Ghost of a Dead Hummingbird - Sound In The Signals Interview
Your debut album Sin forma is coming out April 21. How long did you guys work on it and what was the recording process like?
Matthew Meifert: We began recording in November 2014 and finished in March 2015. However, the process of writing and shaping the material took place in the time frame of over a year prior. I am very glad we went to record with our good friend Jeff Leber (The Noise Room); I knew he would be as passionate about the LP as we were. He wanted to make us sound like us, keeping a raw aesthetic while still making us sound presentable. None of us found ourselves really worried that Jeff would not understand something that we wanted done with Sin forma.
Butterfly Puke Records is releasing this on a limited edition cassette. Why did you guys decide to pair up with them for the cassette release?
They are working with our friends in Awe Howler, who are some of the best musicians we know. We decided to hit them up to see if they would be interested in supporting our release. Our inquiry was met with great enthusiasm by the guys who run BPR. I’m very grateful for everything they have done and are doing to continue supporting this band.
Butterfly Puke is known for doing some really interesting packages. With your EP one of the things that comes with the cassette is a feather. Who came up with the ideas for the packaging and what do you guys think about it?
Chris and Brandon have unique ideas for everything they release and it always makes them stand out. I’m excited to see what other things they come up with for us, Awe Howler, and other bands they decide to work with. There usually is not much debate over what packaging they want to implement. We want them to have the freedom to present it how BPR would, but they always run things by us first.
I was reading the POZ interview you guys did and you talked about how you came up with the titles of the song and kind fo their meaning. I was wondering if you could go into detail and let our readers know how long it took you to kind of go through different texts and come up with the song titles? Do you have a personal favorite and if so why?
We didn’t so much sift through endless pages of texts to find our song names. Our first two singles off Sin forma were simply sentences or phrases that someone had said to one of us (in person or via some other means) that had stuck for some reason. I thought it would be interesting to continue that trend of using seemingly unrelated sentences or phrases to brand our songs. The names of the songs don’t always match with the song content matter. I think my personal favorite would have to be “Mal de muchos…” and “…consuelo de todos” because they really are close to me and my family, specifically my abuela. She’s a sweet Cuban lady in her 90’s and has some interesting things to say over the past several months.
You've released a few song from the album. "If you need a place to stay" from the album is available on Bandcamp. What's the story behind this song in particular the writing process as well as the album title?
“If you need a place to stay” was another track which the title does not exactly relate to the lyrical content. Lyrically, the song is kind of a parallel between life as a kid and relationships with your parents or caretakers and the book The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. Musically, the song is pretty diverse. Most people who listened to it when it first came out told us how they were caught off-guard when the trumpet part began, but loved the addition. Phil from Awe Howler did a great job with making that part fit so well to our ears.
What emotions do you hope to capture from listeners when they listen to Sin forma?
I want people to listen to Sin forma and be able to imagine themselves in the situations or remember a similar conversation they had with someone. Personally, when I listen to music I will sometimes imagine myself in a movie-like scenario, playing out what the song might be talking about or what the setting may be. This is what I hope to evoke from our music.
After the albums is released what are some of your plans for the remainder of the year?
We are currently booking a two-week tour out east to New York City and south to Florida before heading back up home. Sin forma will continue to be available on various forms of physical media…so keep an eye out!
I guess that about wraps it up. Thanks for answering the questions. Do you have anything else you would like to add?
I want to sincerely thank the community of people involved in our music scene, those who go to shows or perform in bands. Without this, I think most of us would not have as much direction or drive to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, something that can possibly outlive us.
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