Boxharp’s superb new single ‘The Green‘ was released last week and is currently available for free download from the Hidden Shoal Store. Snap it up – it’s an incandescent tune, rich in Scott Solter’s trademark production details and swimming in the dreamy vocals of Wendy Allen.

Ahead of the release of the album of the same name, I had a brief email chat with Scott and Wendy:

Tim: First up, how did you and Scott end up working together? You both have pretty extensive musical resumes…
Wendy: How we came to work together is really the story of how we met. Scott had just started engineering and was working on his first album, The Brief Light. He was looking for a singer and my roommate, who was working with him at the time, recommended me. We just kept working together in various capacities from then on.

What are your main sources of inspiration, musical or otherwise?
Wendy: Both melodically and lyrically, I most often start with a question; what would happen if I…? or What would it be like if were…?
Scott: I’m often moved by visual references from Francis Bacon, Joel-Peter Witkin, Brothers Quay, and Joseph Cornell. For music, I’m drawn towards the very dense or very minimal.

How does a Boxharp song come into being? Do you write separately or together? Is it a simple division of labour, with Scott covering all the music and you covering all the vocals? When do the lyrics come?
Wendy: We usually start with one of us introducing a very simple idea or element. We ping pong back and forth over a period of time, then sit together and collaborate to complete the piece in a few days. Sometimes lyrics come first; sometimes a rhythm comes first and the lyrics come last.

With The Green due for release very soon, do Boxharp have plans to tour?
Yes, we plan to tour.

Finally, coffee or tea?!
Coffee in the morning, tea in the afternoon, Jameson in the evening.

Boxharp – The Green Boxharp – The Green

Last month the gentlemen from The Caribbean headed down to Austin Texas for one of the biggest music conferences in the world, South by South West, with their US label Hometapes. So we thought we’d take a moment to catch up on all the news, post festival.

First and foremost, how was SxSW? Stories to share?
Saw a lot of comics walking around: Brian Posehn, Sandra Bernhard, Eugene Mirman. Saw a lot of dickheads walking around, too. Dave tried to throw a beer bottle over the Emo’s Annex tent just to see if he could… Turns out you can.

Who in your opinion is a must hear artist today?
Besides us?

Of course.
Hairy Pussy, Wolf Eyes, Van Dyke Parks.

Describe for the readers the music scene over in Washington?
Like everywhere else, I suppose, splintered and complex. More stuff going on than you can keep track of. Used to be pretty monolithic, with Dischord being kind of the source for everything, but lots of other interesting stuff going on now, too.

Who or what are your main sources of inspiration and why?
Mostly, things we mishear. The best songs are the ones misheard from a distance, through crowds of people, and entire elements are misplaced sonically or drowned out due to acoustics. Or inadvertently combined with other songs playing in the same space. Happened at SXSW a lot. The original song is never as interesting as the one misheard.

Can you please describe to the lovely people your writing process.
One of us will hear a weird sound somewhere, record it on cassette or whatever is available, then we all keep adding to it until it takes a shape we like. Then we spend hundreds of hours listening to it and talking about it, then add parts in quick takes until we feel it’s what it should be.

How did the remix EP by Scott Solter eventuate?
He had done a remix record with some Hometapes labelmates of ours; we loved his style of tactile, analog deconstruction, and had to work with him. Met him at SXSW ’07 and hashed it out.

What are your plans for the foreseeable future?
Release this next record, Discontinued Perfume, on Hometapes in mid-2010, then tour relentlessly to support it until everyone knows who we are and either loves us or hates us. Also gonna drink some fortified wine in a little bit.

The Caribbean – Color Television (Scott Solter Remix) The Caribbean – Color Television (Scott Solter Remix)

Jamie Barrett

Here are 10 albums that have been receiving regular rotation in these parts. All are strongly recommended!

(am) – Soundtrack (self-released)
The Besnard Lakes – Are The Roaring Night (Jagjaguwar)
Dirty Projectors – Bitte Orca (Domino)
Iretsu – Fang (due Hidden Shoal, June 2010)
Lymbyc System – Shutter Release (Mush)
Steve Raegele – Last Century (Songlines)
Simon Scott – Navigare (Miasmah)
Slow Six – Tomorrow Becomes You (Western Vinyl)
Spoon – Girls Can Tell (Merge)
Stray Ghost – Nothing, But Death (Hidden Shoal)

Laters,

Tim

No honestly it is. Interviews with Hidden Shoal artists, articles, top tens, casual inane rantings and so forth. Keep one eye on the road and the other on this blog.