VUM
The return of VUM; photographed by Kristin Cofer.
Taking you back to Topanga Canyon and it’s gorges of intrigue & mystery we catch up with VUM as Jennifer Pearl, Christopher Badger, & Scott Spaulding follow up 2013’s Psychotropic Jukebox with the upcoming album Cryptocrystalline from Secret Lodge. Available on digital March 25 everywhere and vinyl May 3 the trio follows up recent single “Katrine“, & “This is the Witch” with the serpentine synths and chords of “New Girls” featuring visuals from Jennifer, Chris with band photography by Kristin Cofer.
Like the perpetual night-worlds that VUM inhabits with their sound, Jennifer, Chris, & Scott continue their adventures of affinities for mid-century auteurs between the Lynchian dimension portals of Secret Lodges that host pagan-esque settings of crystals, and technicolor splashed decorum. “New Girls” entertains a kind of vintage void with Jennifer’s lyrical delivery that tributes rock deities of the past in a hypnotic pastiche heard on the chorus of “help I’m only dancing, our souls are up for ransom…” as b/w film footage of designs, palms holding triangles, black gloved demonstrations of various prisms, in between images of the artists. Old film moving portraits are taken of VUM, in between stock imagery of dancing people, stage lights, and dazzling patterns that frame performance shots of the group as “New Girls” is propelled on it’s own active turning axis of mystic proportions. The “help I’m only dancing” refrain haunts in a floating state above the fluttering and suspenseful keys that underline the cautionary chord progressions that can hypnotize the viewer/listener if experienced in uninhibited state of being. VUM’s Jennifer Pearl took the time to chat in our following interview .
What is new in the world of VUM since our previous dialogues?
Since we last spoke in late 2013, we toured Europe, collaborated with artist Barry Anderson, wrote and recorded our 3rd and forthcoming album, Cryptocrystalline, and birthed our first child. 2015 saw the release of two singles off of Cryptocrystalline—”Katrine” and “This The Witch”.
Walk us through the catacombs and contemporary crypt currents that made up the inspirations for Cryptocrystalline?
The term cryptocrystalline refers to an underlying, ordered, molecular structure in rocks that is not apparent to the naked eye, but only revealed when examined under a microscope. I think that this is a beautiful concept. It can be loosely applied to aerial views of crowds, grains of sand in large dunes, or the intricately played notes that lay within the collage of voices, instruments, and samples that make up a song. I studied science in college and I find that a lot of the art or music ideas I have are inspired by concepts in science that then become heavily misconstrued under the lens of my own individual interpretation. Lyrically Cryptocrystalline is all over the place and covers everything from political revolutions, international warfare, possession, and the precarious position of being partially free to dashed dreams and loneliness.
Describe the making of the multi-layered video and film media mesh that comprised the visual for “New Girls”.
Chris Badger and I shot “New Girls” on Super 8. We drew inspiration from mid-twentieth Century collage-style filmmaking while also including some found footage. Almost all of the edits are in camera. We used personal, household items like black, leather gloves or crystal necklaces that seem otherwise mundane, but take on a magical, aesthetic quality when combined. Photographer Kristin Cofer filmed the group shots of the band.
What sorts of methodologies or disciplines guide your own creative approaches to song writing and recording?
Our methodology is to throw it all against the wall and see what sticks. ‘New Girls’ was actually the first song we ever wrote. We wrote it on our first day as a band- New Year’s Day of 2008. During the creation of Cryptocrystalline, the four-track tape of that early ‘New Girls’ recording surfaced. I wrote new vocals, and re-recorded the guitar parts. The rest of the track is more or less the same as it was on that first day.
Still from VUM’s video for “New Girls”; courtesy of the band & photographer Kristin Cofer.
What is next for VUM?
We are eagerly anticipating the long-awaited release of Cryptocrystalline! It will be out digitally on March 25th at all the usual outlets with vinyl to follow on May 3rd. Both will be available at Bandcamp to celebrate the release of “New Girls”, we are playing a free, all-ages show at LA Mother in Hollywood with Intimatchine and Dublab DJ Lady C. We will be performing at LA Mother again on March 24 for the album release.
We also hope to venture overseas to tour again!
VUM’s new album Cryptocrystalline is available now from Secret Lodge.
