Congratulations on the release of your third full length album “Darwin Falls” and thank you for taking the time to answer a couple of my questions.
I like opening these up by discussing the name of a project to try and get a better understanding of the identity of a band before asking further questions.
“Fawn Limbs” is quite an intriguing name, yet it somehow fits so perfectly well with the musical and visual universe you guys have created.
Is there a story behind that choice of name by any chance?
We pondered about the name for a while and tended to come up short with it, as we wanted something unique but interesting.
When writing our first EP Towing Heads, the track “A Radiant Mass” was initially titled “Fawn Limbs”.
I grew quite fond of that, and suggested it to Lee as our moniker. It took a while for him to mull it over, but soon enough we agreed to proceed with that name.
There really isn’t any metaphysical or -phorical hidden meanings, but you can still interpret it in a multitude of ways.
With “Darwin Falls” you kind of flipped over the table in terms of musical direction compared to “Sleeper Vessels” by opting for a piece of work that takes its time to tell a story and create a slow-burning, anxiety inducing atmosphere instead of having constant relentless chaos.
Was there a big difference in your approach to songwriting from one album to another and how was it for you to move between these two different aspects of your sound as a band?
The writing process was pretty much the same, and despite the stylistic shift, all of the new material came naturally to us, and didn’t require extra effort or focus in that sense.
We just set out to do something different.
We proceeded the same way as before, myself writing all or most of the instruments for a demo first, then properly recording everything a member at a time.
The main difference was obviously having so many guests this time around, but it went surprisingly smoothly all things considered.
We gave them the freedom to write and perform how they see fit, and we couldn’t be happier with the result.
We also went for a more organic production overall, since that’s really where our minds are at, artistically speaking, and I think we’ll continue on that route for the foreseeable future, serving our own goals over everyone else’s.
You had already experimented with spoken-word narration on your 2018 EP “Thrum”.
What made you guys want to bring back that element throughout an entire LP to continue the story that EP had begun?
Before Sam joined the band, Lee and I already discussed about leaving the story open-ended on Thrum, so that we’d be able to continue it at some point.
We were very fond and fascinated by the story, and the need to continue it was there right from the beginning.
After the following two full-lengths Harm Remissions and Sleeper Vessels, it felt natural to finally return into that environment.
Thrum was our third EP, Darwin Falls is our third album.
There’s really no correlation, but it’s something to think about in terms of cyclic build-up for the band and our doings.
The story that is told throughout the new album is incredibly bleak and grim.
I have my own personal interpretations of it but I’m curious to know; what significance does it hold to each of you individually if you don’t mind me asking?
It’s built in a way where it can convey various moods and tones depending on the listener and their state of mind, to be interpreted the way they see fit.
As the writer, I have my own meaning in all of the lyrical content, some highly personal and some quite vague even to me.
I won’t go into detail with what’s real and what’s fiction, as I don’t think that serves a purpose for anyone wanting to indulge with the album’s thematical nuances and details.
The biggest change at work on the new record is the incorporation of an ensemble of seven guest musicians from different backgrounds collaborating with you three.
You’re already used to writing and recording music from different ends of the globe together but how did working with an extra seven people remotely end up working out for you?
It was, contradictory to what it might seem like, quite painless and seamless.
After finding the right people to work with, we gave them the songs and an “about-ish” timeframe, and everyone held up their end of it well.
Couldn’t have been any more of a pleasant experience in that regard.
I asked the guys from Weston Super Maim a similar question since you are both in the same kind of situation; but do you think Fawn Limbs live on stage could ever become a plausible reality?
Perhaps a one-time performance of “Darwin Falls” live, including the guest musicians even?
It’s definitely possible, but not something we actively pursue, at least for now.
We have our history and our own people to rely on should that ever materialize, so we’re secured on that front. Time will tell.
You guys have been actively releasing material as Fawn Limbs only quite recently since 2018 and yet you have been putting out more music than some bands that have been active for twice as long, if not more.
How are you able to maintain such an abundant and steady output of material, especially given that you operate remotely from each other and how intricately complex, chaotic and experimental your stuff is?
People have been asking the same thing for quite a while now, and it’s a difficult one to answer without coming across as a douche.
This kind of a model simply works for us and feeds our shared creative ambitions and goals. We don’t fuck around or focus to superficial and lateral aspects when it comes to being a band, and our creative process is ongoing.
As for the stylistic angle, it probably eases everything out that we have one primary composer keeping the threads in one place, as in my house.
Based on your discography so far, would it be safe to assume we’ll be getting some more Fawn Limbs material to look forward to next year?
Well, the trajectory certainly seems like it. We’ll see.
You’ve always been very experimental with your approach to extreme music but with “Darwin Falls” it feels like you’re testing out what a band labelled as “extreme” can get away with by collaborating with musicians that are not necessarily part of that musical sphere and any sort of expectations from listeners by doing so.
In your opinion, what does it mean to be an extreme, independent band in the current climate of the music industry? And do you think you, as Fawn Limbs, are actively trying to push the artistical boundaries of the genre or is your music solely the result of instinct?
The only thing we’re actively pushing is ourselves, and we couldn’t care less about genre tags or their related boundaries.
In that sense our music is a result of instinct, we’re not “trying” to do anything.
The notion of “extreme” also appears to us as an ingrained disregard towards the mentioned, existing schemes. Hence we’ve never felt we really belonged to anyone else’s bubble, and are all the better for it.
Being musically extreme has more to do with an open mind than anything else, and that said, there’s really no telling what we could or couldn’t do with our music.
The independent aspect also plays a part in this, as being a cog in someone else’s wheel doesn’t suit us, mostly because we’re not willing to sacrifice our integrity or work ethic for physical gains.
We rather surround ourselves with people who are as invested in uncompromising artistry as we are, which has proven to be the most nurturing and fruitful environment for us and our doings.