"..you will be submerged into a subaquatic concerto from which you will not want to escape.."
The Slaves
Post Drone Revivalists
The Slaves Bio:
Portland, Oregon duo, The Slaves, only have a handful of releases under their belt so far, but it doesn't mean they haven't left their mark. Operating in the void somewhere between Shoegaze and Doom, this is music that is stretched to its breaking point and epic in the true sense of the word. Barbara Kinzle and Birch Cooper know how to fit within each other's movements, piling on in all the right places and knowing when to pull back. "Spirits of the Sun" shows their singular focus at its peak. These four dark and lush dreamscapes stretch their claws, dig in, and never let go. The Slaves have no qualms about who or what they are. The formula is simple: guitar, synth, voice. Yeah, there's some effects thrown in for good measure, but this is music that thrives on how well it's written and performed rather than because of endless lists of gear. Kinzle's synth work is where the backbone begins, but Cooper's caustic guitar raids are always lurking, waiting for the perfect moment to disrupt the harmonic elegance. It's these layers of smeared guitar chords and synth notes that add so much depth to each piece. It feels like you're being swallowed by a sonic abyss and it's only Kinzle's narcotic, sublimely towering vocals that save you in the end. As her voice ascends on "River," it becomes eternal. Throughout "Spirits of the Sun," there is a dichotomy pulling in opposite directions. The Slaves create music that is simultaneously beautiful and grotesque. There's a twisted dark side that is consistently being overshadowed by sounds that are overwhelming and majestic. Each aspect pushes and pulls, but the beauty and the symmetry win out in the end. By the time the album closes with the soaring "Born Into Light," it is statuesque and firmly entrenched in the deepest reaches of your psyche. "Spirits of the Sun" is a force and The Slaves will guide you toward your own oblivion.
Hello, how are you?
Hi ... We're doing well... just getting back into the swing of things with The Slaves and our other project The Greys, which feels good.
What are you currently listening to?
Honestly, I've just gotten back from tour with my project MSHR and we didn't bring any recordings to listen too! We got a copy of Mark Lord's 'Forced Out' and played that a bunch on the road... Sounds great! Other than that, 'Complete Electronic Music' by Iannis Xenakis has been a total hit for me recently along with Maryanne Amacher and The Stooges.
What's with the name, is there a story behind it?
The Slaves? Very intuitive... We came up with it very early on in the project, or course... We were 22 years old and battling reality. It made sense in an elliptical way.
LOVE the new album, care to tell us a little bit about it; theme, recording process, likes/dislikes, etc.?
Thank you! The process of making the album was kind of atypical for us because it's a very "studio" album; we've never played any of these songs live, whereas for all of our other albums the songs were written and performed live many times before we ever thought about recording them. We had been getting more and more into a very specific process of recording, recording to a 4 track and bouncing and a computer, then recording over certain tracks and bouncing that, so that we wound up having more like 12 tracks or so per song. We've been trying to make the most out of tape saturation, phasing, etc. If felt really appropriate to work that way, and I think we'll probably continue exploring in that direction.
Will you be touring for said release?
This is the first album we've done that we have no plans of touring with. I think we'd do it if we got asked to play something awesome, but we're less of a live project at the moment.
In a dream world whom would you like to tour with the most?
We really like doing it with our friends, it's more fun that way. I was just on tour with my friend Reid Urban's project Marty Barrett, which was great!
Got any other projects we should know about?
Yeah, we also are in a rock-type band with Jed Bindeman from Eternal Tapestry called The Greys and we're both also in the art collective Oregon Painting Society. Birch is doing an electronic music/art collective with Brenna Murphy called MSHR and doing solo work under his own name (His album "I Was A Teacher" just came out on Digitalis as well), and Barbara is also in a noise core band called "Rattle Dick".
What movie would work best on mute while listening to your music?
Actually, a few people have told me that they think 'Spirits Of The Sun' sounds "cinematic", but I really hadn't thought of it that way. Maybe a Bill Viola video though.
You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
Faced with that decision, I would rather never listen to recorded music again. Just walking around outside sounds amazing!
Are you living your dream?
Certainly a dream.
Hi ... We're doing well... just getting back into the swing of things with The Slaves and our other project The Greys, which feels good.
What are you currently listening to?
Honestly, I've just gotten back from tour with my project MSHR and we didn't bring any recordings to listen too! We got a copy of Mark Lord's 'Forced Out' and played that a bunch on the road... Sounds great! Other than that, 'Complete Electronic Music' by Iannis Xenakis has been a total hit for me recently along with Maryanne Amacher and The Stooges.
What's with the name, is there a story behind it?
The Slaves? Very intuitive... We came up with it very early on in the project, or course... We were 22 years old and battling reality. It made sense in an elliptical way.
LOVE the new album, care to tell us a little bit about it; theme, recording process, likes/dislikes, etc.?
Thank you! The process of making the album was kind of atypical for us because it's a very "studio" album; we've never played any of these songs live, whereas for all of our other albums the songs were written and performed live many times before we ever thought about recording them. We had been getting more and more into a very specific process of recording, recording to a 4 track and bouncing and a computer, then recording over certain tracks and bouncing that, so that we wound up having more like 12 tracks or so per song. We've been trying to make the most out of tape saturation, phasing, etc. If felt really appropriate to work that way, and I think we'll probably continue exploring in that direction.
Will you be touring for said release?
This is the first album we've done that we have no plans of touring with. I think we'd do it if we got asked to play something awesome, but we're less of a live project at the moment.
In a dream world whom would you like to tour with the most?
We really like doing it with our friends, it's more fun that way. I was just on tour with my friend Reid Urban's project Marty Barrett, which was great!
Got any other projects we should know about?
Yeah, we also are in a rock-type band with Jed Bindeman from Eternal Tapestry called The Greys and we're both also in the art collective Oregon Painting Society. Birch is doing an electronic music/art collective with Brenna Murphy called MSHR and doing solo work under his own name (His album "I Was A Teacher" just came out on Digitalis as well), and Barbara is also in a noise core band called "Rattle Dick".
What movie would work best on mute while listening to your music?
Actually, a few people have told me that they think 'Spirits Of The Sun' sounds "cinematic", but I really hadn't thought of it that way. Maybe a Bill Viola video though.
You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
Faced with that decision, I would rather never listen to recorded music again. Just walking around outside sounds amazing!
Are you living your dream?
Certainly a dream.
Thanx Birch & Barbara!
The Slaves are amazing and you will soon become obsessed (trust me).
PS Hope you ~njoyed this week's extra interview, I might sneak more "surprise interviews" in here and there.. ;]
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