Special Section: Asva Lyrics

[“Fortune” is based on a three fold alchemical treatise called “Atalanta Fugiens” by Michael Maier which was first published in Latin in 1617. For each fugue there is an image, a latin text, and musical notation for voices in three parts].

Source: Atalanta Fugiens
Author: Michael Maier

Exclusive Interviews

Justin St. Vincent from Xtreme Music received responses to an e-mail interview with Trey Spruance on June 3, 2005, and G. Stuart Dahlquist on June 9, 2005. Minor editorial alterations were made by Justin St. Vincent on June 4, 2005, and June 9, 2005.

Xtreme Music: How did Asva form and start recording music in the doom rock genre?

G. Stuart Dahlquist: I’ve been playing this Doom stuff for a while, starting at the tail-end of Thorr’s Hammer which after a few months and the addition of Edgy 59 became Burning Witch. The writing, the playing of this music came easily; it felt amazing just standing in front of, or really surrounded by all those shimmering tonal waves. I immediately felt at home, and the door was unlocked! After Burning Witch, Sunn(0))), Goatsnake, a brief period of floundering about in Los Angeles music scene, B.R.A.D. called up and asked if it might be fun to put out a heavy, slow thing; if we could write some stuff together again. Over the course of about six months and the introduction of Dylan Carlson, “Caprichos 1-80” was recorded and then released as a split with Burning Witch by B.R.A.D. and I. After that we started working on the “Futurist’s Against The Ocean” music, not knowing who would be involved in playing really. One aspect of Asva that I really like is feeling that the band is evolving, musically and with members as well, the new additions always bringing a new sonic frontier along. So when Dylan got busy with Earth there was a brief question of “Who’s next?”, and then Trey showed up… terrific! How Jessika, Trey, and Troy became interested in Doom I’ll never know, Asva might have been their first taste of it. They’ve certainly provided new voices to the genre, and now I’ve started writing from a standpoint of who’s talents are what, and where can Asva’s music go? Maybe Doom can encompass a broader sound, or perhaps Asva will move beyond what this “Doom” genre can support.

Xtreme Music: Please tell us about the writing processes involved in producing your debut album “Futurist’s Against The Ocean”.

G. Stuart Dahlquist: It’s a lot of work! Initially the songs are written by myself, very rough versions that sort of contain a basic overview, a template for the others to work from. The riffs come easily, usually I’ll get something in my head and have a basic idea for a track in about a day. At that point I’ll send off CD-Rs to everyone else and we each chime in, the song becoming pretty fluid at this point with different ideas being thrown around. A lot of the sort of “micro-tonal” stuff between Jessika, Trey, and Troy being discussed between them, the more heavy guitar/bass/drum aspects being worked over by myself, B.R.A.D, John Schuller, and Daniel La Rochelle. It’s almost like there’s two seperate entities at work, a sort of crash right in the middle, and bang, there’s a track. Producer Randall Dunn also has a very good idea of what B.R.A.D. and I are trying to get across and is instrumental in determining the finished sound of Asva. In the case of bringing both Jessika and Trey into Asva, it was Randall who introduced us. He’s brought a great deal to this project.

Xtreme Music: What innovative production techniques do you incorporate into your recorded music?

G. Stuart Dahlquist: Not being a real tech-guy in the studio my comments have to stay mostly in the writing and song creation realm. There’s some simple tools I employ in my studio at home that have nothing to do with playing an instrument but that have led directly to the creation of a song. I like to experiment with other people’s music, taking my rough ideas and laying somebody else’s music right over the top just to hear what it sounds like. “Fortune” was initially recorded like this; taking the rough “Fortune” demo, I layed a piece of Hildegard Von Bingen‘s on top. When it finally sat right timing-wise over the demo it brought tears to my eyes. Jessika was recommended by Randall as a person who could sing ancient music and that was how she was brought into the fold, and now with the influx of all these new people to the band so much is within our grasp. Trey and Jessika both bring amazingly varied influences, B.R.A.D. with his super minimal percussive style, Troy and his Hammond Organ hardly move but by using the drawbars he’s really created an astounding, and to my ears, a new approach to keys. The fact that Asva’s members are coming from different head spaces besides Metal or Doom seems pretty innovative to me although I’m very sure others are and have been taking a similar path. Maybe using old school tecniques in the studio like 2″ tape, vintage gear, is now coming full circle and represents an innovative approach to recording. If that’s the case, then Asva certainly uses those tools, the tape machines, the tube gear, and all that.

Trey Spruance: I’m really proud of my tubular bell solos on that record. Actually, Randall Dunn is f-ing amazing. We used a copper microphone of his that looks like a pipe bomb on the piano, which gave it a really dusty tone. That and squashing it on the “nuke” setting on the Distressor. Randall is a good adventurer. My frequency zone was different than almost everyone elses, high mids mostly, so for the small amount of stuff I did on the CD, clean guitar, piano, and tubular bells, he was really adaptable to what I saw as the “necessary” additions, minus anything else. In my mind I had habituated myself to a certain sonic role in Asva. A scratchy but barely discernable movement in the massive darkness, like a tumbleweed blowing by at midnight. Anyway, I can be the worst nightmare for an engineer that is set in his ways because in my own universe I know exactly what the hell I’m doing. In technical terms as well as the art fag ones, and that’s the worst. Randall, God bless him, completely loves all of that shit.

Xtreme Music: What does the album and tracks titles on “Futurist’s Against The Ocean” reference?

G. Stuart Dahlquist: “Futurist’s Against The Ocean” is actually taken from the title of a simple collage [“Futurist’s Battle With The Ocean”] in a twelve page chapbook by Aleksei Kruchenykh called “Universal War” [aka “Vselenskja Vojna“] [Download Info .pdf] . Each page is collage, simple, and elegant, just a few pieces of colored shapes against a solid background of blue, white, pink, or purple. It seemed fitting to me that Asva would be equated to the Russian Futurist’s movement of the early part of this last century. Really I’ve been suprized at the amount of commentary that has come about due this title. There though, lie its origins. I had done some artwork that went along these lines for the record; block shapes, really minimalist, but no one seemed to like it much, and it was shelved.

“Kill The Dog, Tie Them Up, Then Take The Money” is from a horrible event that took place next to my old home in Seattle. Some thugs broke into my neighbors house, killed the dog, tied up, and actually killed my neighbors, then stole whatever money they had in the house. The thieves were caught and convicted because of DNA samples taken from the dog that were found on their clothing. True story. In retrospect the title seems funny, bungling thieves being told by the boss how to pull off a robbery. Sadly it’s not really that funny.

“Zaum;Beyonsense”: “Beyonsense” is really just a loose translation of what “Zaum” means. This word is again from the Russian Futurist’s and relates to the use of transrational discourse in art and written language. Taking an abstact thought and translating it into emotional expression that is divined and interpreted within the beholder. It seemed appropriate in the context of this piece of music.

“Fortune” is the title given to the first movement of Carl Orff’s “Carmina Burana” and I borrowed it. Jessika wrote her part and we stuck with the given title. I think its fitting in that the payoff here, your fortune if you will, after some thirty minutes of listening to “Futurist’s Against The Ocean” is the voice of Jessika Kenney.

“By The Well Of Living And Seeing” is the title of an extraordinary poem by Charles Reznikoff [“By The Well Of Living And Seeing“], and the lyrics of the song consist of lines taken directly from that poem. B.R.A.D. sings on this track as well as Jessika, and he is responsible for the melody and the unusual harmony.

Xtreme Music: What are your reflections from working in the studio together with the band members?

G. Stuart Dahlquist: Asva’s music comes down to a fair amount of experimentation, trying different things, instruments, tonal elements; the only thing that has really worked out prior to getting in the studio is how the song will go. For example, this part is played seven times, this five, things like that. There’s a lot of give and take, a lot of negotiation. It’s a little stressful, a lot of fun, and the middle ground we discover tends toward a wholly new sound that differentiates Asva from other Doom bands. Just being able to let go of preconcieved notions of how things should sound opens us up to so many possibilities, and exploring those possibilities is fast becoming the most exiting aspect of this band!

Trey Spruance: Amazed and intrigued, especially by Stuart and his weird and uncontrived way of hearing this “Doom” music. The way the whole thing grew out of itself was pretty neat.

Xtreme Music: How did you come to discover Jessika Kenney’s resonating vocals, and what are the beautiful lyrics that she sings?

G. Stuart Dahlquist: Jessika was introduced to me by way of Randall Dunn; I had sent him a copy of “Fortune” with the vocal part I had overdubbed by Hildegard Von Bingen and liked so much. I was asking about the possibility of running it as a sample when we played live, and Randall said “Well sure, you could do that but I know someone who can pull it off” and Jessika was that someone. Intitially she just came to a show, walked on stage and improvised… I could hardly play! I’d get so choked up listening to her, tears would blur my vision, literally sobbing on stage. She just captivated me so. “Fortune” is sung in Latin, based on an alchemical text from I think the 14th century. Not understanding Latin, it’s my very basic understanding that what’s going on lyrically is “To kill the dragon, you must first kill the dragon’s brother”. I should someday get a better idea of the content! “By The Well Of Living And Seeing” was explained earlier, a Charles Reznikoff poem that B.R.A.D. had borrowed lines from prior to Jessika’s involvment in the band. The phrase at the end of the song “Penumbral tu halo” is Latin meaning the “Ring around the moon is your halo”.

Trey Spruance: I’ve known Jessika a long time and played many gigs with her, most of which have been either tentative and rewarding forays into “early music”. Music of Michael Maier (!) and Thomas Campion, or me doing a hack attempt at reading charts and doing the easiest gong parts in slendro tunings behind some of the actual West Japanese repertoire she is quite familiar with.

Xtreme Music: What can you tell us about the cover artwork and additional imagery included within this album.

G. Stuart Dahlquist: Stephen O’Malley and I came up with the concept for the cover art after my aformentioned artwork was poo-pooed by my bandmates. We let Stephen run with it and after some fiddling around we came to what you now see. The artwork in the middle is by Melinda Matson, an artist I was lucky enough to meet several years ago in Portland, an astounding person, and her partner Mark Rodgers. I had seen a photograph of this piece and wanted to use it in a Burning Witch record but it just wouldn’t work. Melinda showed up at an Asva show and we talked a great deal, she agreed to let us use it. Mark sadly took his own life a couple of years ago, I never had the opportunity to meet him. That font is a Cyrillic that Stephen and I chose… those Futurist’s really got a bite into me, and I just couldn’t and still can’t get them to let me loose. We’ve taken some shit for using it but I think it looks good, it’s interesting, and if somebody for some reason doesn’t like it, I just couldn’t care less.

Xtreme Music: How have Asva’s live performances been going and what has the crowd reaction been like?

G. Stuart Dahlquist: The shows have been good! This last tour had its ups and downs performance wise. Really I don’t think we hit our stride until the last two or three shows. The addition of Dan on guitar plus a new track called “A Trap For Judges” gave us alot to iron out and we rehearsed very little before hand so things evolved during shows instead of during rehearsals. We’re a pretty dark band live, slower than most, louder than most, and play a somewhat difficult brand of music for the average listener to digest. Those who “get it” really freak out, those who don’t usually can’t stand it at all and leave the building which is of course better than saying some dumb-ass remark during “Fortune” which fucks it up for everyone; there’s really very little in middle of the road reactions. We play a solid wall of sound for about an hour and fifteen minutes, no breaks for a breath, and it becomes either a warm, welcoming womb of sound or an entirely claustrophobic sound coffin. My ears generally pop after a performance!

Trey Spruance: Favorable. It’s funny to see people cheer after an hour long “Doom” concert. Seems like they should just sit down and cry for a while. I’d feel better about our impact if that was the reaction. Maybe someday.

Xtreme Music: Please tell us about your upcoming European tour plans during summer 2005.

G. Stuart Dahlquist: We’re working on a limited 12″ containing two new songs, one live and the other studio that will coordinate with a early September UK/European tour. The dates and venues are just now being sorted out and booked so I might have definitive information posted in a week or two, a dozen or so shows. I think we’d all like to do more but with so many members its tough to sort out schedules. I’m sure looking forward to it, there’s alot of people I haven’t seen for a while, some of whom have kindly offered to buy me a pint or two.

Xtreme Music: For those who enjoy music from Asva, what other bands or musicians can you recommend?

G. Stuart Dahlquist: My top five would be Krzysztof Penderecki, Miles Davis, Carl Orff, Steve Reich, and paying attention to turn signals of cars in front of you while waiting at stop lights. Amazing stuff, highly underrated. My favorite stuff by Miles Davis came from the work he did with Gil Evans, “Sketches Of Spain” in particular. Carl Orff created some amazing music that incorporated instuments he himself designed; very percussive, sturdy. By this I mean his compositions haven’t dulled over years of repeated heavy listening. I recommend Carmina Burana to the uninitiated. Krzysztof Penderecki absolutely rules! His “Polish Requiem” has been for me the single most influential piece of music; absolutely stunning. Anything by him is a complete mind-fuck, and we all love a good mind fuck. Steve Reich has so much material out that I’ve no idea what would be my listening choice! I’ll mention something and there’s always going to be someone else chiming in with “But what about this or that?” For the record, “Proverb” kills me.

Trey Spruance: IIancu Dumitrescu, especially “Medium (II)”, “Medium (III): For Double Bass”, and “Pierres Sacrées: Acousmatic Music For Prepared And Amplified Pianos, Plates And Metallic Objects”. I couldn’t believe that neither Stephen O’Malley nor Stuart Dahlquist had heard this. But it just proves their uncontrived nature, kind of like how some death metal proves atonal serialism as having the potential of being a “folk” phenomenon. It used to be that “classical” music was based on folk forms. I think that started to flip around in the 20th Century. Ok, I’ll shut up now.

Xtreme Music: What are your plans for musical projects in the near future?

G. Stuart Dahlquist: I’ve got a bunch of stuff to do… getting this 12″ out in time for the tour is taking up some time for sure, and saving some money for tickets to get ourselves there. The “Futurist’s Against The Ocean” vinyl as well that I’ve got to sort and save a little money to do. Also writing some new Asva tracks for the next record, I’m about half way there. Stephen O’Malley and I are cooking something up but as yet aren’t able to unveil it and I’m still hoping to put together a tour that gets us as far south as Los Angeles, my home.