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“Spiritual” and “content” are two words that, when paired together, form an ironic, flattened preface to a musical album. But for a band like Sunglaciers, whose music is somewhere between art-pop and punk, contradictions are inherent to the process.
Spiritual Content, released today on Mothland Records, is no deviation from this band’s previous spirit of experimentation.
As they explain, their newest album brings something entirely new to their songwriting: an other-oriented approach, one that tells stories unrelated to themselves. In this way, the songs are more personally detached, yet strangely, more intimate. Accentuated by a vast spectrum of styles, Spiritual Content suggests a feeling of “universality” that ties the narrative together. Slowly, the album’s title begins to take its full meaning.
A fully fledged instrumental album that holds together almost seems like a miracle in today’s musical industry. Was it by some chance coincidence, a force of nature? Following this interview, I’m beginning to suspect it’s none of the above, as Sunglaciers’ lifelong dedication to their craft simply means they have a heightened instinct for musical poetry.
PAN M 360 : First of all, congratulations.
Sunglaciers : Thank you! We are proud of it an excited to share.
PAN M 360 : Spiritual Content arrives two years after Regular Nature. Is that timing a coincidence, or is there a connection between the two?
Sunglaciers : Actually, our last 3 records (Subterranea, Regular Nature, and now Spiritual Content) all have release dates in late March, two years apart. Maybe it’s a coincidence; or maybe we’re the ones responsible for giving you spring fever (or allergies).
PAN M 360 : The album credits are shared among Evan Resnik, Mathieu Blanchard, and Nyssa Brown. What did the songwriting process look like, from initial idea to studio recording?
Sunglaciers : Kyle Crough is in there too! Can’t forget about our Road King. The Illuminator. He and Nyssa are the best! This collection of songs started with Mathieu and I building some grooves and passages with drums and bass. Once we had the structures, it was easier to add vocal melodies and a couple of instruments to the mix. We wanted to take the same approach with each song to build a sonic through-line between them and superglue them together. Keep the record sounding consistent. Our sound is always shifting and can be spontaneous; this approach sort of helped us pick a vibe and stay in it.
PAN M 360 : “Future Free” draws on Emily Roebling and other under-recognized historical figures. Was there a specific catalyst -or an accumulation of events- that made this theme essential to the album?
Sunglaciers : Mathieu has been a driver of my own learning for a few years now. He’s really good at suggesting interesting directions for us to take, and it was his idea to take our songwriting outside of our individual selves for this record, and tell some inspiring stories. A lot of that came from reading books about history, music, and musicians, and watching documentaries and television. Roebling’s story is essentially that she became the worlds first female field engineer in the early 1900s. She ended up being the cheif engineer of the Brooklyn Bridge, sort of in secret at first, when her husband got the bends, but when he never recovered she officially took over. For Eddy it was a combination of his genre-bending and pioneering approach to production, along with all the roadblocks he faced as a person of colour in an unfamiliar place. While he’s known for Electric Avenue, which is sic, he also produced and wrote a ton of cool stuff for others.
PAN M 360 : I was surprised to see J Dilla listed as an inspiration for “Dead Stop.” What about his work resonated with you?
Sunglaciers : Yeah same kinda thing! Dilla was obviously a sampling virtuoso, and sampling is something we developed a keener interest while recording our first LP on Mothland, Subterranea. Just the ability to create something totally magical and brand new out of a few chopped up segments of forgotten art, that is something I find super interesting. He also had unstoppable work ethic. He was relentless in everything he did. Relentless approach to experimentation, new ideas, and just putting in the work, even on his deathbed. We’ve been developing a stronger and more intimate relationship with music since we started this band and creating alot of it is something we’re gonna do until the very end!
PAN M 360 : What kept you motivated to push through the difficult moments and complete this album?
Sunglaciers : Gratefulness for where we’re at as a band, our growing friendship and the love we feel from our label and community. The stories mentioned above, and learning more history helps put things in perspective as well. This is it, this is our thing. Not Sunglaciers, necessarily, but music creation in general. And people have tried to do this in one form or another for thousands of years, thousands! Anything worth doing, you learn pretty early on that you’re going to have to take the setbacks that come along with it in stride. I’m not gonna let some inconvenience, disappointment, or a disagreement get in the way of anything on a larger scale. Life’s too short to let the little shitty things weigh on you – there’s shit to do!
PAN M 360 : Sunglaciers has been described as “post-everything art pop with a punk attitude.” Was there a particular moment when you felt you truly found the band’s sound?
Sunglaciers : I think there was a moment when we found some “essence” in how our individual creative tendencies interact with each other. And I think now we’re at a point where we can recognize when we’ve trapped that essence in a song idea and say, “that sounds like it needs to be a song.” It’s not a sound, per se, more of a feeling. If we have a “sound”, I would hope that it’s always in motion while being distinctly us. I want to have many different “sounds” that contain this special, ineffable feeling that makes someone say “Oh, that’s Sunglaciers for sure.” Like Bowie or Cate Le Bon!
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