Described as an “experiment in limitations and creative self-control,” Shasta was recorded around a wood stove in a hillside studio in Big Sur, using solar energy to power a Tascam 388, with Thomas refusing to go beyond the eight available tracks. The process goes some way to explaining the record’s intimate tones, though instrumental opener ‘Ascension’ dispels any notion the self-imposed constraints might impact the sound’s richness. The opposite turns out to be true, as though in turning to simplicity Levi Thomas taps into some organic energy, an amalgamation of heat and shadow as drawn from sunlight, wood smoke, the rising warmth of the Californian night.

‘Sun God’ invokes these forces directly, a prayer to “rain and rock and sea,” to “feather, fur and gnashing teeth,” before ‘Wrecked’ offers the full vivid texture of cosmic country. The album sees Dominic Aiello (drums), Darwin Siegaldoud (bass, prepared organ, wurlitzer),  C.H. McCoy (piano, organ, wurlitzer), Nicholas Merz (pedal steel, backup vocals) and Kit Center (drum machine, percussion, backup vocals) lend their talents, and its the slow tracks like ‘Wrecked’ where this depth is most apparent. Thomas’s vocals drifting above the aching music like some spirit ascending above his body and looking down upon the sad view.

Elsewhere the sound changes energy, from the upbeat rhythm of ‘Concrete Buddha’ and its desperate memories to the taut simmer of ‘Trinity’ and its foreboding nighttime edge. ‘Dog Star’ draws upon elements of prog and psych rock in its slow build, playing out as something between Pink Floyd and Magnolia Electric Co., complete with Molina-esque lyrics of ritual release.

So take me back to Shady Grove
Sing me something sweet and slow
Cover me in Dogwood flowers and float me down the Finley
As above we‘ll be so low
Fire light descending

The track embodies the subtle change across the record, an instance where Levi Thomas starts to feel the reward for his prior rituals and embrace the situation’s sacred weight. A narrative thread which culminates in the closing title track. “A song seized by the sublime scale of the American West,” was how we described it in a preview. A “revelatory experience […] captured with a decidedly seventies style, equal parts classic country and cosmic psych which invites the listener into the moment, never losing control of its relaxed rhythms despite everything.” For though the doom-laden tone is never quite transcended, the conclusion finds Thomas in a more peaceful state, as though having come to relax into the end which is descending.

My mind left my body north on the five
And I feel like the last man alive

We could make the perfect sound
Fall like fire to the ground

Shasta is out now via The Long Road Society and available from the Levi Thomas Bandcamp page.

The post Levi Thomas – Shasta appeared first on Various Small Flames.

Hello Earth Person! I hope life is treating you well? Could you maybe detail how and why you started making music?

Hello Wake the Deaf,

The primordial beginnings of my musical journey started quite a few years back, before I was in high school. I had these two friends who were brothers, and they owned a computer and a midi keyboard. This kind of technology was a novelty to me at the time. I was completely amazed by it. We would spend hours creating very strange electronic songs together. Thinking back I realize that we were unintentionally exploring absurdist realms. Our songs were mainly about frying pans and men in dark suits with no faces. Anyway, this experience inspired me to get my own midi keyboard. That’s how I discovered the doorway into the dimension of sound and resonance. I also started playing the drums around this time, and formed a band with some neighborhood friends. We still play together to this day! That’s a brief answer to the question of “how?” The answer to “why?” is simply that I had no control or choice. I was drawn into music by unexplainable forces: the circumstances of my existence. I just fell in love with it. I think music is a creative act, not an act of creation. To play music is to become a conduit, or a channel through which earth-energy flows. There is no “creation” because all forces are ancient echoes without beginning or end. However it is totally possible to sing with this energy, and to harmonize your whole “self” with it.

You seem have strong opinions on the attitude of society towards the nature and change. It’s something which I covered briefly in a piece about Beasts of the Southern Wild; the general pessimism of people towards mankind and the environment. I have studied zoology for the last four years and it seemed each and every topic we covered either had some stark warning or else it was already too late and we were looking at the dire consequences of our existence. Without wishing to sound overly idealistic (and therefore dreamy, unpractical etc.), I can’t help but think we are looking at things the wrong way, that a change to optimism could be much more productive in the long run. This is something you are hinting at in the music?

This is exactly what I am hinting at in my music! Positivity is the new wavelength of thought. American culture is currently undergoing a monumental shift in consciousness. This is a difficult process, as we have to face so many dark and horrifying truths about our own personalities. However the light within us is a source of ultimate love that will help us through this transition. The light makes the shadows dance.
Really what I see happening is the illusion of American progress disintegrating as we slowly awake to the harsh realities of global capitalism. Environmental destruction, mass extinctions, world poverty, oppression, exploitation and war; these are facts. And it’s getting more and more difficult to ignore them, despite the shiny plastic veneer of consumer culture that surrounds us.

I view these problems as the consequences of a past dynasty: a time when the west believed that all things were created for the benefit and use of ‘man’, who God had chosen to have dominion over the entire earth. Of course this is a very ignorant worldview, and it creates a hierarchical structure of domination that is extremely oppressive. It creates a world where women are abused, where nature is violently exploited, and where the diversity of human culture is narrowly singularized. As a result of this white male, egocentric domination we are experiencing all of this psychological, cultural, and spiritual sickness at a collective level. Individual hopelessness and alienation are just some of the symptoms.

I hear people say all the time that “nothing can be done because the system is too powerful. It is unsusceptible change”, and also that “human beings are parasitic and killing the Earth”. Indeed there is some truth to these thoughts. However the situation is more complex than this, and should be given more thought. I don’t agree that “nothing can be done” because the “system is too powerful, and unsusceptible to change”. The system is actually very malleable, penetrable, and collapsible. If you think of this all-powerful system as a giant organic machine, and your own life as one cell in this bio-machine body, it starts to become clear how your life can affect the genetic makeup of the larger machine organism. Every decision you make to change the way you live in turn affects the way the machine operates. This is because everyone you know is also a cell in the body of the capitalist machine. How you live inevitably has an affect on how your friends and family live, and this in turn influences the people who are closest to them. These ripples of influence continue traveling throughout the whole machine body until every cell of it has been slightly changed. The system is afraid of us realizing the power we have to change it, because it draws its own subsistence from this power or life energy. That is why it oppresses, and tries to control our freedom. That is why it attempts to suffocate creative thought, and human expression.

These human capacities we all posses threaten the livelihood of the machine. When we see beyond the boundaries of conformity, control, rigid linearity, and segmentation, and tap into deeper visions of reality that transcend the illusions of concrete un-changeability, we discover our true human potential, and the possibility of a world of balance and equality without fear, hate, violence, war, exploitation, oppression, suffering, or environmental destruction. There is no king, only one Earth. All substance and matter are interconnected. Your mind is like a conduit through which thought and light flows, and this is what gives shape to reality. Love is the deepest expression of being.

Do you have a scientific background? Or are you following ideas from elsewhere? I don’t intend this question as any sort of challenge or put-down – the origin of different visions for the world and ways to look after it are incredibly interesting and I’m not naive enough to ignore any – but rather just a query into what influences you. Are your views (and therefore your art) formed by scientific, philosophical or spiritual means? Or maybe a mix of the three?

My main focus of study has been philosophy, and this has influenced my thinking about reality significantly. I have always found existence to be a very mysterious phenomenon. There are all of these seemingly unanswerable questions that human beings are faced with. I find it nearly impossible to ignore these questions. That’s why I was drawn to philosophy. However, I wouldn’t say that philosophy defines me. All of the dimensions of life are interconnected and equally influential. Philosophy has helped to shape my perception, but so have the seasons of Earth, my neighbors, my family, and friends, the internet, technology, food, drugs, the stars, birds, insects … everything! Music is so important to me because it is my spiritual connection to reality. It allows me to channel my influences, share stories, and give something back to the Universe. There is nothing logical or reasonable about it, and that’s part of the beauty. The ancient traditions of drumming, singing, and chanting are our tools for mystical awakening.

It’s funny, I can imagine a lot of people would write off a musician who wants to spread a hopeful message as some New-Age dreamer or a hippy or whatever, using those terms as an insult, no matter how much sense that person is talking and irrespective of the fact that that person is actually defending mankind, proclaiming honesty and human connection and so on. Would you be happy being pegged into such groups? Do you feel part of that sort of scene?

If someone were to attempt to insult me by calling me a hippy or a New-Age dreamer they would be unsuccessful. I love hippies and New-Age Dreamers! However I don’t claim to be any of those things myself. People are free to make their own interpretations, whether they are accurate ones or not. I have no particular desire to be a part of any scene: I only to wish to spread messages of peace and love, and to give respect to the earth. Music is my method. I chose the name Earth Person because I want to convey the truth that I am simply a person from earth. Isn’t this what all human beings have in common? Even the top CEO of the most powerful corporation is an earth person, born of a woman, breathing and living on the same planet as the rest of us. If we’re going to create a more peaceful and ecologically harmonious society we need to start acknowledging the deeply interconnected nature of reality. I guess the best response to your question is: I am an earth person, a part of the human-beings-living-on-the-planet scene. Call it future-folk, or social-transmutation.

I know that what we have discussed thus far is quite enough inspiration, but is there anything else which influences your writing progress? Maybe other bands or some forms of literature?

One book that was very influential on me was ‘The Great Work’ by Thomas Berry. This is a good place to start exploring ecological consciousness. Also worth exploring is the book ‘A Thousand Plateaus: capitalism and schizophrenia’ by Felix Guattari, and Gilles Deleuze. If you are interested in dissolving boundaries, or learning how to create new pathways that deviate from the strict linear routes of capitalist control then check it out. I also suggest studying Marx, Gandhi, and existentialism. Oh, and lastly try to find the essay ‘Ancient Futures’ by Helena Norberg-Hodge. All of these writings were very helpful to me!

Finally, can you name a few artists you are listening to at the moment? They can be global superstars or your next-door neighbour, any four or five acts you are currently enjoying.

I have been really enjoying this folk artist named Ty Maxon recently. His album Calling of the Crows is wonderful! I also completely fell in love with that album Permanence by Paul Stewart which you posted on your ‘best free music of 2012’ listing. Three fellow Maine musicians who deserve some attention are Jeff Beam, who is producing excellent psych-rock in Portland Maine, Laughing Animal, who makes some seriously groovy electronic music, and also The Powerful Bee Counters, who have completely opened my mind to what is possible in terms of style and creating lo-fi beauty. I highly suggest checking them out!

You can listen to and buy Earth Person’s music on Bandcamp.

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Sub Verses is scheduled for release on the 30th of April on Dead Oceans. You can pre-order it now on CD, LP, or in a beautiful deluxe bundle.

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Aquarena blends the folk rock of bands like My Morning Jacket and Band of Horses, the nostalgic dreaminess of Beach House and the psychedelic tendencies of The War on Drugs. It’s a winning combination and one that could bring a great degree of success, especially as the band are readying their debut full-length record in time for the summer (release is scheduled for the 13th of May).

Until then, you can get Aquarena on limited edition 10″ vinyl via Bandcamp.

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