Crater
Seattle’s Crater; photographed by Cecilia Corsano Leopizzi
Seattle’s Crater just released their album Talk To Me So I Can Fall Asleep today on Help Yourself Records, and we are here to help the duo celebrate further with our exclusive interview with Ceci Gomez and Kessiah Gordon. On their awaited big album debut, the two engage in the internet age ennui that utilizes items and aspects of the electronic intricacies of systems for means of expressing the human spirit singing through the machines and modules.
“Crater Head” invites all into the duo’ head-space, as “Sick Sad World” laments the discontinuities of the contemporary age in catchy key tones that make the world feel somewhat a little less sick (despite the sorry & sordid state of current day world issues). The big pop caliber canons are ushered in on the pop perfection of “Ain’t Right”, to the lazy weekend idle inflections of blessed boredom on “Habits Die Slow”, delivering sun season sentimentality with the tan & scan of “Summer Skin”. Dark digital rouge smears are heard on “Gross Relations”, turning the beat a little moodier as they travel through tenebrous territories of “Hardly at All”, “Lucky Lucy”, to the synth garden of “Badlands”. Crater continues onward on a search for truth and a clearer reality and sacred sort of sanctuary, whereas the soft bubbling track “Brew” ferments and cultures slowly as you can hear the various glitches and distorted elements of the two’s sound that resembles a home spun server farm and collection of CPU towers from the 90s, oughts, and today. Read our following insightful interview roundtable with Crater’s Ceci & Kessiah:
Give us the story on beginnings of Crater, how you two met, and what sorts of meteoric events established you two as duo act.
Kessiah: Ceci and I met in 2008. We attended the same music program at NYU but it wasn’t until we graduated that we decided to collaborate together musically. Everything sort of just fell into place…we were both unhappy and essentially found comfort in this mutual struggle as post collegiate millennials with zero dollars. So just imagine two good friends both experiencing a 1/4 life crisis…artistic stasis..light bulb…hey let’s quit our jobs and make music sort of thing. Add some LSD in there. An epic cross country road trip. Equals Crater.
Take us on the road recording Talk To Me so I Can Fall Asleep, and how random collected GIFs & samples would help create the debut Crater album.
Kessiah: Ceci’s computer is a physical manifestation of what goes on in that beautiful mind of hers. She has a desktop folder called “Black Hole”…and inside this said folder is a chaotic amalgam of digital artifacts. I don’t really care to enter that space again…I’ve done it a few times and as a borderline OCD person it’s just too much.
Perhaps some further insights into the Crater recording methods and processes?
Ceci: In the past our songs have started with a vocal or drum loop, a sample from the street, or synth line. From there we begin to build off that loop in Ableton and hash it out to form the outline of a pop tune (though our songs tend to fall in and out of that structure but are always short and sweet). We recorded Talk to Me so I Can Fall Asleep when we were living together in our house with the help of our dear friend Ben Roth who graced us with his guitar licks every now and again. Recently I’ve been into reading poetry before bed and have been trying to write songs around the poems I’ve written.
How did you two create this kind of hazy electronic veneer of digital fog and ambience that permeates the record?
VST Plug-ins, tinctures, and samples of washing machines.
Who are you two listening to a lot of right now?
Ceci: I’ve been loving Ramzi from Vancouver and am a little behind on this one but just got really into listening to Jessica Pratt whilst taking my nightly bubble baths!
[Kessiah] : I’m trying to break the habit of listening to pop oriented music. There are a lot of rad female DJ collectives from around the world, so I’ve been pulling musical recommendations from those forums and curated techno mixes. Check out Courtesy…she’s a member of Apeiron Crew from Copenhagen.
Favorite things about the Seattle scenes?
Kessiah: I’m really down with how much intentional cross pollination is happening exclusively between female and non-binary artists. More then ever are women in Seattle (and the world for that matter) pulling together to organize immersive and inclusive experiences across a wide range of artistic mediums. Ceci and I are adamant about involving ourselves in this sort of movement.
Next big moves for Crater?
Fingers crossed for national and international tours—we wanna go to Asia and Australia! We have also started to demo our next record which we are very excited about!
Crater’s debut album Talk To Me So I Can Fall Asleep is available now from Help Yourself Records.
