INTERVIEW: On new album, 9 Horses keep on strumming
Photo: Joe Brent is the bandleader of 9 Horses, which recently released the album Strum. Photo courtesy of Emma Mead / Provided by AMT PR with permission.
9 Horses, the instrumental trio, are back with a new album called Strum, which was released today, June 7. This recording and performing project features multi-instrumentalist/composer Joe Brent, Grammy-nominated violinist Sara Caswell and bassist Andrew Ryan, according to press notes. Together they are pioneers in the progressive jazz arena, with some improvisation thrown in along the way. Their resulting creativity has led to Strum, an instrumental thesis that runs more than one hour.
Brent said the inspiration for the album’s title comes from the instruments that were used to create this sonic output. On the recording, one can hear mandolins, guitars, basses, banjos and pianos, plus 9 Horses has strumming fun with violins, drums and even people. Songs include “Jenny-Pop Nettle Eater,” “Americannia” and “The House That Ate Myself,” although the album is meant to be experienced in full, rather than diced up into different morsels.
Recently Hollywood Soapbox exchanged emails with Brent to talk about 9 Horses and the band’s new album, their third recording effort, which is being released on Brent’s label, Adhyâropa Records. 9 Horses are also gearing up for an album release concert at the Williamsburg Music Center in Brooklyn on June 22. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
What were the early days of 9 Horses like, and what motivated the decision to become a trio?
Once I was a primordial ooze made up of prebiotic compounds, amino acids and social anxiety. I got pretty good at playing the mandolin because it was easier than cellular division and talking to girls. Eventually I evolved into a complex organism, too complex for anyone to understand, especially Kim! Then the other organisms started giving me validation for my mandolin playing that I wasn’t getting from my guidance counselor, so I focused my cellular energy on that instead. Eventually I attracted Sara through osmotic depletion, and we evolved into a symbiotic nonadsorbing solute molecule with polymer coils and a rehearsal space. Andrew was eventually sucked through our membranes via cellular adhesion, and we’ve been slowly nourishing ourselves on his cytoplasm ever since. Soon, he’ll be reduced to the essential cellular bass-playing components: namely, a passport and a Subaru.
What can listeners expect from the new album?
Long stretches of ecstasy, building up first in the loins, but then spreading to the vapours and humours. Expect this to be punctuated by moments of a deeply melancholic nostalgia. Your one true love waits for you, just beyond the veil. They miss you. They love you. You’ll be together soon.
Why did you gravitate toward an acoustic, organic sound over synths on this recording project?
We used synthesizers extensively on our last project. But then one day I woke up and looked in the mirror, and to my horror I had grown an organic outer shell made up of sparkly blazers and Ray-Bans. My hair was the shape of the Sydney Opera House, and I had opinions on which clubs were “washed.” It was a nightmare. I immediately began a regimen of acoustic guitar therapy, and I’m only just now coming out of it. This record might have saved my life. It might have saved your life.
Releasing the album on your own label gives you maximum flexibility and creativity, right?
It allowed me to harness the power of two dichotomies: 1) the only art worth paying attention to is that which was created to the despair of the artist, and 2) the only music worth listening to is that which was created to the despair of the label that released it. I am, of course, both label head and bandleader. The label kept bemoaning the lack of a single, while the band insisted that the album must be considered as a whole to be understood as a cohesive artistic statement. The label wanted more pop anthems; the band wanted more industrial sludge. The label hired a professional photographer to do the cover; the band took a selfie with a Polaroid, then sent it as a fax. The making of this album is the story of warring considerations, and its birth was difficult, violent and painful. Track two ends in a bitchin’ violin solo.
What inspired the tune “The House That Ate Myself”?
If you stare at a sign written in Copperplate font for too long your eyes will bleed. Then, your stomach will distend, your skin will peel off and your esophagus will fill with bees. I assume this is self-evident.
How difficult is learning the mandolin versus the guitar?
Little-known fact: They’re actually the same instrument. Mandolinists are just fucking enormous.
What can audience members expect at the album release concert?
Instruments are made out of tune through the repeated act of playing them. We solve this by never tuning and then not playing.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
9 Horses’ new album is called Strum. They will play an album release concert June 22 at Williamsburg Music Center in Brooklyn. Click here for more information and tickets.
