The Furniture | Interview | New Debut Album
The Furniture’s debut album is the result of an exploration of gradually shape-shifting constructions. The pair point to 1970’s German experimental music such as Cluster, and the pioneering minimalist composer Moondog as touchstones.
Improvisation isn’t all about the moment itself. For Michael Kuhl and Matthew Pierce, their new project The Furniture celebrates free form spontaneity, yet arrives from a deep-routed understanding of one another. The Furniture is the pair’s debut album, being released through Cigarettes After Sex’s refreshed label Spanish Prayers and is a meditative trip through amorphous drones, rolling drums and haunting atmospheres. Although it came together in just one two-hour session together, the genesis has a greater history, having played together in various touring bands both in Baltimore and abroad.
‘The Furniture’ is their first album as a duo and the chance for them to distill their respective playing styles away from their other projects. The record has been taken entirely from a single live performance recorded in the Reverb club in Baltimore. Frequent collaborator producer Steve Wright brought a mobile studio and some mics down to the small live room and its even smaller stage. From there he let the pair subconsciously weave years of mutual understanding into the free form eight tracks that make up the album.
“Making a record free form can be a little risky. It’s not guaranteed that the creative forces that are summoned will show up”. say the duo. “But when they do, it can be one of the most fulfilling aspects of recording, in the way that each time you go back and listen, it can take you to a place or an emotion yet to be discovered”.
How did you two guys get together and what led to the formation of The Furniture?
We met a while back during our college days and became fast friends. Although we were never in the same projects, we kept engaged in what each other was doing. Always sharing records and music ideas we were coming up with. It always seemed kind of inevitable that we would find a way to play together. In 2015 we both had some lulls in the projects we were doing and it seemed like the right time to put something together.
Is improvisation the main ingredient in this project?
Very much so. Most of what we have recorded up to this point has come out of spontaneous composition/improvisation. Many of the groups we’ve played with before this project had elements of improvisation to them. So even though it can be slightly nerve racking to go out there with essentially nothing planned we are strangely comfortable with it. We don’t even really talk about what we are going to do before we play. And that was the approach we took for the recording of this album.
Would you like to discuss album making? How did the recording process go?
As we mentioned before we rely heavily on improvisation for our material and that was no different for this album. This was technically our first recording and before this all our playing experience came from live shows. So, for this record we decided to try and recreate that vibe of playing live by setting up and recording at a local club in Baltimore called Reverb. As for how we went about coming with material for this record we used our improvisations as a sort of compositional technique. But instead of a more standard approach of coming in with some ideas and putting them together into a song we went into this session and played freely and then edited it down into songs afterwards. It’s kind of like the reverse of a typical songwriting process.
Were you inspired by pioneers of “krautrock” like Cluster? What in particular do you find the most fascinating in their music?
“Krautrock” has been a big influence on us in how we approach composition. The linear approach as opposed to a more orthodox song structure is something we have explored from the beginning.
Artists like Cluster, Harmonia, Michael Rother often incorporated repetition and cycles within the linear form. Also the experimental instrumentation, particularly with Cluster, has been a big influence.
Would you speak about your gear…
Our setup is constantly evolving. Either adding or subtracting synthesizers or picking up objects found along our travels we are always keeping a sensitive ear out for sounds that we could potentially use for our set. In fact, I don’t think the percussion has ever been set up the same way twice. It keeps us on our toes. As for something more specific we both utilize some instruments from Critter and Guitari. Mainly the Organelle and the Kaleidoloop. Those are some magical instruments. You can get so many incredible sounds out of them. But really, we just focus on what sounds that work in the moment.
What are some plans for the future?
Hopefully we can get out and do some touring. Just a week after the pandemic was declared we were supposed to go on tour in Europe in support of Cigarettes After Sex but obviously that was scratched. We haven’t played a live show since so we would love to play some of this material in front of a live audience. There is also a plan to get in the studio and record sometime this summer. Over the pandemic we’ve been on a scavenger hunt collecting new sounds and instruments that could fit into our sound. We are itching to put them on tape and try them out live.
Klemen Breznikar
Headline photo: Ebru Yildiz
The Furniture Apple Music / Spotify
Spanish Prayers Official Website / Instagram / Bandcamp / YouTube / SoundCloud
