"..between "hazy/lush Ambiance", "sunny Psychedelia", & reverb-drenched Dream Pop.."
Brother Sun, Sister Moon
Veiled By Aqueous Opulence
Brother Sun, Sister Moon Bio:
Brother Sun, Sister Moon is the collaborative project of Alicia Merz (Birds of Passage) and Gareth Munday (Roof Light). Together the duo explore a landscape of sounds that depart from Alicia’s classic wintery minimalism and Gareth’s post-dubstep styling’s, creating a record consisting of beautifully elegant vignettes and genre-bending sounds that captivate the listener at will. The self-titled album is a trip through sun-dappled pop music, glistening with Alicia’s vibrant vocals reminiscent of Francoise Hardy and Julee Cruise and neatly complimented by a haze of lo-fi instrumentation akin to the distorted experimentation of SLOWDIVE and MY BLOODY VALENTINE. Unafraid to extend their musical reach beyond this, the record ventures into the futuristic beat world channeling influences such as FLYING LOTUS and MADLIB, while traversing vast technicolour electronic sounds that call to mind BOARDS OF CANADA and the ambient tape manipulation of Matthew David. The CD edition of this stunning debut album comes with an exclusive remix by Listening Mirror, while the Dale Cooper Quartet lends a remix exclusive to the vinyl edition. With their debut record Brother Sun, Sister Moon take all preconceived notions of what an album should be and break them down right in front of you, presenting a record that runs the gamut of genre defying boundaries, boldly reimagining pop music for the ‘post-genre’ generation.
Hello, how are you?
Gareth: Sitting with the telly on answering these questions :)
Alicia: Good and bad.
What are you currently listening to?
Alicia: William Basinski, The Caretaker, Felicia Atkinson, Listening Mirror, Roof Light, Miles Davis, The Dale Cooper Quartet, Tim Hecker, Lee Noble, Saaad, and Love Cult, but mostly Basinski and The Caretaker.
What's the story with the band name?
Gareth: Originally it was from an obscure Folk record until I discovered that there is a 70's obscure film of the same name I've never seen it.
Love the album, care to tell us a little bit about it, recording process, likes/dislikes, etc.?
Gareth: Thank you. Recording it was a mixture of real instrumentation by me, and samples, synthesized material and field recordings. It took about a year to do on and off, the tracks were in demo form then I heard Alicia's music on the internet. I thought she had the perfect voice to suit my music. I had a few acoustic/folk tracks that were very simple but needed a vocal so I sent of few of them to Alicia in NZ to add her parts. I really liked what she did with them and it was fairly easy. Then it was a case of back and forth, mixing and re recording to get the best results. One of those tracks 'Gable Larch' is one of my favorite pieces, it will be on the next BSSM LP which may have a more 'folk' vibe to it. There's a real Vashti Bunyan vibe to it and there were about half a dozen that were similar. It's about 'holding back' some of the material of which there are at least another 20 tracks in an unfinished state. Alicia is very busy with lots of other projects of her own. I don't know how she does it! There was no real recording process, I had ideas that were a few years old and knew that no label would be brave enough to put them out as they were. Besides I wanted to add vocals to them anyway. I sing on some of my tracks as well but wanted to add a feminine dimension to the music. If I'd had a bit more time I probably would have added my vox with Alicia's. Sadly my 'day' job doesn't give me a huge amount of time off to make music on a full time basis. As for likes and dislikes, at the moment it's English Psychedelia from 66 to 70. It'll be something else next week.
Who are your biggest influences as far as your sound goes?
Gareth: I'll let Alicia give you hers, mine would probably be Bibio/Boards Of Canada, XTC, The Beach Boys, Vashti Bunyan, 4AD, some Creation stuff like The Telescopes, the 60's, the 70's and 80's, Classical, Jazz, Motown/Soul, the 'Golden Age'/90's Hip Hop, Psych/Folk, film soundtracks, dreams, people and places. Colors and things like the smell of a primary school hall that takes you back to your childhood, or a garden in summer. Alicia: For this project: my husband, an image of a child playing, Jack Kerouac, Polish fans, Nick Drake, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Leonard Cohen, audio cassette tapes, Vashti Bunyan, Slowdive, Emily Bronte, William Basinski, Dj Shadow, Oscar Wilde, reflecting on journeys through East Europe, My Bloody Valentine, David Lynch, Roy Orbison, Surrealism, The Sopranos, The Caretaker, Twin Peaks, Dexter, autumn 2011, pain killers and red wine, black coffee and cigarettes. But mostly 'The Disintegration Loops' and red wine.
Will you be touring to support this release?
Gareth: I'd like to but Alicia's in NZ and I'm in the UK which is a bit problematic. We'd be open to offers though. I think we'd make a good festival band. I'd like to do an early slot at Glasto!
Got any other projects we should know about?
Gareth: I have a lot of other work ongoing, I make lots of other music both alone and with other people, I hope to have a couple of EP's of stuff this year of my own music, there are some really interesting collaborations on the way with some surprising people. There's an EP with USA based electronic producer KWALA very soon. I sent some tracks to Christa Palazzollo of Boy Friend in the USA as well, they might appear at some point, I like their music, and they're cool. Also some darker 'Street Soul' Electronic music with a good friend of mine from Russia called Ghostek. More BSSM stuff, hopefully a second more full length LP. And something for Alicia and her husband's new label 'Cooper Cult' which I'm really pleased to be involved with. I'm sometimes a bit lazy though and forget to answer correspondence. I also don't make music if I'm not feeling it on the day. I'd like to do some film/TV music as well. I'll let Alicia give you her equally busy schedule...
Alicia: I'm working with Listening Mirror on a full length, which I'm really excited about. Listening Mirror is the solo and sometimes collaborative project of Jeff Stonehouse, and he makes ambient/drone that is out of this world! I'm adding vocals and minimalist drones to a few tracks at the moment. I also have collaborations lined up with the French drone misfits 'Saaad', another French musical maverick - Felicia Atkinson, and 'Nadja' alumni Aidan Baker. Further, I've finished about 7 demos which form the skeleton for my next solo album. I'm also keeping very busy with Cooper Cult Records: one of our first releases is a cassette edition of 'Brother Sun, Sister Moon', which we are co-releasing with an awesome tape label from France, 'BLWBCK'. Other than that, I stay very busy with a lot of other art projects that have nothing to do with music.
What movie would work best on mute while listening to your music?
Alicia: Repo Man and They Live. A few scenes from Picnic At Hanging Rock, and a few from The Wicker Man. But I'd say Repo Man, from start to finish, is the perfect visual counterpart to BSSM.
You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
Alicia: Today, 'The Disintegration Loops' by William Basinski. If you ask me next week it'll be something different. Maybe 'Songs Of Leonard Cohen' or 'Kind Of Blue'.
Are you living your dream?
Gareth: I would be living it even more if i could do it full time!
Alicia: Life is a dream, so yes!
Gareth: Sitting with the telly on answering these questions :)
Alicia: Good and bad.
What are you currently listening to?
Alicia: William Basinski, The Caretaker, Felicia Atkinson, Listening Mirror, Roof Light, Miles Davis, The Dale Cooper Quartet, Tim Hecker, Lee Noble, Saaad, and Love Cult, but mostly Basinski and The Caretaker.
What's the story with the band name?
Gareth: Originally it was from an obscure Folk record until I discovered that there is a 70's obscure film of the same name I've never seen it.
Love the album, care to tell us a little bit about it, recording process, likes/dislikes, etc.?
Gareth: Thank you. Recording it was a mixture of real instrumentation by me, and samples, synthesized material and field recordings. It took about a year to do on and off, the tracks were in demo form then I heard Alicia's music on the internet. I thought she had the perfect voice to suit my music. I had a few acoustic/folk tracks that were very simple but needed a vocal so I sent of few of them to Alicia in NZ to add her parts. I really liked what she did with them and it was fairly easy. Then it was a case of back and forth, mixing and re recording to get the best results. One of those tracks 'Gable Larch' is one of my favorite pieces, it will be on the next BSSM LP which may have a more 'folk' vibe to it. There's a real Vashti Bunyan vibe to it and there were about half a dozen that were similar. It's about 'holding back' some of the material of which there are at least another 20 tracks in an unfinished state. Alicia is very busy with lots of other projects of her own. I don't know how she does it! There was no real recording process, I had ideas that were a few years old and knew that no label would be brave enough to put them out as they were. Besides I wanted to add vocals to them anyway. I sing on some of my tracks as well but wanted to add a feminine dimension to the music. If I'd had a bit more time I probably would have added my vox with Alicia's. Sadly my 'day' job doesn't give me a huge amount of time off to make music on a full time basis. As for likes and dislikes, at the moment it's English Psychedelia from 66 to 70. It'll be something else next week.
Who are your biggest influences as far as your sound goes?
Gareth: I'll let Alicia give you hers, mine would probably be Bibio/Boards Of Canada, XTC, The Beach Boys, Vashti Bunyan, 4AD, some Creation stuff like The Telescopes, the 60's, the 70's and 80's, Classical, Jazz, Motown/Soul, the 'Golden Age'/90's Hip Hop, Psych/Folk, film soundtracks, dreams, people and places. Colors and things like the smell of a primary school hall that takes you back to your childhood, or a garden in summer. Alicia: For this project: my husband, an image of a child playing, Jack Kerouac, Polish fans, Nick Drake, Alejandro Jodorowsky, Leonard Cohen, audio cassette tapes, Vashti Bunyan, Slowdive, Emily Bronte, William Basinski, Dj Shadow, Oscar Wilde, reflecting on journeys through East Europe, My Bloody Valentine, David Lynch, Roy Orbison, Surrealism, The Sopranos, The Caretaker, Twin Peaks, Dexter, autumn 2011, pain killers and red wine, black coffee and cigarettes. But mostly 'The Disintegration Loops' and red wine.
Will you be touring to support this release?
Gareth: I'd like to but Alicia's in NZ and I'm in the UK which is a bit problematic. We'd be open to offers though. I think we'd make a good festival band. I'd like to do an early slot at Glasto!
Got any other projects we should know about?
Gareth: I have a lot of other work ongoing, I make lots of other music both alone and with other people, I hope to have a couple of EP's of stuff this year of my own music, there are some really interesting collaborations on the way with some surprising people. There's an EP with USA based electronic producer KWALA very soon. I sent some tracks to Christa Palazzollo of Boy Friend in the USA as well, they might appear at some point, I like their music, and they're cool. Also some darker 'Street Soul' Electronic music with a good friend of mine from Russia called Ghostek. More BSSM stuff, hopefully a second more full length LP. And something for Alicia and her husband's new label 'Cooper Cult' which I'm really pleased to be involved with. I'm sometimes a bit lazy though and forget to answer correspondence. I also don't make music if I'm not feeling it on the day. I'd like to do some film/TV music as well. I'll let Alicia give you her equally busy schedule...
Alicia: I'm working with Listening Mirror on a full length, which I'm really excited about. Listening Mirror is the solo and sometimes collaborative project of Jeff Stonehouse, and he makes ambient/drone that is out of this world! I'm adding vocals and minimalist drones to a few tracks at the moment. I also have collaborations lined up with the French drone misfits 'Saaad', another French musical maverick - Felicia Atkinson, and 'Nadja' alumni Aidan Baker. Further, I've finished about 7 demos which form the skeleton for my next solo album. I'm also keeping very busy with Cooper Cult Records: one of our first releases is a cassette edition of 'Brother Sun, Sister Moon', which we are co-releasing with an awesome tape label from France, 'BLWBCK'. Other than that, I stay very busy with a lot of other art projects that have nothing to do with music.
What movie would work best on mute while listening to your music?
Alicia: Repo Man and They Live. A few scenes from Picnic At Hanging Rock, and a few from The Wicker Man. But I'd say Repo Man, from start to finish, is the perfect visual counterpart to BSSM.
You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
Alicia: Today, 'The Disintegration Loops' by William Basinski. If you ask me next week it'll be something different. Maybe 'Songs Of Leonard Cohen' or 'Kind Of Blue'.
Are you living your dream?
Gareth: I would be living it even more if i could do it full time!
Alicia: Life is a dream, so yes!
Thanx Magnus, Gareth & Alicia!
BS,SM are currently underrated and only YOU have the power to change this, this band deserves way more credit than what they get...
