Lori Scacco (of Too Pure UK band Seely) and Eva Puyuelo (of Warp/Stones Throw band Savath y Savalas) first met through mutual friend and collaborator Guillermo Scott Herren (Prefuse 73) when Lori was on tour as part of the Savath y Savalas live band. Years later as Lori was writing new solo material and Eva, who resides in Barcelona, was in New York recording with Savath & Savalas, she invited Eva to join her on one song for her new record which, at the time, was intended to be mostly instrumental. They soon discovered that they had a deep-rooted creative connection and a shared love of 70’s psych-folk one-offs, so they made a plan to bring Eva back to the states in the coming months to begin work on a full-length. Lay Your Sea Coat Aside is the result of 5 weeks spent sequestered in New York City, immersed in a wholly collaborative exchange. Inspired by Linda Perhacs, Extradition, Nico, and Elis Regina’s stripped down collaborations with Milton Nascimento, they poured over a number of guitar pieces Lori had amassed throughout the initial writing stages and developed an explorative practice that would define every instant of their work together.
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Adopting a compositional philosophy in which nothing is static and the introduction of any new element could dictate changes to the whole, Lori crafted elastic instrumental narratives that served as a point of departure. Eva replied with strings of melodies and harmonies—and together they collaged their material, recording well into the night, always writing and deconstructing as they went. In the early mornings they collected what they had done, reintroduced certain artifacts or deconstructed further, and the process would begin again with an infectious urgency. They ended up with a series of wordless compositions—some dense with vocal harmonies and field recordings, some stripped bare of any accompaniments—that together formed an intimate, immersive sonic landscape. They became Storms.
Once they had a clear sense of their concept, for the lyrical content they brought in Ann Stephenson, a New York poet whose evocative expeditions of language fit perfectly into their visceral musical ground. Communicating via email and sending tracks back and forth, Ann provided lyrical sketches that Lori and Eva used as raw material to collage, rearrange, or sometimes use in their entirety. Each of the 3 components—vocal, instrumental, and lyrical—constantly folded into and informed the others, always remaining fluid and malleable. The resulting record achieves a tactile minimalism, manifested through texture of breath and voice, elemental acoustic resonance, and a celebration of the immediacy of place.
To view Jill Pangallo’s video for “Sweet Cup” in your browser, click here.
In her video for ‘Sweet Cup’, artist Jill Pangallo utilizes Super 8 film footage she has collected over the years on trips to the Caribbean coast of Mexico. In her words, “Storms’ lush, contemplative tracks are the ideal companion for this footage. I’ve been waiting several years for the perfect project to present itself. The moment I heard ‘Sweet Cup,’ I knew I had a match. There’s an ease to the song that reminds me of the process of shooting Super 8—I delight in the fact that something so uncomplicated yields such incredibly nuanced results. Every time I listen, this song takes me away… to a quiet place I visit with dear friends… to a bird soaring over the calm, blue ocean.”
Artist – Storms
Album- Lay Your Sea Coat Aside
US Release Date – March 15, 2011
Label – Plancha
Tracklist:
01. Wolves and Bells
02. Sweet Cup
03. Lady Frances
04. Foxes
05. The Forest Year
06. Letter on the 44th Day
07. The Shipbuilder
08. Ceremony
09. Para Lole