In the summer and fall of 2010 Swan moved up to the Sierra Foothills in California to a house called the Honeycomb be closer to nature. Her roommates happened to be producers Antler (Jason Collins) and Feldt (Ryan Beck), and there just happened to be a recording studio all set to go on the bottom floor of the Honeycomb. Naturally they began a track together. It started out intentionally hollow, reminiscent of an artery waiting with a heart beat, and soon rushed layers of inspiration as this tunnel came to life, full of heavy and unannounced beats, velveteen and dynamic vocals and warm synths. This is the first collaboration of Swan + Antler + Feldt, but is not likely the last.
www.soundcloud.com/antlermusic
www.soundcloud.com/feldt
www.soundofswan.com
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In the last year or so I see that you’ve lived in Sierra foothills, LA and Oakland….. where are you based these days?
- It’s true, I’ve been in all of those places! A few years ago I decided to go to wherever my music takes me. San Francisco had a lot of magic for me for years with my old band and several collaborations, but I moved to LA to further dedicate myself to my art and some amazing collaborations came from that, including the Glitch Mob track. But I realized I needed to return to nature to feed that inner silence, where music begins for me. That sparked the move up to the mountains, and that’s where Heart Murmur was born. These days I’ve settled back into the Bay Area, as my two main projects are now based here.
Tell me about Heart Murmur. How did this track with ANTLER and FELDT come about?
When I moved up to the Sierra foothills near Nevada City to write, I moved into a beautiful home called the Honeycomb where my friend lived. Jason (Antler) and Ryan (Feldt) also lived there and were hard at work building their live sets and sounds. I remember when we first started the track, sitting next to Jason and Ryan at the computer and going sound by sound to find each of the components that would build the foundation of the song.. It was a really cool process – they are both awesome to work with. Jason played Mercof for me to get the vibe of this hollow sound he was envisioning… As we chose them, the sounds began to remind me of an artery, and the beat like a echoing, distant heart beat.. I immediately began to think of these lyrics I had started to write, “listening to the secret your heart murmurs….”
At first I don’t think we ever planned it to become full… we wanted to create a spaciousness. Really that is my favorite way to write anyway, maintaining that space, where nothing is added unless it is demanding to be. But soon rushed layers of inspiration as this tunnel came to life, full of heavy and unannounced beats, soaring pads, and warm synths. Then it was ready for us to go deep, throw on the headphones, dim the lights and let the beat cycle while the words and sounds began to make their shapes. The studio was on the bottom floor of the house, so you really felt tucked into the earth, like you could drop into a really magical place. The Honeycomb was also close to the land I was born and raised on, so I was able to tap into old stories of my childhood and potent imagery that felt really good to put to song.
I think the track really filled out when Jason moved to Brooklyn and started putting to use all of the new mixing skills he was learning from Daniel Wyatt (who also did the mastering of the track). The work they both did brought the life out of each component and allowed the relationship between them to be heard and felt.
What are your thoughts about this whole west coast festival community that we along with many call home?
I think it’s pretty amazing. It allows so many people to find our voices and our art, a dance floor to work it out, a sense of freedom and support, and what it means to be a part of something we can believe in that feeds us in direct proportion to what we share of ourselves.
Do you see any thing within the community that concerns you? If so, what do you think needs to be done to keep it strong?
Well we’re all pretty good at being true to ourselves, and supportive in each others pursuits, and that is awesome. Those are certainly two of our strongest qualities. Perhaps what I see as being the most important thing we need to keep in mind is openness to new music and new people. Just because this scene and community was built on certain kinds of music, doesn’t mean it should close its doors to the vast, ever-changing seascape of music out there. There are crests of new waves that I would really love to see represented more and brought into this festival circuit.
What is your top 3 festivals for 2012 that you are excited for?
mmmm how bout 4?
Bonnaroo… I’ve never been, but the lineup looks pretty incredible and I’d love to get out of California for a minute.
Symbiosis (Solar Eclipse + Pyramid Lake + Little Dragon)
LIB (the Do-Lab crew just keep gettin better every year)
Coachella.. it’s a mad scene, but i’m pretty excited to perform again (with R/D) and check out some good music.
So new projects…what you working on?
I’ve got two main projects right now… There’s Birdseye, an indie band with baroque and folk edges, laden with harmonies and layered arrangement. BIrdseye is fronted by me and my partner David Peter Mellish. We also have a cellist we’ve been playing with for the last few months and some new prospective bandmates. For us this year, we’ll be premiering a video directed by Ivan Landau really soon, finishing our first album, doing some east and west coast touring and also releasing a re-mixtape of our album with some awesome producers you know and love.
Then there’s Pair of Arrows, which is a collaboration between R/D and I, and is somewhere around indie-electronic-”left-field pop” (i’m stealing the descriptor of one reviewer since I love it..) with heavy bass, lots of 80′s tinged reverb and synths, glitchy yet warm production, dreamy yet potent lyrics and big emotive and swirling choruses. For POA, we’re also writing our first album, planning our live shows and beginning to perform together when I join his sets at a few festivals this summer.
HEART MURMUR
written by Swan, Antler and Feldt
lyrics by Swan
http://www.soundofswan.com
http://soundcloud.com/antlermusic
http://soundcloud.com/feldt
