CONVO COLLAGE
AN ALBUM IS NOT SO DIFFERENT FROM A FLOWER...
SO WE ASKED ARTISTS WHAT THEIRS WOULD BE.
REZN
If our record Burden was a flower, it would be a giant water lily. That plant is such a beautiful and grotesque species. It blooms from the underwater depths in a graceful and ominous way, swinging its alien tendril around until it unfolds into a massive green disc. From the surface it's a peaceful floating flower, but from below it's this veiny, thorn-wielding entity that devours light from everything beneath it.
GLASS BEAGLE
If Spring Sword Chatter were a flower, I'd say it's a classic purple coneflower, maybe because I just planted some from my parent's garden. They're a native wildflower and almost all of us are South Suburbs guys. They bloom in the summertime and we recorded the songs in our sweltering practice room last summer. Just a real nice flower you can see all over the city.
RAIN GARDEN
We sat with this question a while and kept coming back to yarrow. Yarrow is a medicinal herb with delicate clusters of traditionally white blooms and swirling segments of fern-like leaves. It can be used to aid in the healing of both external wounds through its infection-fighting properties and when ingested can do a lot to balance the internal systems of the body. Creating Rain Garden, our debut self-titled album, was a process of healing for us for sure- of letting go of our limiting beliefs and practicing true authenticity. Yarrow embodies this and more, and Maya and I are even growing a yarrow plant of our own in our backyard.
MINOR MOON
The Light Up Waltz is a Bluebell, or maybe a patch of them. At their springtime peak, Bluebells can completely cover a forest floor, carpeting the ground under the still thickening canopy. The Bluebells' color can seem impossible: deep and bright, sometimes almost ultraviolet. Their shape seems to conceal something magical (a household of fairies? something out of Fern Gulley?). For me, the album and the flower share a kind of enchanted, wild, old growth spirit, emanating a renewed sense of mystery and color among the trees.
VALEBOL
The Valebol record would be a tiny lime blossom. A little green bottle of champagne, how did this tropical fruit-tree make fruit in Chicago? That's what Valebol is. Citrusy, floral, zesty - perfect for summer and making "tragitos verditos".... we have a whole song based on the lime tree that grows in my apartment..
ASTRACHAN
If Cleaner than Clean were a flower I’d have to say it’d be a Queen Anne’s Lace growing out of a pile of stones. If you look closely at Queen Anne’s Lace, you see the tiniest purple flower perfectly in the center surrounded by identical white flowers. It’s a miracle. I did this record in like 7 days of intense recording all by myself so it’s honestly a miracle it came together without a hitch. It’s rough around the edges and a little raw but if you take time with it, you’ll find the treasure in every little song I made.