Shadow steals the light
An interview by Juan Carlos Romero
Retribution
Gospel Choir, the rock band formed by Alan Sparhawk (guitar, vocals, sampler),
Steve Garrington (bass), both of whom are also in the band Low, and Eric
Pollard (drums, vocals), is back with 3,
new album featuring just two songs which continue the spirit of dense and high-energy
of classic rock-infused riffage compositions and performances, in contrast with
the more minimalist sound of Low. Retribution Gospel Choir debuted in 2005 as
primarily a live enterprise spearheaded by Low's Alan Sparhawk and Mark Kozelek.
From their eponymous debut album released in 2008, with Kozelek no longer as
member of the group but as producer, which opened with They knew you well, the sound of Retribution Gospel Choir has been
growing up and achieving a specific personality beyond the Low project. Now
they are on tour presenting the recent 3
featuring the songs Can’t Walk Out
and Seven and we’ve had the chance to
interview Alan Sparhawk.
From
where and why can’t you walk out?
From here. I've
come too far to turn back.
Why
a retribution and for who?
Once the deed
has been done, the only way to pay back is retribution. You can't return it back to how it was
before. Retribution for ourselves - it's the only hope for the enlightened.
Third
album, how do you see your artistic evolution?
It has taken
this long for our recordings to reflect what happens on stage. We thought we were playing songs, but we are
playing the wind.
Your
debut album opened with They knew you
well. Do you aspire to be well known or do you prefer mystery?
Everyone wants
to be loved and understood, but they want to be loved more than understood.
Your
sound creates always dense and dark atmospheres. Hopeless minds?
No, not
hopeless. Violent and afraid, but not hopeless.
Why
did you shout Revolution! in your
2012 EP?
I was inspired
by the riots in Barcelona a couple years back - young people still go into the
streets, put their bodies up as proof - people who face the impossible
monolith.
In
the latest album features just two songs, could you tell us about its creation
process?
They started as
simple ideas. We had a series of shows
one month where we worked on the songs.
Each night, the songs would get longer and longer, the air stood still.
In
Seven you sing Look at your shadow you feel like an animal. This shadow is the
burden of the past?
The shadow
reminds you that your very existence affects the world around you - even your
shadow steals the light and alters the course of time. Your shadow is the other
you.
Nels
Cline plays guitar in this one, and the result is magnificent. How it was the
experience?
Wilco played in
our city one day - we called Nels and kidnapped him after soundcheck. He plugged in and we started playing the song
all together in the room. One hour
later, we ended the song and brought Nels back to his show. The record is an edit of the first 25 minutes
of the one hour-long take. there's a lot
of great stuff later in the song, but the first-half "learning curve"
seemed the most interesting, so that's what you hear on the record.
What
about the fourth?
I have a few new
songs but they are too controversial to record.
We will see.
And we will wait for it.
An interview by Juan Carlos Romero
Photo courtesy of Retribution Gospel Choir
Retribution Gospel Choir website www.retributiongospelchoir.com
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