Six Thoughts – Dissecting and Discussing Arctic Sleep’s Arbors

Originally written by Ramar Pittance

Chances are you didn’t hear Arctic Sleep‘s Arbors when it was released in October, 2012. That’s okay; you’re not alone. The unsigned Milwaukee/Chicago-based quartet is the brainchild of songwriters and self-professed amplifier junkies Keith Dulumbu and Mike Gussis. Last Rites recently exchanged e-mails with Dulumbu, who talked to us about the benefits and pitfalls of navigating the music scene without label representation in 2013, Arctic Sleep‘s influences (which range from Hum to Obituary) and the fragile balance between sound and song.

After the video, we’ll get to the conversation. First, here are six thoughts on Arborswhich you can stream and buy on Arctic Sleep’s Bancamp page.

1. A few weeks ago, Ian Chainey plugged Birmingham’s Iroha in this weekly Past Rites column. When he played it for me, I pretty quickly made a Hum comparison, probably because I had been spending a lot of time to listening to the 90s Alt-Rock gods at the time. Anyway, Iroha is a damn fine band and well worth your time, but they’re really more in the tradition of Jesu or Japan’s Envy. However, Arbors is the album I hoped I was hearing when Ian pressed play on Shepherds & Angels. This is Downward is Heavenward writ gargantuan. It’s worth nothing that Hum aren’t listed among Arctic Sleep‘s influences on their Facebook page, but Obituary is. If you listen to Frank Watkins’ bass tone on World Demise, though, this actually makes some sense.

2. I’ve long been listening to music at volumes that will probably cost me my hearing once I become an old man. I’m sort of accustomed to loud, as I’m sure you are too, person-comes-to-a-website-with-a goat-skull-thing-for-a-logo. But there’s a moment on this album, which I won’t ruin for you, that is so instantly and unexpectedly loud that it will rattle even the most hardened ear drums.

3. Arctic Sleep is a band, and that’s a very promising development for this style of spacious, bedroom-gazey style of heavy music. Those of us still tracking djent’s trajectory spend a lot of time talking about how the genre can integrate vocalists into the mix without totally undermining the style’s focus on rhythmic complexity and melodic texture. Though Arctic Sleep isn’t even close to being a djent band, it’s easy to imagine a universe in which they coasted on the sheer beauty and breadth of the instrumental tracks. Instead, they’ve made an album that sounds like a conversation among players–something the listener should feel privileged to be a part of. Vocalist Keith Dulumbu does more than keep up, he’s the steward that guides us through massive landscapes Arctic Sleep creates.

4. A few years ago, a critic’s duty upon hearing an unsigned band like Arctic Sleep would be to crow about the injustice of the music industry and demand that a record label take notice. I never feel that way anymore. Arbors is self-produced and it sounds better than any 2012 release that doesn’t have Ben Sharpe‘s fingerprints on it. I’m sure there are ways that a record deal could make the players’ lives a little easier–Dulumbu has some thoughts on this–but from where I stand, they’re producing at optimum efficiency without one.

5. Why do we make ‘best of’ lists in December? Nobody hears everything the calendar has to offer to offer within its 12-months and everything a critic hears after Halloween is unfairly judged through the ‘best of’ prism. Arbors is certainly one of the finest pieces of heavy music released in 2012, but it’s unlikely to be considered so because it got lost in the year-end shuffle. A proposal: how about we, the critical community, wait until at least April to put our lists together. What’s the rush?

6. There are about two minutes worth of unpleasant sounding music on Arbors–the bulk of it comes via that fretless goddamn bass in the outro of “Althena’s Pond.” So, imagine you are sitting at the crest of a cliff overlooking whatever sort of natural habitat suits your fancy. Mist fills the air and it feels cool and pleasant. You relax and focus on something like inner-peace. And then you feel some motherfucker’s greasy pony-tail slink across your bare forearm. That is what fretless bass does to atmospheric music.

Ramar Pittance: I wrote up a little review of Arbors, and one of the thoughts I threw out there is that, “for everyone who is looking for a heavy band that knows how to channel HumArctic Sleep is the band you.” Hum was a really big band for me as a kid. What did they mean for you guys as young music fans? How was it recording that cover of “The Scientists” for the tribute album.

Keith Dulumbu: Of course, we all enjoy Hum quite a bit. Like most folks did, Mike and I both discovered them back when we were in high school. I was actually browsing a record store in Champaign, Illinois where my sister was going to school at the time. They were playing You’d Prefer An Astronaut on the stereo; this was in like 1994 or something. I went and asked the clerk what album was playing, and I bought it then and there. To be invited on to the tribute album was an honor, of course, and we were and still are very grateful for the opportunity. We’re grateful to everyone who was involved with it that did such a good job. On the other hand, I generally don’t care for tribute albums and I’m not very comfortable playing cover songs either, but we thought it would be a good opportunity to get our name out there a little and to network with some other bands from around the country who share a common admiration for Hum. I discovered a couple of bands from it that I am now a fan of, namely Anakin and [Damn] This Desert Air, both of whom I think make fantastic music. I have spoken to both of them through email too and they are very cool people.

RP: Whether its fair or not, I’ve sort of lumped your band into the same group as projects I mostly encounter through the Internet, like Cloudkicker and Deathmøle. The similarity being, you’re all unsigned and you all make sonically immaculate music that borders on alt-rock and metal. (I recognize that I could be way off on this). One thing that I found really refreshing about your band, though, is that it’s actually a band, and not a one-man project. How important is the collaborative process between you and Mike? I know this is a strange question to consider-but what do you think Arctic Sleep would sound like if it was just your solo project?

KD: Well, Mike is my best friend of something like thirteen years now, and he’s an incredibly talented crafter of guitar-riffs, and we work very well together in the songwriting process. We have a mutual understanding of how the band should sound and we both have a common respect for each other and we’ve really found true common ground with our music over the years. So working with Mike is invaluable to me. If you want to hear what it would sound like as a solo project just pop in Abysmal Lullabies. Doing that album by myself was fun and rewarding and I’m proud of it, but of course it is much better to have a full band of talented players, and to have Mike as my songwriting partner and bandmate. I think we make a good guitar duo and the songs that we collaborate on 50/50 are my favorites. But yeah, when I was writing/recording Abysmal Lullabies, the whole time I was like “I wonder what Mike would think of this” and “I hope Mike will like this riff.” We influence each other quite a bit, and I would never be comfortable writing Arctic Sleep stuff with anyone else.

RP: You list Carcass and Obituary as influences. And, despite the fact that you sound nothing like them now, this makes perfect sense to me. I can hear that bass tone from World Demise all over Arbors. I’m really interested in bands that aren’t “METAL” incorporating metal influences. What is it you like about those bands, and how do they influence your sound?

KD: That’s an interesting question! I think that “influences” and “bands you sound like” can often be two completely different things, if that makes any sense. We are influenced by all sorts of different types of music. Heavy metal is just one of the many types of music we love, and while it is a huge influence in our sound, at the same time I would probably not necessarily refer to Arctic Sleep as a “metal” band because we don’t fit very neatly into that category, and I don’t want to piss off a bunch of Manowar fans, either. But as for the influences you mentioned, I’ve loved Carcass since the early 90’s, I always thought they were very different and I’ve always loved the guitar sound on their recordings, particularly on Necroticism and Heartwork. They were the first band I ever heard that tuned the guitars way down to B, which is now the usual tuning in our band as well. I’ve always been a big Obituary fan as well for similar reasons, if not for their sheer heaviness alone. I really liked that they occasionally had moments in their songs where they slowed tempos down, to me that just made it sound so much heavier. I’m also a huge fan of Donald Tardy’s drumming style; I love when he slows it down on songs like “In The End Of Life.” I’m a sucker for anything with pounding sixteenths on the bass drum. We also have a lot of very, very non-metal influences too. It’s important to be inspired by a wide variety of music, otherwise you just end up churning out something that sounds exactly like everything else out there.

RP: I only have one gripe with the album, and it’s that fretless bass that shows toward the end of Althena’s Pond. It’s not your fault, there’s just something in my brain that immediately rejects that noise. Sell me on the fretless bass, Keith. What am I missing?

Arctic SleepKD: That comment is amusing and funny to me, and I appreciate and respect your honesty. Who knows, maybe the sound of a fretless bass is just not your bowl of stew. As for me, I think it sounds gorgeous! I’m no Jaco Pastorius, of course, but I gave it my best go. I remember I used to have this friend who absolutely fucking hated the sound of a harmonica, and as a result I could never play any Neil Young or Bob Dylan records around her; it was pretty funny. It’s possible that a very very long time ago, something bad may have happened to you while “Sunset Grill” by Don Henley was playing in the background or something, and now the sound of a fretless bass triggers negative reactions. Who knows? For me, the sound of steel drums really pisses me off. They just make everything sound like a Girls Gone Wild TV commercial. I can’t explain it. So dude, I totally understand how you feel. I don’t think you’re “missing” anything, it’s just that not everything on an album can be perfect for everybody I guess. It’s all good.

RP: Is Arctic Sleep better off being unsigned? You obviously know how to produce great sounding albums and Bandcamp offers what seems like an equitable distribution model. But, how do you feel about this? Do you want to be on a record label, or are you guys happy where you are?

KD: I honestly wouldn’t know, because we’ve never been involved with a label. I can put out our albums just fine on my own, but you can really only make it so far with that. I do think it would really help to have the support of a reputable, honest label with the connections and capital to get our music out to a larger audience. I’ve always wanted to release our entire discography on vinyl, but I probably wouldn’t be able to do something that epic without label support. Hint, hint. So yeah, I’d love for a label to put out our stuff and to have some real industry support, but it would have to be a good, legit label and not just … I don’t know … some dude in an apartment with a trust fund or something who has nothing to really offer.

RP: Mike is described as “amplifier-obsessed’ in the band’s bio. Obviously, Arctic Sleep‘s sound is predicated on the immensity of the guitar and bass tone. As a songwriter, is it hard to sort of get lost in that? Meaning, when you have the kind of production that makes most things sound good, how do you make sure you’re writing stuff that sounds good regardless?

KD: Oh yeah, those are my words and they are true. I am certain that Mike daydreams of guitar amplifiers all the live-long day until the cows come home. We’re both really into gear, but Mike is definitely coo coo for Cocoa Puffs when it comes to amps, and he’s been vital in shaping our guitar sound from day one–buying selling and trading amps and pedals, going through them like Popsicles until he found the perfect one. But getting a huge sound, for us, is something to be worried about last. Songwriting comes first, and you can worry about making it sound massive later. Mike actually does most of his riff-writing on an acoustic guitar, sitting in front of the TV. I do a lot of mine through headphones while staring at a wall. We will get together and hash out song ideas unplugged sometimes. Songwriting comes first, the production components of the equation fall into place later on.

RP: What’s one album you’ve been listening to recently that people who like Arctic Sleep would be surprised to know you like?

KDThe Essential Etta James. One of the best singers ever. Her voice grabs me by the soul, and goes great with a strong drink.

Posted by Old Guard

The retired elite of LastRites/MetalReview.

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