I caught up with Canadian Duo Strange & Primitive
this week for an exclusive interview to feature on this blog. I came across
Strange & Primitive one day whilst looking for new artists on Twitter, I
wasn't entirely sure what to think of them at first but soon became addicted.
They are only at the very beginning of their career in music as Strange &
Primitive but have released a handful of songs under their previous name Audiograft.
It’s definitely worth having a look at their latest song ‘Eureka’, you can find
the link below. I find this band increasingly interesting and they are
definitely one to listen to if you are searching for something outside the
ordinary.
For those who haven't heard your music before, who are
Strange & Primitive?
Strange & Primitive is a Canadian musical duo
comprised of Graham Fish and Jeff Musgrave. Jeff Musgrave performs all the vocals
and all other writing, arranging, producing, and performing responsibilities
are shared equally between Graham and Jeff. We aspire to a dynamic and
cinematic style with a blend of earthy and synthetic textures.
We met and shortly thereafter started recording together
in 2007. Previously we were jamming in another band and found out we were on a
similar aesthetic mission musically.
Early on we made amateur recordings above Jeff’s uncle’s garage where
there was an upright piano. We both really loved the recording process and we
pushed ourselves to learn a lot and improve with the goal of eventually having
our own studio where we could achieve our full sonic vision. Eventually, in 2011 we had completed our
recording studio in Graham’s place in Guelph Ontario. From there we recorded an instrumental album
‘Melody in the Half-Light’ under the name Audiograft and released it in 2012.
The album was very much inspired by film structures and had weaving textures
and melodies. We worked hard to create organic but surprising ways of
transitioning. The next planned project was to be one with vocals (where Eureka
would eventually come from) and as we started writing and putting it together
we realised it was really very different from Audiograft so a name change was
necessary and we became ‘Strange & Primitive’.
So where did the name Strange & Primitive come about?
The name is a reference to music being one of the oldest
(primitive) ways of abstracting emotion (the strange). Previously we called
ourselves Audiograft, and made instrumental music. Since the new music differs
structurally from the old, we wanted to change the name despite the roster of
the band remaining the same.
Where do you guys find your inspirations and how do you
think those inspirations fit into your music?
We think musical influences can be detected in our
structures, arrangements, production and approach to creating music but not
necessarily melodically or lyrically. For example, while arranging for this
album we listened to a lot of James Brown and made notes. His influence isn’t
really felt though, since there’s no relation melodically or lyrically.
Instead, we were more interested in his musical “call and answer” and playing
“in the pocket”. We also look a lot to cinema for structural inspiration. This
was more apparent with our instrumental work but it’s still something at the
back of our minds. It’s always been the goal to make a record that we’d want to
hear that’s not yet on our shelf.
Where do you see yourselves fitting into the modern music
scene?
I think we’re an example of the modern band that’s doing
a lot of stuff themselves. The new
musician will need knowledge of their craft but also knowledge of the recording
studio, marketing process, and business practice. They’ll also need to know
when and where to get help. On this record, the only task we didn’t perform was
mastering, which we left to the professionalism and unmatched experience of Bob
Katz.
What has been the proudest moment of your career so far?
Well we've really just started our career though completing
our studio in Guelph and achieving that artistic freedom felt pretty great.
What does the future hold for Strange & Primitive?
We have at least two more singles coming out and our
self-titled debut album is due out in late August. We’re also working on some
more video content that will go up on our YouTube channel. The plan is to post
full length music videos and live studio performances there.
Where can people hear more of you?
We’d encourage everyone to subscribe to our YouTube
channel www.youtube.com/strangeandprimitive for more videos. Also follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/StrangePrimitiv, like us on Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/StrangeAndPrimitive
for news and check out our Bandcamp page
http://music.strangeandprimitive.com/ for more music including our previous
project, Audiograft (https://audiograft.bandcamp.com/).
Our website is: http://www.strangeandprimitive.com/.
What was the inspiration behind your new song Eureka?
We talked a lot during lunch breaks while working in the
recording studio, about technology, artificial intelligence and cybernetics. We
talk about other subjects of course but for whatever reason during these
sessions we were really on about subjects of the science fiction variety. This
got us talking about limitations (of communication, understanding, love etc),
which ended up being one of the themes we were originally playing with for our
first album under the Strange & Primitive name. These themes still sort of
hide out in little ways on each track but the limitation theme is still very
strong with ‘Eureka’.
Lyrically we are touching on some of the paranoia and
anxiety that naturally comes from the unknown. Musically the song attempts to
capture an anxious rush to answer life’s questions. The song deals with the
chance that our endless curiosity is matched with endless possible
understanding. There’s a frustration with the inability to understand and
articulate information to each other and also a frustration with technology
being an unsatisfactory tool for communication. Those frustrations are present
in the song. The chorus is meant as a realization that our problems
communicating and understanding are getting more complicated and less in our
control.
I’m a big fan of Strange & Primitive and really
enjoyed their early instrumental songs under Audiograft. I think this is really
a band that is going to explode onto the scene once their album drops in
August. Be sure to keep your eyes out for them. I would love to hear your
feedback on this band. Positive or negative, leave a comment below.
Photography by Crestina Martins
Photography by Crestina Martins
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