towards meeting people and becoming more present on the “scene.”  This year is the first year that we’ve begun to develop relationships around here.  Brooklyn can be capricious, which I guess is the nature of trends.  An entire label’s roster, especially one that cultivates a sound and aesthetic well, can blow up.  But Brooklyn is big enough that you don’t necessarily have to stand in the shadows of other bands.  It’s a hub, and you can build your own community. We’ve been graciously allowed to host shows at some great venues with bands who we don’t know personally.  Some of those bands were even from out of town. So that’s really cool, because you start to see the mutual regard between bands or acts that discover each other through the blogosphere and what not.  Bands or acts that are young and want what we want, a community.  Brooklyn is full of willing listeners. That’s a comfort.

Are the religious undertones in your music, band name, song titles intentional or a coincidence?

We didn’t intend for any religious undertones, but yeah, we are aware of the obvious reference (the holy spirit/ghost). None of us are actively religious. However, Aaron was brought up in the church and his mother still sings for the choir.  So his subsequent interest in choral harmonies probably stems from that upbringing.  One of the signifiers of our name not being referential to Christianity is that the spirit is plural for us.  We like the idea of ghosts and spirits and the idea that a person can be haunted by something, whether that spectre is their own self or someone else.  The spectre of living itself is, to use your earlier descriptor, sacred or holy.  While we don’t really set out to write “ghost story” songs, the influence is there.

 What are you guys haunted by?

We’re haunted by many of the same things other people are: relationships, upbringing, traumatic events at certain points in life.  These are what the songs are about.   

Are you guys excited about music in general right now, it’s climate and culture? It’s future?

Yeah, definitely.  This goes back to the idea of community at large.  Just this summer alone, we’ve learned about more upcoming bands and more people writing about them then we ever have.  People are always innovating music in incredible ways that might take time to catch on. That said, there are some interesting trends right now, and there are always bands that are doing something on the periphery of what’s happening musically right now who might later be at the forefront.  We are curious to see which trends stay, which go away, and which ones become important for whatever the next shift in the climate will be.

Are you guys happy with getting your exposure through blogs, and your music put out by boutique labels/blog-run-labels? Are there other aspirations you guys have in mind?

Happy is a good word to use.  Relieved also comes to mind.  It’s very nice to see that people actually like the music.  We finished the work and didn’t even know if there would be any kind of response to it all.  So the blog attention and boutique label interest has been very wonderful and rewarding.  We aspire to make a full album!  That alone seems quite challenging.  But, it’s an obvious major step towards all other aspirations.

What’s next for you guys?

We’ve started work on a new EP we’d like finished by early winter.  That’s exciting. An admirable boutique label offered to put out a 7” for us, which is great motivation to get us moving on recording new material. We’ve already begun playing some of these songs live.  We are also trying to expand our live set-up to include more instruments and voices. It’s sounds easier said than done…but it’s going to be cool.  And this morning, we’ve received confirmation from Gem Club to collaborate on a track that will be part of a Dead as Digital/Stadiums and Shrines/The Road Goes Ever On cassette release. So yeah, lot’s of neat stuff on the horizon. Past that, if its all green lights, an album!

Are you guys touring anytime soon? LA needs you.

We have some touring ideas that we’re tossing around but there are no real leads right now.  Maybe sometime next year we can get a tour together.  We will see.  We would love to make it out to LA and the West Coast in general.  We might have to crash at your place, though.

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More than enough room for you to crash at my place!! Can’t wait!

myspace :: bandcamp (download The Afternoon’s Blood here)

Paperfangs = Books

Paperfangs shot this song over last week, and upon further searching, I stumbled across this great found footage video for their song “Books”. They don’t have much info about themselves anywhere. So it’s up to their music to speak for them. And it does. Solid pop jams, driving and infectious. And check them out on the tumblr.

Pitchfork debuted this stunning video for Baths Lovely Bloodflow yesterday. I’ve been waiting to see it again, because the select few who went to the epic warehouse show last week put on by Heart Music Group got a special screening of it. 

It’s a serious piece of film on every level, and works awesome with Will’s ever increasing ability to bend and control sound. 

Directed by Alex Takacs and Joe Nankin
— youngreplicant.com