Issue 42 / March 2014

Words: Richard Lewis
Photography: Robin Clewley / @robinscamera
The inspired art rock/post-punk alloy of SEAWITCHES’ debut EP
Spacegun, issued in late 2012, announced the arrival on record
of a long-standing fixture on the city’s gig circuit. Fast-forward
eighteen months and we’re happy to report that the band’s
follow-up to Spacegun vaults far ahead of that impressive first
offering. The forthcoming, vividly titled EP Tear Back The Sky picks
up the baton from the previous release and sprints headlong into
newer, more expansive territory.
Revolving around principal players and songwriters Jo Herring
(Vocals, Guitar, Bass) and Laura Caldwell (Bass, Guitar, Vocals), the
band are joined by guitarist Sophie Nicole Ellison and a steady
succession of drummers (Jacob King is in possession of the
sticks for the current release). The band’s profile has deservedly
snowballed since they unleashed Spacegun, bolstered by a
slew of live shows and radio sessions, but with Tear Back The
Sky it feels like the stars have aligned for them, in more ways
than one. EP curtain raiser Stars, recently released as the band’s
debut single, is their most immediate track to date, a sunburst of
Veronica Falls-esque jangly indie pop, backed with SeaWitches’
first foray into video. “It’s the first song we wrote. I think you can
hear its naïve charm, because it’s literally the first thing we ever
did together,” Jo explains, as dusk settles, presaging another
wintry night in Liverpool.
Drawn from Jo and Laura’s extensive catalogue of songs,
accumulated and refined over years of concentrated writing, many
of the tracks started life in the band’s former practice room in St.
Bride’s Church. “We’ve got so many songs cos when we first started
playing together we weren’t gigging at all. We didn’t have that
confidence yet, we were trying to find our feet as musicians really,”
Laura explains. “All these really old riffs that we wrote years ago just
bubble up.” Several songs, meanwhile, evolved out of edited-down,
lengthy, improvised jams, which are born from the duo playing
“things to death until they arrive at their natural state,” Jo smiles.
As ardent fans of David Lynch and Haruki Murakami (author
bidolito.co.uk
of modern classics 1Q84 and Norwegian Wood), the non-linear
narrative drift of both filmmaker and writer are elements with
which the band strive to infuse their material. “We try to bring that
to the way we write the music,” Jo nods. “The idea of it doesn’t
need to make sense. Why should it have to make sense, really?”
This effect of weaving what initially seem to be disparate
elements into aural tapestries works brilliantly on the spiralling
riffs that form the bedrock of the songs on Tear Back The Sky, such
as Sleepkill, which is anchored by a clunking, almost industrial
rhythmic pattern. “We want to be evocative, and Sleepkill is a bit
hypnotic and nightmarish in a way,” Laura explains. “I think it’s OK
that not all the lyrics make complete sense; we often name songs
after what they remind us of in terms of what they sound like.” The
Eastern, which is possibly the highlight of the collection, stands
as a prime example, padding along with cat-like grace through a
desert haze before deftly switching moods towards the coda and
transforming into something more urgent. Written using Eastern
modal scales, the track is a partner to The Western, which is set to
be included on the group’s next release and is influenced by Jo’s
recent immersion in Ennio Morricone soundtracks.
Produced by Sophie, the five-track set was recorded in the
decidedly upmarket surroundings of a certain former school in the
city’s Georgian Quarter. “We played a gig in the old Milk: Presents
HQ [above the Cabin Club, Bold St] and Sophie was playing that
night as part of Wet Mouth and she was looking for a project
and she ended up joining us,” Laura explains of the sessions.
“Sophie was working on the finals for her degree in Sound Tech
at LIPA and part of it was to record a live band to professional
standard and she chose us. She’s really brought something out
of the music; she’s made it more accessible. On the last EP, it was
done in two days; it was rushed; and it was the first time we’d
recorded that way.”
“When you’re going into a high-end recording studio it can be a
bit daunting and Sophie was aware of that and our inexperience,”
Laura recalls. “We’ve probably got an album’s worth of material
out of those studio sessions, but we thought we’d aim for an EP
first. These five songs seemed to make sense as an EP, the flow of
it, plus trying to release a self-funded album is quite a tall order.”
With Sophie on the other side of the recording-studio glass,
Tear Back The Sky boasts increased assurance and clarity with
the reverb-swathed vocals, razorwire guitar motifs and slowly
unspooling basslines that have become SeaWitches hallmarks.
Helmed with the aim of matching the impact and tangible
atmospheres of touchstones such as The Cure’s Seventeen
Seconds and Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures, Sophie's
production allows the the sidewinding guitar lines to interlock
seamlessly with Jo’s sonorous vocals, pitched crystal clear in
the mix. “This last year doing all these recordings I’ve definitely
become a better vocalist; I’ve really been trying to push myself
vocally and stretch what my voice can do,” Jo says.
Black Bark, meanwhile, its lyrics inspired by Dylan Thomas’
Under Milk Wood, “along with a quote from a Nico biography”,
possesses a febrile energy similar to early Siouxsie And The
Banshees material. Laura takes on vocal duties for Black Bark,
delivering lyrics loaded with religious imagery. “It’s like a fairytale
written as though you’re being pursued, as though you’re being
surrounded by horrible things and trying to hold it together.”
With the second instalment about to hit the shelves, the third
episode of SeaWitches’ continuing odyssey isn’t far behind.
“There’s still a ton of old stuff. Once we’ve done the launch night
for the EP the next priority is booking studio time; we’re really
anxious to get the [new] songs recorded,” Jo says. The angst to
hear new material should doubtless be shared by listeners, as the
successor to Tear Back The Sky can’t arrive soon enough.
Tear Back The Sky is released on 7th March, followed by a launch
show at MelloMello on 29th March.
seawitches.bandcamp.com