Arbitrary Signs: This record was recorded and put together over a few years right? Exactly how long have you been working on this?
Brian Sullivan - hard to say.solidly,or more solid than before,about a year.there were pieces floating in the stratosphere and buried in the ground for a while.just had to wait to find them and for the right time to use them.you know how that goes,you got some ideas but not a place for them yet.i had a lot of other stuff in the works to keep my focus,so i was being patient w/ this stuff.two of the tracks are around 11 years old.they are different than their earlier forms,but same dna ,similar structure.about 2 years ago,shit started coalescing to a point where i realized it had a sound and a form that wanted to take on a more definitive shape and that i wanted to roll with.so by the time i had the "my geology" tracks,"platetectonics" and "no end to eyes" done, which was around a year ago, it was going at its own pace.
A.S: You played me a some of this stuff over a year ago and it sounded like there was different stuff... How many changes/permutations has this record undergone till arriving at the final masterpiece that it is? Is there a lot of stuff that didn't make it on the final record?
B:
- there were a lot of permutations and mixes.by the time you heard it a year ago,things that existed were in their place,but not at their final mixes and "my geology" was def missing some layers.i had to step back from that for a while and see how it wanted to fit together and then add some final elements.over all, the pieces grew at their own pace.if something wasnt working,i would just put the song down and work on something else till i found a sound or part that worked with it.that might be a few days or months. i wasnt in a rush once i realized how it was going to come together.as for the stuff that didnt make the lp -there were 3 songs that got jettisoned pretty early on.2 were older and didnt fit the vibe.more acoustic oriented than the rest of the record.they were pretty much done,and i didnt want to fuck with them by adding layers that they didnt need to make it fit the album.the 3rd song that didnt make it was more of a tape collage that didnt flow with the rest of the pieces.just interrupted everything. sounds good,but not within the context of the lp. it takes a while to get the feel of the album or how the songs want to play themselves out.once that comes into focus,its easy to remove things that dont fit
A.S.:
This is a mellow record with all kinds of awesome sounds happening all the time. What is the best situation for listeners to check out this record?
B:
- through a huge p.a.....it sounds pretty awesome that way.but i guess that aint too logistically realistic. i think that is up to the listener.lots of people say headphones - which is cool.there is a lot going on,but i feel you can crank up the stereo and absorb it all. the best situation is one where you can have some time and space to devote to listening to it.
A.S.:
I heard that Conrad Capistrano once said "I have no worldview." Does this record represent a philosophy or worldview that could be articulated?
B:
- dont know why conrad said that.give him some hegel.and a beer. everyone has something of a "worldview" -they might not call it that and it might not be as articulated and developed as any philosopher or scientist you feel like inserting here.but over time,everyone develops pattern recognition and starts piecing together events and ideas that occur within their life.you kind of need that to navigate a world full of other people doing the same.or else pouring a bowl of cereal is gonna be a pretty heavy deal- way too confusing than it needs to be. so does "your first ever river" embody some philosophy?i suppose it does,since its coming from me.and in doing these things ,you are just taking in everything and filtering it through yourself. but i think its best articulated in the form that it is in. to extract the brain from it to examine would lose a lot in translation.might even be unknowable from the whole.its largely about adaptation.
A.S.:
What instrumentation was involved with the making of this record?
B:
-tons.literally tons. obvious shit being guitars.lots of them.1st time i used pedal steel guitar to record.good thing to have.drums machines. sampled a bunch of percussion ,electronic and acoustic. keys and synth. voice.tapes.air.
A.S.:
How was it recorded/mixed?
B:
- i recorded it mostly at home on reel to reel 8 track. spent to much time in the pit over the years,needed a break and a fresh set of walls to bounce the sound off of. also,wanted to record at a lower volume.cant do that with 4x12's and 2x18's.mixed it on reel to reel.edited some stuff on computer.used to do all the splices by hand on tape,but cutting on the computer can give you several different permutations of what you want to do and set them side by side for immediate comparison.got into this while filmmaking.instead of cutting a sequence w/ the film,viewing it and then disassembling it to reconfigure it for another option[and possibly forgetting how the 1st one made you feel].just do both through a computer and check them out consecutively.there is the lack of physicality in that process which i miss,but everything else is pretty hands on ,and the freedom of almost instant recombination through this editing process trumps the cons.
A.S.:
How is your approach to the United Waters material different from Mouthus or your solo output under the Eskimo King moniker?
B:
-this is just a new stage or phase.thats why its under united waters.its a lot more constructed than most of the eskimo king stuff -though there are songs with the eskimo king ,but it had a different vibe,different time.as for difference btwn this mouthus,there's no nate.mouthus is the both of us working together.mouthus can be looser in execution and process.usually just hitting record and going.i do do the mixing and editing for mouthus,but its different material than my solo stuff,so i approach it differently. obvoiusly the interplay between nate and i is different than the me bouncing ideas off the past me which recorded something and i am now reacting to. motuhus is a present moment in the playing and recording.my solo jams are a little more geological or architectural in its development.got to sift and dig and build.
A.S.:
How do you feel about comparison's to the whole Twisted Village aesthetic that this record has gotten? Does this make sense to you or would you lump it in with more of a Kanye kind of thing?
B:
-it has? i take that as a compliment.i dig twisted village.i think wayne is great guitarist.but twisted villages stuff is more blown out rock in most of its production. kind of going for a different vibe here. definitely not the kayne vibe.unless i get to interrupt stupid acceptance speeches with equally stupid ones.
A.S.:
What's your next move for United Waters? Do you plan to do this stuff live anytime soon?
B:
-recording new material.doing that. playing live is gonna happen,just got to figure out how to translate this stuff into a live setting.right now its occupying the world of studio and thats the way it got constructed.so i got to bring it out in a way that i am psyched about.its good at being an album i need to see how it will be being a live sound. new stuff is a little more translatable live,so maybe just roll with that and let that happen.
b.
United Waters "Your First Ever River" available now
