Balmorhea began as a collaboration between Michael Muller and Rob Lowe, combining to create delicate minimalist compositions between piano and guitar on their eponymous debut. Since then, the group has expanded to add strings, and more recently, drum and bass, filling out their powerful instrumental swells with more rock direction. This year’s Rivers Arms is already among the best local releases of ‘08, a beautifully rich meditation that merges field recordings and striking arrangements in impressionistic movements. The group has offered up a gorgeous new, untitled track below for download as well. You can see the group perform live this Thursday, June 19, at Emo’s with Dosh and Anathallo.
Profile: Balmorhea
Year Formed:
September, 2006
Members/Instruments played:
aisha burns - violin, travis chapman - upright bass, nicole kern - cello, rob lowe - piano, banjo, michael muller - guitars, taylor tehan - drums
Former Bands/Side Projects:
alex dupree & the trapdoor band (we share three members), tim pearson (share two members)
Albums:
“balmorhea” self-released april of 2007, “rivers arms” released on western vinyl records february 2008, untitled forthcoming record on western vinyl tentatively early 2009.
Influences:
a great deal of classical music (chopin & beethoven in particular), Cage and other musical ideas of the 50’s and 60’s, on to early folk and country music. more contemporary influences include arvo part, rachel’s, ludovico einaudi, max richter, pullman, gillian welch, etc.
Strangest comment or comparison ever made about your music:
our friend Joshua’s dad once thought there was something wrong with his cd player when he was listening to a track with a lot of field recordings. he insisted that song was put on the album by mistake. that was great. people tend to relate us to explosions in the sky. though we love their music, i don’t think we sound like them (except for our lack of vocals). we are both from austin and rob grew up in midland (which is where several members of Explosions In The Sky are from), so geographically speaking it makes sense.
Favorite local bands:
bexar bexar, meryll, alex dupree & the trapdoor band, bill callahan, shearwater, this will destroy you
Favorite local venue:
we have done several shows on our own that we have loved, ballet austin and okay mountain for example.
Upcoming shows scheduled:
june 19 at emos with anathallo and dosh, july 2 at mohawk with fleet foxes, august 5 at hideout theatre with this will destroy you. we are going on tour in august with bexar bexar and select dates with tiny vipers. (check myspace.com/balmorhea for dates)
Shows over the next month that you’re excited to see:
joan of arc, sera cahoone, fleet foxes
Some of your favorite albums from the past year:
samamidon “all is well”, peter broderick “float”, sun kil moon “april”, j. tillman “cancer and delirium”, sera cahoone “only as the day is long”, tiny vipers “hands across the void”, etc.
Ideal band (past or present) to open for on a national tour:
sigur ros, max richter, my brightest diamond
Austin Sound questions:
Y’all have recently expanded the group even more since jumping to a quintet for Rivers Arms. How is the bigger lineup changing both the band’s sound and approach to the material?
We are actually a sextet now as our friends travis and taylor came on to play double bass and drums (which we have never had). The sound is bigger and fuller (a look perhaps toward rock and roll) whilst still retaining a minimal approach. It definitely has made our sound a bit more accessible (to some listeners and in booking shows with once dissimilar acts). We are trying some new ideas to further spread our musical wings, per se.
Y’all seem to have a great appreciation of poetry, so we were wondering if y’all had ever tried to incorporate more lyrically, or just how that relationship between language and music works for y’all?
This is a question we are asked a lot and one we ask ourselves when brainstorming ideas in the writing process. The idea that instrumental music is virtually boundless is a wonderful one. Moreover, it seems that some times words set some sort of limit or boundary that nestles you in to a particular alcove. That being said, the human voice is perhaps the most effective instrument there is; it is the only one we are born with and we hope to explore it more in the future. We have heard varying responses from listeners that glean different emotions or thoughts evoked solely by the instrumentation. It is important to us that each listener hear the music for his or her self. We are not trying to tell anyone what to think or feel, just hoping that they can connect to something deeper within themselves and/or our world we live in.
Song Introduction:
This is a yet-to-be-named song that was recorded at an in-studio performance at Echoes (www.echoes.org), a PRI station near Philadelphia. It was recorded in late February of 2008 on our last tour. This song will likely be featured on our forthcoming record, though may have a slightly different make-up than this version.
Sound Off:
Simply, we make music and gravely hope that it affects you and engages you to think or feel something contrary to the mundane or expected. Our hearts and minds are influenced so heavily by our memories and longings, our families, friends, love, grief, our surrounding landscapes, literature, music and a vast array of other sources; the amalgam of which serve as the foundation of our music.
Websites:
http://balmorheamusic.com
Myspace
