After well-received album launches for second album ‘Augusta’, multi-genre band Suicide Swans are set to make their debut appearance at Brisbane venue The Triffid.
The sophomore album from the band moves away from the style of their first.
Songwriter, guitar and vocalist Kyle Jenkins discusses the new sound. “The first [album] was a lot more ragged. “We made a conscious decision on this one to do something that’s a lot more layered and to spend more time on it, thinking about how the songs should be constructed.
“The new album is going to be a triple vinyl because it’s 140-minutes long.”
"Because we’re all really interested in textures and things like that, there was a lot of editing and adding constantly with it.
"That’s probably the reason it took 18 months to do. It turned out exactly how we wanted it to, so we’re really excited about it.”
The new album has also been influenced by the addition of band member Morgan Hann. “He’s a multi-instrumentalist so he can essentially play most things, which has really opened up the band as well.
“He plays 12-string and a number of different keys. He’s got an original Rhodes and original [Wurlitzer] and you can’t duplicate those sounds.
"We kind of use that '60s-'70s recording mentality, attempting to capture the organic nature of what the instrument sounds like.”
The album is then mixed by band member Ben Lancaster, who ensures each instrument has space and enjoys their own moment in each song. “I think the album really exemplifies that so we’re really happy with it.”
An overall theme for ‘Augusta’ was only clear towards the end of the writing process. One song, titled ‘Pleasanton’ is inspired by Kyle’s American mother’ and is named after the city she lived in outside San Francisco.
The final song on the record, written following the death of a close friend is titled ‘Nurse’. “Overall [‘Augusta’] is about that idea of existing in your own space, both internal and external, physical and emotional.
"This album is about the idea of feeling overwrought or burdened by something but also feeling indifferent by it, and trying to juggle those two things together.”
The band have remained busy. In between the production of ‘Augusta’, shows throughout the year and three members becoming fathers, they’ve managed to finish recording a third album, ‘La Jungla’ due out April 2018, and have begun production on a further album, ‘Knuckle Down’.
“I get bored quite easily, so I just started writing.
“[‘La Jungla’ was] recorded completely live – 14 tracks in 1 day. It’s going to be a triple vinyl because it’s 140-minutes long.
"There were no overdubs so if we didn’t like the vocals but liked the music, we still had to re-record the whole song. It’s a more extensive-jamming type album.”
