At first listen to the Forms old material, it reminded me of something the National would release. Now the band has turned a corner with more synth upbeat sounds with their new single “Southern Ocean”. The duo, Alex Tween and Matt Walsh, are based in Queens and are ready to explore new sounds. “We’ve never really fit in anywhere, which is fine, but at the same time there’s a lot more effort involved when there isn’t an established path to follow.” Modern Frequency interviewed Alex Tween by email and here’s what he had to say about the new music, the band’s evolution, and playing post Covid.
How did you and Matt get on each other’s radars in the first place?
We actually met each other in high school and have played in bands together ever since.
It seems like you are exploring more synth and 80s influences on the new single,“Southern Ocean”. I find it to be more upbeat than your previous material. What
made you decide to shift in this new direction? Will there be a new album indicative of this sound to come?
That mix of synthpop and rock that you hear on “Southern Ocean” is in a lot of our new music. I don’t know if it was a conscious decision so much as being inspired
and influenced by what we were listening to at the time, like Janet Jackson, 80s Freestyle, and especially Technotronic; there’s a lot going on beneath the surface
with that music…it’s some of our favorite stuff.
I honestly think a band has every right to evolve musically, but once they do critics and fans alike think it is considered “selling out”. Thoughts?
I don’t think bands or fans really think about that anymore, and the reason they don’t is that it is much tougher for artists to make a living in the music industry
these days. First Napster cut into revenues, and then streaming took over and pays artists a fraction of a penny each time someone listens to their music. So then in
order to make money musicians have to rely heavily upon touring or getting their music licensed by industries that actually do make money, like
commercials/film/TV shows. So I think people have come to realize that bands need to make money however they can in order to survive, and so the idea of
selling out seems to have mostly fallen by the wayside.
Pop Matters called the band “One of the most exciting, if not one of the best, new acts in indie rock right now.” Does that pressure on you guys? Or do you not pay
attention to reviews and such?
With reading press or following what people say about us, the positive stuff doesn’t seem to register as much as the negative stuff and the negative stuff can really get under your skin, so it seems as if maybe the only winning move is not to play.
Where do The Forms fit into today’s pop/hip hop landscape? What have you been listening to?
We’ve always self-released our music. For our new material, the vinyl is being released by the nonprofit label Matt co-runs (Open Ocean) and the digital label I operate (Threespheres), but the upside is we’ve never had to answer to anybody so we’ve always had the freedom to make whatever music we wanted no matter how “out there” it is, and plus we could also take as much time on it as we needed.
Who helped to produce “Southern Ocean” this time around? Or is it self
produced?
“Southern Ocean” was recorded by Steve Albini, Scott Solter (Mountain Goats, Spoon), and us (mainly Matt).
What was it like working with Steve Albini?
We do a lot more of the recording ourselves these days (Matt built a music studio in Rockaway called Oceanus @oceanus.nyc that he records bands at), but at the same time any album The Forms ever do I think would involve Steve, and all of the ones to date have. We’ve been working with Steve so long that he’s definitely someone we consider our friend and perhaps even a kind of mentor as well. It was intimidating at first considering he recorded Nirvana/Pixies/etc. but we hit it off almost immediately and it’s been great knowing him and working with him ever
since.
Tell me about what is the creating music process is like. Do you bounce ideas off
each other?
When we’re writing parts, we aren’t in the same room much actually. It’s mostly that we work by ourselves and then the other approves/rejects/modifies it. I know some bands work by collaborating together, but I think we each do really deep dives into the music and it’s the sort of journey it feels like you can really only do alone.
Are you dying to get back on the road after COVID?
Since just about every band in the world was off the road for a year and a half, there’s a mad rush of bands trying to book shows. So I think we might wait about
before that happens but yeah it’ll be great for things to get back to normal. The last year has been so bleak but there are so many exciting things going on now that it really feels like a kind of spring awakening after a long dark winter.
