INTERVIEW: Gazelle Twin

“It’s been a normal morning in my house, which is noisy and chaotic,” laughs Elizabeth Bernholz aka Gazelle Twin when I ask how her day is going. “This room is my sanctuary. My husband’s just put our one year old down to sleep, so if you hear any crying, that’s who it is.” She’s speaking to me via Zoom from her home studio. Beneath the chaotic costumes and characters she’s created under her elusive moniker, Bernholz is simply immersed in the comforting chaos of everyday family life too.

Not usually an artist who reflects intensely on her previous works, it feels extra special to be talking to her about the 10th anniversary re-release of her debut album, The Entire City. Named after a painting by German surrealist artist Max Ernst, Bernholz independently recorded, produced and released the record back in 2011, her ambiguous lyrics and altruistic sounds inviting listeners into a world that offers both shimmering intrigue and heavy shadow in equal measure. The re-release is due at the end of April, alongside a mini album of accompanying material called The Wastelands. But before we dive into this, I take the opportunity to ask Bernholz what her earliest memories of music are.

“Music was just kind of there from the word go, really,” she explains. “It was always part of my family’s day-to-day life. My parents played a lot of records and cassettes, mostly classical music, but a lot of jazz as well. I had an incredibly privileged childhood where I just had access to music all the time. It became part of my language and communication. Then at school, I used to sing and I learned the recorder and the flute, so it all just came quite naturally.

I remember feeling quite overwhelmed by – I don’t remember exactly what piece of music it was – but probably ‘Swan Lake’ by Tchaikovsky. I remember feeling really physically charged by hearing that music and compelled to dance to it. I think that feeling becomes addictive. I still feel that now when I hear it. I watch my kids’ reactions to music now, my five year old especially responds to classical music. You can see that he’s overwhelmed and doesn’t quite know what to do with himself. I think I probably had a similar reaction to my five year old where I was quite overwhelmed emotionally too.

When I was able to create music, it was like this incredible sense of control and release being able to fulfill that cycle of receiving amazing music, and then being able to put my own out and express myself through music as well. I don’t really remember a clear starting point. I just had it there.”

This instinctive reaction will be unsurprising to fans of Gazelle Twin, who will know from experience that listening to Bernholz’s music provokes a strong physiological response. Whether this is a racing heartbeat whilst traversing the landscapes of The Entire City, peaks in adrenaline and anxiety whilst listening to the nerve-shredding Unflesh, or shuddering at the satirical and sublime nature of Pastoral and Deep England – with all of her obscure creations, what Gazelle Twin excels at creating a “mood” or a “feeling” within her work.

Now that her first creation has reached a milestone anniversary, I ask how she’s feeling and what her expectations for The Entire City re-release are.

“I’m quite nervous about it, actually,” she laughs. “It was the first thing that I produced and I hadn’t released anything properly before that. I was nearly 30 at the time, so I’d had quite a long period of making music in my life, but then suddenly within a few months I recorded and produced this thing that just sort of gushed out of me. I did the best that I could at the time, with the skills that I had built up over a number of years. It’s not perfect at all.

I don’t usually listen back to albums very often, I move on quickly. I tire of hearing myself too much. Or, like some people, I go back to old artworks and recordings sometimes and I cringe, because you change so much over time and you’re always striving to better yourself or do something different. I moved on from the vibe of The Entire City fairly quickly and deliberately. But I think going back to it now, I can still get that sense of achievement and pride from releasing it. It’s very different to the music I’m currently making, it’s definitely the prettier end of what I do, which I’ve abandoned for now.”

As someone who encountered Bernholz’s second album Unflesh first, I agree that The Entire City sounds like a fairy-tale in comparison. It’s this contrast in sound that makes her work so fascinating. I ask if this is something she consciously considers when creating music, or if it occurs naturally.

“I think as someone who enjoys listening to music, I like to hear a lot of variety and contrast. Not necessarily in one artist, but just across music. I get quite bored, I’m a bit ADHD – well, I have ADHD – so I get bored really quickly of doing the same thing over and over again. I get why people do that and why other people enjoy that. When you hit on something that’s original and unique and it has a strong identity, you want to keep exploring that and people want to keep hearing that – I get that completely. But with Gazelle Twin, I always thought from the very beginning, it would never be the same thing. I would never mix up all of my songs and I would only tour the record I’d made until I was done with it, then I’d move on. It just keeps the future a lot more exciting to me, and it gives me scope to do anything.

I’m more interested in using music as a way to – this is kind of cliché – to get through life. My life isn’t always the same. There’s massive changes in it and there are still things that I want to explore that I haven’t explored yet through music. I will always have that approach to it. That’s kind of how I do things really.”

Something she has allowed herself to revisit are the recordings that make up The Entire City’s accompanying mini album, The Wastelands. Bernholz explains that these recordings are “an extension of that landscape.” The opportunity to explore these new atmospheres was too tempting to refuse…

“I recorded the songs that make up The Wastelands roughly between The Entire City and Unflesh,” she continues. “I didn’t really want to release anything like The Wastelands at the time, but I had the opportunity to release the songs through a commercial in-house music library, so the music would go out to be used on TV shows and adverts and stuff. That was what ended up happening with those tracks, but after re-visiting them, it felt like it would be nice to include them as a separate piece, instead of adding the tracks onto the reissue, just to make it a bit more special.”

I ask if there is a particular track on either album that she favours.

“On The Entire City, there’s a couple that I still listen to that I’m fond of. ‘Changelings’ was the first single, and it was very Enya. It was very gentle and pretty, but with a bit of a sting in its tail. I think with that single I managed to get a good introduction to what I was going to do later, so that has a special place in my heart. It’s also one that I know all of my family like unanimously.

From The Wastelands, I think ‘Hole In My Heart’. I enjoyed recording that one, that was a really quick, breezy one to make. I’d say that’s a perfect bridge between The Entire City and Unflesh, just in terms of its darkness and the way that I’m singing and we recorded myself on that.”

As she mentioned it briefly, I ask Bernholz how her family reacts to her characters and works as Gazelle Twin. Both her image and her sound are striking, even polarizing in terms of who will be captivated and who will be terrified by her characters. Is there a particular remark that sticks with her, or something she read online that surprised her about her work, whether from family or strangers?

“Nobody in my family or my partner’s family are really into the sorts of things that I’m into or that my partner’s into,” she laughs. “But they are always supportive and they recognise the more tangible outcomes like reviews in newspapers or plays on the radio. I can’t remember anything specific, but I’ve had a lot of people write messages or comments on stuff over the years that’s been…entertaining.

I think I’ve been quite lucky. I’ve definitely had a few reviews in the early days that really stung me. When I released The Entire City, I had really positive reviews in the big papers like The Guardian, and then I had a couple of more local ones that were unashamedly mean and directed to me on Twitter. I remember at the time just thinking, “God Almighty, this is really hard to take.” I retaliated, which you should never do, really, but they did actually apologise. I think since then, I just try to focus on positive support.

Like anyone though, I am a moth to a flame – intrigued by the negative feedback. I think it’s important to be able to take a little dose of that from time to time. I think if I showed my face and I was getting attacked about that as well, that would be mortifying, I would hate that. That’s one of the reasons why I’m so lucky I wear crazy costumes, because I just bypass that whole side of things completely. But nevertheless, when someone attacks your artistry, or your ideas, it’s kind of bizarre. I haven’t been too tortured by it. Over the years, you definitely build up a bit of a harder skin. I mean, I’m 40 now. I’m a little bit more like “yeah, whatever. Fuck you.”

Bernholz laughs at her last sentence, proving her resilient outlook is one that means she can continue to create her altruistic sounds without the weight of others words on her shoulders. Someone who has rightfully sung her praises however, is Sian O’Gorman. The director of NYX Drone Choir, O’Gorman collaborated with Bernholz on the sublime project Deep England, she was overwhelmed by how “technically insane” Bernholz’s voice was and spoke highly of their time spent together with the choir.

“It’s nice to hear that about Sian,” she smiles. “I bat it all back to her, because she really is an amazing person as well. Her ideas and her commitment to what she does with establishing NYX with Philippa, Fiona and Josh – they’re just a beautiful, lovely group of friends who are so united in their vision.

They got in touch back in 2018 asking if I wanted to collaborate with them. I’d always wanted to do something with a choir, so it was a dream come true to be asked. They didn’t really have anything in mind, it was a very open invitation to create something new with them, or work on existing material. I was about to release Pastoral, and knew I wouldn’t be able to really write anything else for a while, so I said this could be fun to work with and they were just really, really up for it. Sian took the demos that we discussed working on and rearranged them with her own production rearrangement and they were amazing. It was really kind of head spinning at the time.

We had our first show together in November at Oval Space of the same year. I assumed it would be a one off and that would be it, because it was really special. The choir have their own way of building themselves up to do a show and it’s very ritualistic and I got so sucked into that, I loved it so much. I spend so much time on my own making music and performing with just one other person – which I love – but when you meet the right group of people, you feel really at home and at ease. With the music that I’d made on Pastoral, it spoke to them and that’s kind of the power of music really – which is another cliché. But when you can unite in a mood and emotion that you think initially is very personal, then it becomes something collective; the power of that together was pretty hard to walk away from.

NYX reached out and got us another opportunity to perform together on a bigger scale in 2019. We performed at the Queen Elizabeth Hall at the London Jazz Festival of all places, with a really brilliant promoter and producer Rob Farhat, who was just with it from the beginning. It’s one of the biggest productions that I’ve been involved with. I’ve never had a budget to produce a big stage show, I’ve always had to keep it really lo-fi and simple on stage, so it was just a dream. Then we had some budget to record the performance and release it as Deep England.”

As someone who was lucky enough to witness both Deep England performances, these gigs are still some of the most powerful, memorable live shows I’ve had the privilege of attending. When I tell Bernholz about the “goose-bump inducing” nature of the Deep England live experience, she is grateful to hear such “amazing feedback.”

“I think it’s an exchange. I think [as an artist] you’re doing something right when you can provoke a reaction like that, especially when you know that feeling has gone into that performance as well. It’s really rewarding to know that’s how it comes across. I know a few people walked out of our Jazz Festival performance though. I remember reading a review that said some people had fingers in their ears. To be fair, maybe those people just had tinnitus? Or maybe they hate recorders and had a traumatic experience learning a recorder as a child?”

I laugh at the idea of a recorder being so offensive, but I guess many will associate the instrument with tedious school music lessons. With her work on Pastoral and Deep England, I tell Bernholz that she’s given the recorder a bit of a “comeback,” to which she laughs. “I’ve always adored recorders. I mean, there’s obviously a difference between the school class playing ‘snug as a bug in a rug’ and recorders in Baroque music. But I already knew I wanted to take something on stage that was different, I didn’t want it to just be my voice all the time, and that was it.”

It’s not just the NYX choir who have recognised the power of a collaboration with Gazelle Twin. Back in 2021, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross reached out to Bernholz and asked her to remix a Halsey track for them. The Nine Inch Nails duo produced the American songwriter’s latest album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power, and they wanted Bernholz to remix the album’s single ‘I Am Not A Woman I’m a God’. As someone who enjoys being able to get out of their own musical headspace, Bernholz jumped at the opportunity.

“I have a few mutual connections to Trent and Atticus, but I never dreamed they would approach me, so it was quite a shock when it happened,” she admits. “I had an email from my manager saying that Trent Reznor would like to call me, but they didn’t say what about. I was on maternity leave at the time and it was during another lockdown, so I was still in a weird headspace of not having much sleep and looking after a seven month old during a pandemic – so I was a bit like “Oh my God, I don’t think I’m ready for this level of intensity right now.” But we arranged this phone call on my landline one evening, and I just sat here in my studio in my dressing gown waiting for the phone to ring.

I could barely hear Trent when he called because my fucking landline is so bad – it’s like a comedy crackle, like someone rustling a packet of crisps – but I could just make out his words “I don’t know how I didn’t know about you before,” and something complimentary about my music. Then he mentioned that he and Atticus had been making an album with Halsey. They asked if I’d be up for re-mixing one of her tracks and I was like… ‘if you’ve produced it, then fuck yeah, of course!’ I didn’t actually realise Atticus was on the line too. He was completely silent the whole time, then all of a sudden this really well-spoken English voice came out of nowhere, talking about stems and the practicalities of how they’d send the files to me. At the time in my head I was like, ‘has Trent just changed his accent? Is this what he does?’ I think I was just so off my head with the whole thing – sitting in my little house in the East Midlands, talking to Trent Reznor – it was just so weird. It was a really, really brilliant moment.

When they sent Halsey’s track through, I knew what I was going to do with it straight away. It was great to work with Halsey’s vocal and their production. I’m really proud of that remix. I think the title of the song is amazing and it has a brilliant message, coming from a mainstream pop artist especially. The other remixes that Trent & Atticus commissioned for some of Halsey’s other album tracks were all by men. I think it was really cool that they picked a woman to remix this track.”

Bernholz’s skills as a composer are in high demand too. She’s received worthy praise and acclaim for her work on the soundtracks for two horror films, Nocturne (2020) and The Power (2021) which she worked on with Max De Wardener.

“Right from the word go when I wanted to study music I wanted to become a composer and I wanted to do film composition as part of that,” she explains. “Now I’m able to shift my career a little bit into that world, which is currently a lot more stable than being an independent artist. With a growing family, I made a conscious effort to start shifting into soundtracks so that I can work from home. There’s definitely a practical element to it, but I’ve always been influenced and inspired by soundtracks for film, TV and video games. It comes out in what I do anyway, so it feels like a natural development for me.

At the moment, I’m working on my first TV series. It’s really, really intense, but so much fun. I can’t say too much, but the reason I was approached for it was because of the music I’ve made as an independent artist. I feel pretty privileged to be able to draw on the music I’ve made myself. Only a few people get to do this as a job full time, so I don’t ever take it for granted. I’m really lucky that I get to just sit here, wail into a microphone and play around with synths and stuff. It’s a dream really.”

It’s humbling to hear Bernholz refer to her operatic, multifaceted vocals as “wailing.”

Steeped in shadow and mystery, The Entire City is a fascinating introduction to a truly progressive artist who has evolved into a new species of performer since 2011. Whilst Bernholz’s sights remain fixed on Gazelle Twin’s future projects, her retrospective view of her debut album and journey into The Wastelands around it provide more insight into her dark and elusive world.

Pre-order the re-release of The Entire City & The Wastelands here

Follow Gazelle Twin on bandcamp, Spotify, Instagram, Twitter & Facebook

Photo Credit: Joe Tunmer

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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INTERVIEW: Sleigh Bells

With the release of their new, sixth album, Texis, set for release on Friday, genre-defying duo Sleigh Bells have been firm favourites over the last decade, and have provided many musical memories – from dancing the night away to the immense energy of the likes of ‘Rill Rill’ or ‘Infinity Guitars’ throughout my 20s, to watching *that* scene of Jessica Jones on repeat, purely because of the incredible power that ‘Demons’ adds to the narrative. 

So, I was extremely happy to speak to vocalist and songwriter Alexis Krauss last week about the new album, her collaborative process with producer/guitarist Derek Miller, the formation of Sleigh Bells and her involvement with organisations supporting young women in her community. 

Currently staying in New York, Krauss is looking forward to heading up to the mountains for a few days respite before the excitement of next week – as well as the release of the new album on Friday 10th September, they are also due to play some shows; their first live performances in three years. “It will be surreal to be back on stage. And it’s the first time we’ve ever done an anniversary show for Treats. Especially after the pandemic, it’s going to be really interesting to see what it feels like to be in a room with that many people again!” Next week’s shows are set to be the first of many continuing for the rest of the year – “And then in 2022, we have a February tour scheduled, but that’s just in the US. So, hopefully we’re able to get over to the UK and do some international touring. We’re just in that wait and see phase at the moment!” 

Fingers crossed they’re able to cross the pond, as their live set is nothing short of spectacular. And, thankfully, Krauss seems very fond of the band’s London fanbase – “London is one of my favourite cities to play – we’ve had such great shows and such great energy from the crowd there.” This energy of the crowd is really the main focus for the band when playing shows, rather than how they may perform technically – “For us it’s all about the energy in the room, how excited the fans are… It’s all about the fans and how they’re feeling.” This is one of the reasons Krauss cites The 9.30 Club,  a venue in Washington DC, as one of her favourites to play; that and the delicious cupcakes that the supportive in-house team will provide on arrival! Cupcakes and live music does sound like a dream combination. 

Live music aside, Krauss’ main focus at the moment is the new album – “Our primary focus is just to support Texis and hopefully get as many people as possible to listen to it!” Having originally planned on releasing the album in Spring last year, due to the pandemic, they decided to hold off – “We went home and into lockdown and then, instead of releasing it at that time, we decided to wait. Although music is really healing, it just didn’t feel right. So we waited, and we kept writing, and now here we are.” Despite this delay to its release, Miller and Krauss had actually been working on Texis for a good few years: “Derek and I started working on this album right around the time we finished Kid Kruschev – an EP/mini album that we put out a few years ago. And the transition from the writing and recording process from that album to this one was pretty seamless. There’s a couple of songs on Texis – ‘Red Flag’ and even ‘Justine Go Genesis’ – that kind of came right on the heels of KK’s writing process. And once we had those two songs, we thought it was feeling good…” If you haven’t listened to  ‘Justine Go Genesis’ (the band’s latest single), you really must – it’s an explosive, exuberant example of what Sleigh Bells do best: an immense, wonderfully chaotic cacophony. As Krauss explains: “‘Justine Go Genesis’, especially, to me, is definitely one of the hallmark songs on the record – it just has an energy and an attitude that I really love. It has a kind of sass to it. Instrumentally, I think it’s one of Derek’s strongest, it’s abrasive but it also has this kind of joy to it. I think when Sleigh Bells does Sleigh Bells best we have that marriage of opposites: the happy/the sad, the angry but also the sweet and feminine. And this song just seems to have that polarity to it. It feels good. It makes you want to move, it makes you want to dance. I immediately thought about that song being played live.” 

In addition to ‘Justine Go Genesis’, when asked if she has favourite track on the new album, Krauss reflects: “There’s a track called ‘Hummingbird Bomb’. There’s something about it that’s very chaotic, but I think it’s also one of my favourite moments of music – it feels hopeful. And I love that. It just doesn’t feel like something we would have created in the past; something we wouldn’t have had the guts to leave it as it is. We would have maybe thought it was ‘too pretty’ or didn’t sound like our band. But I think it somehow manages to feel like Sleigh Bells but has this heartfelt quality to it that I really like.”

So, once the duo had a couple of new songs under their belts, they felt able to continue to create more in a similar vein – their confidence in the likes of ‘Justine Go Genesis’ and ‘Red Flag’ fuelled the fire for Texis as a whole. Of the writing process, Krauss continues: “Derek has said that he no longer felt ashamed to just be him – to let his musical instincts prevail, keep the guitars heavy, keep the riffs. It was simple but immediate, and he didn’t want to shy away from a lot of the things he’d done previously in his production. I think that really just set a tone that felt really good – it’s very visceral, and vocally and melodically the writing came pretty naturally for the whole album.” And the way that Miller and Krauss worked together as a team seemed to have developed naturally too – “Derek was a bit more patient with the process than he had been in the past, so by the time he sent me a track and lyrics it felt pretty darn close to being final. For me, that was a real motivation to bring my best possible work to it. So, when I sent a demo back with my vocals added, it was almost like having a final demo.” 

This consistently collaborative way of working seems to have always been extremely important for the duo – to work as a complete partnership – with Miller taking the lead on putting together the instrumental basis of the tracks whilst Krauss adds the lyrics, as she explains: “I’ll weave through what Derek sends me and figure out what I like, and from there assemble something that seems right. Or I’ll just look at certain words and sometimes a melody will just come about. Sometimes one word or lyric can inspire the rest. And then once I have the melody I try to look for a lyric that will sing to that melody.” Generally, she says, Sleigh Bells’ songs aren’t narrative driven, and so the focus will be more on whether or not it sounds good than it lyrically making sense. However, on Texis, some of the tracks do have a more definite theme – ‘Justine Go Genesis’, for example, is very character driven: “It was good to challenge myself to find the voice of that character. And then vocally we brought in a few other women who I’ve worked with in the past to add additional vocals, to add that really stacked ‘60s Shangri Las vocal effect, and it was great to have those different tones. I’m so glad we did – it just adds more intensity and more vulnerability and variety to a lot of the chorus vocals.”

The majestic wall of sound created in ‘Justine Go Genesis’ and previous single ‘Locust Laced’ really is impressive, and – I comment – appears to hark back to the band’s earlier releases, reminiscent of the driving, frenzied energy of much of Treats and Reign Of Terror. Whilst Krauss agrees, she appreciates the value of more recent albums Jessica Rabbit (2016) and Bitter Rivals (2013) too – “I think it took these albums to get us to where we are today. On those two, there was a lot of experimentation happening, which I think was really wonderful; we were really curious about different sounds and production and personally for me I was interested in using my voice in a different way from how I had done on Treats and Reign Of Terror. So I think those two albums really helped us explore different pathways and curiosities, though I think some of that experimentation worked and some of it didn’t – it felt a bit disjointed at times. But Texis wouldn’t exist without all the previous ones, so I’m grateful for those searching times, because I think it enabled us to arrive where we are now. We now feel more confident, we’re more sure of where we stand.” 

The evolution of Sleigh Bells’ distinctive sound all started back in the noughties in New York City, though they very nearly didn’t come together as musical partners. Discussing the early days, Krauss reflects: “Derek had recently moved up from Florida with the soul purpose of starting a band and I was in the midst of my teaching career. Although I’d always been involved in music from a very young age, when I met Derek I was busy teaching full time and I didn’t really have any time to think about anything else.” Thankfully, however, Krauss and Miller met during the summer break, and the rest is history: “We just really connected, and there was an eagerness on his part to share what he’d been working on, and I was able to share a few of my past demos. Had we met in December, I never would have given him my email as I just didn’t have the capacity to think about anything other than teaching. But we met and it was early July and I had time. I was missing the creativity of music and I was looking for something to distract myself.”

Although it was in New York that Sleigh Bells initially formed and started creating music together, Krauss emphasises that they really don’t see themselves as a typical ‘New York band’ of that time: “We were both in a way detached from the Brooklyn scene at that time – Derek because he was a recent transplant and me because I was so focused on what I was doing and so invested in my students. When we would record and write it would happen in our apartments and it was a very private process. Obviously then, when we started playing shows, that’s when we became a bit more immersed in the scene and connected with people like MIA and Spike Jonze. That’s when it started to become quite surreal!” And then, despite being based in New York, after their first couple of shows there, the duo were to start touring internationally and so never really spent a significant amount of time in the city as a band: “ In a way, I think we’ve spent the same amount of time playing in London as we have in New York in terms of playing shows. Our fan base in London feels just as strong as our fan base here. I don’t feel super married to New York as a musician.” 

Wherever they’ve been, however, Sleigh Bells have certainly stood the test of time over the last twelve years; whether playing in the US, the UK or anywhere else in the world, they’ve accumulated a huge and loyal fanbase, whilst their sound continues to develop in an exciting way with each new release. However, Krauss reflects, people have often found it difficult to pigeon-hole them into a specific genre over the years (a quality I think that only goes to show how wonderfully unique they are!): “With live music there was definitely some confusion about what we were and what we fitted into – we weren’t quite a band, we weren’t a DJ set. We weren’t quite rock, we weren’t quite pop, we weren’t quite electronic. People didn’t know how to categorise us or what festival bill to put us on. We played an EDM festival once, and that was confusing!” These days, though, she feels that artists seem less focused on fitting into a specific category, and therefore listeners are enabled to have more eclectic tastes: “Now there’s less loyalty to genre and you see more artists incorporating electronic music into their “rock” songs and vice versa… There’s just more borrowing and cross pollination happening. And playlisting also has a huge impact on the way that people listen to music – I think people now are much more likely to listen to a variety of genres or artists at once, and so when they see bands live they’re a bit more flexible as to what type of show they anticipate.”

A recent example of this ‘cross pollination’ of genres is Halsey’s latest album If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power – a collaboration with Trent Reznor, which Krauss has been listening to and reading about recently. An album which isn’t afraid to be “weird” or make “strange decisions”, and not fit into any specific playlists. “I just really like that perspective”, Krauss reflects, “I’m obviously a huge NIN fan and think it’s great that an artist like Halsey would take those risks.” She is a big fan of similar artists who are not necessarily definiable into any one category, and is happy for Sleigh Bells’ sound to continue to be “too messy” to fit under any one label: “I think it’s funny to have folks trying to figure out what we ‘fit into’. Even to this day, when people ask me what kind of music we are, I just describe it – I think labels are a bit unnecessary.”

In addition to the perception of genre changing over time, we discuss how the music scene has changed for women and non binary folk, and the sexism that has existed since Krauss started creating music: “I was in a put together all girl pop band in the late ‘90s and definitely experienced a sort of sexism, with male executives treating me as an archetype for what a ‘woman in music’ had to be. I saw a lot of that gross approach to sexualising women. And when Sleigh Bells started, it still seemed to be a more male dominated space. On festival bills especially, you would really notice how few women were headlining, and a lot of crew members/ behind the scenes folk tended to be men.” However, this is something that Sleigh Bells have always been very conscious of, consistently making a distinct effort to be inclusive in their approach: “We have always made an effort to have as many women on our crew as possible, and we also try to have as many women as possible on our team as a whole – whether it’s our publicist, or booking agent, or attorney. I think we have always done the work to try and make our operations as gender equal as possible. And when it comes to choosing support bands, it’s always been really important to me to have women or gender non conforming people.”

And, thankfully, Krauss personally has never had any particularly negative experiences with men in the industry: “I personally have had a really positive experience as a woman in music, in terms of my outward facing interactions with fans. I’ve never had a really negative experience on stage where I’ve felt violated. But our band is relatively small, so I can’t imagine what it’s like to have thousands of people commenting on you or coming to your shows. Obviously when you increase the numbers, you increase the variables. I feel very fortunate that I’ve had a really positive experience.” And she feels hopeful about the future, sure that there has been an improvement from when she first started out as a musician: “Now, with the younger generation in music, there are a lot more women, and a lot more non binary people, and it’s beautiful.”

Increased opportunities for women of all backgrounds is an important issue for Krauss, not just in music but in the community as a whole; something that is reflected in her work with the organisation she co-founded – Young Women Who Crush, an amazing sounding organisation for young women and gender expansive youth from New York City public schools, inspiring them to discover the outdoors and develop their leadership skills. Discussing how this came about, she explains: “I’ve loved working with young people for a long time and I fell in love with rock climbing around 2013/2014. It was something I would do with my really good friends when we were out west on tour. It just became a really important part of my life and I wanted to create a space for women in rock climbing because rock climbing at the time was – and still is to some degree – a very male dominated space. And so it started with a couple of other women and myself organising these programmes for women and then we realised how powerful that was, and so then we thought it would be great to start something specifically for young women, for high school girls.” After outreaching to a couple of schools and speaking to different teachers, the programme was able to start in 2017, with a small cohort of NYC girls. Now, the programme has evolved and grown, but the aim remains the same: “Our core programme is that we work with a group of girls at the indoor climbing gym – we work with them for the entire school year and then we culminate with some outdoor climbing trips in the summer.” And now that the programme has been running for a few years, Krauss explains how great it is to see how far their students have come: “Now we’re about to get into the new school year and bring some new folks on, and we have this growing community of girls who entered in their first year of high school who are now about to start college, and then some girls who started in their last year of high school and are now almost graduating college. So, we have this amazing community of young women. It’s a huge part of my life.” But Young Women Who Crush is about much more than simply teaching these students how to rock climb, it’s about diversifying opportunities for these young women, and creating a completely inclusive space: “It’s about eliminating a lot of the barriers to the outdoors that a lot of folks face when trying to get into outdoor activities – whether it’s rock climbing, hiking, snowboarding – the outdoors can be really expensive. Even though people think of the outdoors as a neutral space, it’s not always the case – there’s a lot of racial and socio economic barriers.” This organisation therefore stands out as an incredibly important part of the community, and an invaluable resource for many young women; something that Krauss is immensely proud to be a part of and hopes to continue running for many years to come. 

Another cause close to Krauss’ heart is Native rights and protecting the sacred lands and ways of life of the Indigenous community: “I wouldn’t say I’ve earned the title of advocate or activist, but I’ve done work out in Utah to try and protect the Bears Ears National Monument.” While she recognises that the Biden administration is taking some positive steps in this area, she is aware that there is still a long way to go, as protective status of this land still has yet to be reinstated. Although she doesn’t credit herself with being an activist per se, Krauss has been involved in various campaigns to raise awareness and funds for Indigenous communities: “I try to do what I can as a musician/storyteller to try and use that as a tool to help. And I’ve been so fortunate to meet so many elders and Indigenous people who work really hard for their community. So I feel like I’ve played a very very tiny part in helping!” She goes on to explain the importance of continuing to have, sometimes difficult, conversations with the Indigenous community: “I just want to elevate and amplify their voices by having these conversations about giving land back, and acknowledging their existence. It’s not always easy, but I just try to learn as much as I can.” Whilst she’s modest about the ways in which she can help, I think we could all do with taking a leaf out of Krauss’ book in educating ourselves as much as possible, and doing all we can to amplify the voices of marginalised communities in society.

Although I could continue talking to, and learning from, Krauss for hours, I feel that I have already taken up too much of her New York morning and think I should let her get on with her day. However, with Get In Her Ears being a new music focused organisation, I can’t let her go without asking the all important question of what she’s been listening to lately: “I really love SZA – I love all of the new tracks she’s been teasing. I also really like Turnstile – they’ve been around for a while, but they’ve just released a new album called Glow On which I’m loving. A good friend of ours produced it – it’s pretty heavy but also has these great pop instincts. We’re also touring with a band called Kills Birds – they’ve just put out a track called ‘Rabbit’. We actually made our latest video with the lead singer, Nina, who’s also a director. I’m really stoked for people to hear them!” 

And so, with the anticipation of Texis coming out next week, we say our goodbyes and I’m extremely grateful to have had the opportunity to speak to an artist who I’ve been a fan of for so long. Someone who has not only spent many years creating innovative music, but who dedicates a great deal of time to promoting, and working with, worthy community causes. I feel that this passion and strength of character of Krauss’ shines through in all that Sleigh Bells do, and I cannot wait to listen to the new album in its entirety; to immerse myself in the driving energy and frenzied motivational force of each and every track. To be inspired by the utterly unique, enigmatic power that this duo seem to so seamlessly create. And I’ll just keep crossing my fingers that Krauss and Miller make it across the pond sometime in the not-too-distant future to reunite with their dedicated London fanbase.

Texis, the new album from Sleigh Bells, is set for release digitally/CD on Friday 10th September via Lucky Number. Vinyl releases will be available on 3rd December. Pre-order here.

Photo Credit: Chris Vultaggio

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Track Of The Day: ZAMILSKA – ‘Hollow’

Dense, rhythmic, hypnotic beats permeate Polish producer ZAMILSKA‘s new single ‘Hollow’, the first track released from her upcoming album due later this summer. The jagged soundscape combines techno textures and intriguing vocal samples to reflect “the anxiety of what we want vs what we get”.

From Silesia, the coal-mining region of Poland, Natalia Zamilska’s music combines both melodic and industrial elements in a beautiful yet brutal fashion. Her work has attracted the attention of Nine Inch Nails, who recommended one of her tracks on their official Spotify playlist and recently she stepped into the gaming world and contributed to RUINER (Digital Dragon Award 2018 winner Best Polish Game Soundtrack), which features her music heavily throughout.

ZAMILSKA has also garnered acclaim from Radio BBC 6 Music’s Iggy Pop, Mary Anne Hobbs and Tom Ravenscroft, and with her superb remix of Gazelle Twin’s ‘Belly of the Beast’ which was played on the ABC series How To Get Away With Murder.

With her ability to create beats that ricochet around our skulls and her obvious talent for collaborating, we’re biting our nails in anticipation of ZAMILSKA’s upcoming record. Listen to ‘Hollow’ below and follow ZAMILSKA on Facebook for more updates.

Kate Crudgington
@KCBobCut

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PLAYLIST: June 2018

We’re mid-way through 2018, and we’re ready to share another playlist packed with fresh new sounds for your very eager ears! Take some time to scroll through our track selections, hit play on the Spotify link below, and let your ears fill up with the glorious new sounds of June…

Fever Ray – ‘If I Had A Heart’
Fever Ray were one of the headliners of Field Day this year and it could not have been a better end to the festival, hypnotic beats, terrifyingly warped vocals and an explosive stage performance. Gender bending outfits, with reverberating sound all whipped up together by the psychedelic and endorphin inducing visuals. When this track started I lost my mind – wow wow wow. (Tash Walker)

Catgod – ‘Keep My Promises’
Lead by sibling duo Robin and Catherine, Catgod’s new single interweaves swirling folk-tinged melodies with trip-hop inspired beats. As Robin’s soaring vocals are perfectly complemented by Cat’s exquisite harmonies, it showcases the band’s unique musicality in a cinematic soundscape that’ll captivate on first listen. Heartbeat In My Hand, the debut EP from Catgod, is out 22nd June. (Mari Lane)

Dott – ‘Bleached Blonde’
Galway’s Dott have released the perfect single for girls who love sunshine, surfing, and super-catchy garage pop anthems. The track is taken from their upcoming album Heart Swell, which is set to be released via Graveface Records on 8th June. It’s not on Spotify yet, but you can watch the video for it below. (Kate Crudgington)

S4U – ‘Heart’
‘Heart’ is the latest single London-based duo S4U (Something For You) taken from their upcoming Mixtape Heart 2 Say, which will be released via Different Recordings on 6th July. Looking forward to that a lot… I’m loving S4U’s new low-slung R&B experimental electro with some heavy 90s influences. Of the track S4U says “Curved, Parallel conscious, sub conscious, the synergy of heart and mind generates wise choices that benefit all. In other words as you appreciate that which is appreciating you. It is a wonderful thing to hold someone as your object of attention while you feel that G force Roses in Britain” Lovely. (TW)

The Menstrual Cramps – ‘Make Girls Feel Good’
Combining activism with musical prowess, The Menstrual Cramps provide a captivating force that we all need now more than ever.  With their fist-clenching ferocity, racing catchy hooks and a tongue in cheek wit, they create truly infectious punk-rock anthems. And this track is no exception – an epic dose of empowering energy, with lyrics like “you always look like such perfection that you don’t even need to try”, it’ll leave you feeling good and ready to take on the world. And we CANNOT WAIT to see The Menstrual Cramps headline for us at The Finsbury on Friday! (ML) 

Slowcoaches – ‘Found Down’
Having previously captured our hearts with the totally epic, anti-toxic-masculinity anthem ‘Complex’, Slowcoaches are back with a new single. Racing with a seething energy, ‘Found Down’ hits your ears with its scuzzy riffs and the raw, angst-driven vocals of Heather Perkins. Oozing an immense, punk-fuelled power, it’s a perfect blast of raging honesty that we need now more than ever. (ML)

Placebo – ‘Scared Of Girls’
I scored tickets to Placebo’s Meltdown gig at Southbank Centre (curated by Robert Smith) and although this will be the fourth time I’ve seen them (quit bragging Kate), my heart is still beating double time with joy at the prospect of potentially hearing this track live. I imagine this song title accurately describes how most men feel when they see me dancing to it on a night out… (KC)

The Joy Formidable – ‘Dance Of The Lotus’
This is the band responsible for getting me in to alternative music a decade ago, so when I heard new single ‘Dance Of The Lotus’, my inner 18 year old imploded. They’re playing Robert Smith’s Meltdown Festival on the same day as NIN, and they’ll be playing at one of my favourite venues, The Lexington, in August. I missed out on tickets for both, so if anyone wants to help a girl out…I write good reviews… (KC)

Hilary Woods – ‘Inhaler’
‘Inhaler’ is the first single from Hilary Woods’ upcoming debut solo album Colt, which is set to be released via my favourite label Sacred Bones Records on 8th June. It’s a pensive, delicate, melancholy track about her struggles with homesickness, and it’s going to sound beautiful live when ringing out against the walls of St Pancras Old Church on 11th June. (KC)

VTR – ‘Soul To Skin’
‘Soul To Skin’ is taken from Brixton duo VTR’s recently released EP of the same name via Dream Diary. So sultry, so smooth, so seductive. This track reverberates around my ears giving me so much audible pleasure, very excited to hear more from these two in the future. (TW)

Barrie – ‘Tal Uno’
The new single from Brooklyn’s Barrie, ‘Tal Uno’ is filled with jangly hooks and swooning vocals, creating a totally dreamy, twinkling soundscape. As glistening synth-filled melodies glide alongside glitchy beats, it’s impossible not to float away in the shimmering, psychedelic haze that Barrie create. (ML)

ELA Lindsey – ‘Healing Me Slow’
This is the debut track from Nashville’s singer-songwriter ELA Lindsey who found her musical passion later in life starting at the age of 29. She says that by releasing this single she hopes to inspire other women to start their artistic journeys later than the typical industry standard usually allows. ‘Healing Me Slow’ has been firmly stuck in my head over the last couple of weeks, starting with her sweet and gentle vocals, then breaking down into this dark electro synth laden TUNE. With all the hooks and loops I could ever want. INTO IT. (TW)

Tigercats – ‘Candy’s Tailor’
Tigercats’ new single ‘Candy’s Tailor’ is filled with twinkling, jangly melodies and uptempo, calypso-like beats. Flowing with raw vocals and rich layers of sound, it’s an utterly uplifting summer anthem, and I’m already getting pretty excited about seeing these guys at Indietracks Festival next month! Pig City, the new album from Tigercats, is out now. (ML)

Nine Inch Nails – ‘Ringfinger’
I only discovered the true glory of NINs last year (always late to the party, when will I learn?) but I’m seeing Trent Reznor & co twice this month – at Meltdown Festival & The Royal Albert Hall – and I am nerve-shreddingly excited. ‘Ringfinger’ is one of my favourite tracks on 1989’s Pretty Hate Machine, and although they’re unlikely to play it live – I’ll still be bouncing off the walls in anticipation leading up to the gigs. (KC)

Photo Credit: Slowcaoches shot by Priti Shikotra

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