Balmorhea - A lakeside nocturne for strings and orchestra

Ahead of the release of "Constellations", the fourth album by Balmorhea (their third official release for Western Vinyl), Michael Muller traces, exclusively for OndaRock readers, a brief history of the band and the inspirations underlying its music. From the initial meeting with Rob Lowe to the expansion of the lineup into a stable quintet; from post-classical legacies to chamber-music suggestions, by way of the cultural, geographic and musical bond with the Texan territory, we try to get to know better, through his own words, one of the most lucid and recognizable artistic experiences of recent years.

What has your musical history and background been? How did you meet and decide to make music together?

Rob comes from a genuine classical piano background, while I had started playing guitar in a less methodical way. We met while working at a summer camp located in the hill country of Texas, about a three-hour drive west of the state capital Austin, where we currently live. After spending some time together, we realized we shared common interests and musical tastes. After that, we slowly started playing together more and more often, and then we decided to write songs together, and that's how the idea of Balmorhea was born.

Over time, however, the growing complexity and richness of the compositions seems to have made it essential for you to expand the band with other musicians. Was this a spontaneous process, or the result of a very deliberate choice? Has anything changed in the way you compose now that you're no longer doing it just for yourselves?

The band's expansive process, both sonically and in terms of lineup, came about very organically. It was the result of a conscious choice, but at the same time it represented a natural evolution. We simply make the music we feel compelled to make; through our compositions, we've never sought to achieve any specific outcome other than their authenticity in relation to something that, at a given moment, needed to be expressed. Obviously, this doesn't mean we want to keep making the same record over and over, so in a sense we're trying to reach new horizons in terms of instrumentation and arrangements.

You're from Texas, the same state as many important bands of recent years, particularly in the post-rock field. Do you feel connected to the Texan artistic scene, and do you have contacts with other bands?

Yes, we feel close to the Texan environment because it provides much of the inspiration for our music (particularly the titles of our albums and songs, and the band's own name). From a strictly musical point of view, though, we don't feel especially close to any particular Texan band, also because lately most of the bands coming out of our area are post-rock or indie-pop. There are aspects of certain Texan artists (like Explosions In The Sky or Bill Callahan) that resonate in our music, but we don't feel we have much in common with their expressive style, nor with the overall scene.

Speaking of post-rock, your first self-produced album was often lumped in with that generic label by many, while your later work has shown an evolution in a much more distinctive direction. What do you think of the post-rock tag?

We don't consider ourselves a post-rock band at all, given that our compositions are built around piano and acoustic string instruments. And the very definition of "post-rock" seems to have lost its meaning over the years: it's too broad, and it tries to sum up and connect stylistic distances that are simply too vast. That's why we don't really worry about the label or how we get classified.

You also seem deeply tied to Texas in terms of its land and history, as shown by the conceptual dedication of "All Is Wild, All Is Silent" and the titles of many of its tracks: where does this interest come from? Is it a way of establishing historical continuity with the music you make today, or do those references simply respond to cultural needs?

The concept behind "All Is Wild, All Is Silent" originated from a book collecting the old diary of a Texan settler; an excerpt from the book was even reproduced inside the album's artwork. The connection between that story and our music felt very strong and coherent to us, and it was fascinating to develop. Essentially, it's the story of a man who leaves his family behind to explore the unknown, in search of the possibility of a better life and a better place. The deep contrast between the beauty of the land and the fear of the unknown became, for us, a wonderful and surprising thread running through the record.

Your music seems to exist somewhere outside of space and time: you look backward, through the use of traditional instrumentation and now, more explicitly, by drawing on folk as well, and yet you also seem projected forward, toward ever-new sonic explorations and compositional interplay. How do you reconcile these two seemingly different aspects?

Our aim is to achieve a certain style that makes us recognizable as "Balmorhea," while still constantly exploring new ways of writing and new instrumentation. That's evident in the notable shift in temperament between "All Is Wild, All Is Silent" and the new album "Constellations."

Four albums in a little over four years: it seems you have a real creative urgency that leads you to compose very often, letting your sound mature album by album. Do you have a preferred state of mind for composing? Do you let yourselves be guided by momentary emotions, or do your songs come about in a more technical, studied way?

Each record came about in a way that was, in a sense, "wild," spontaneous and never planned out at a desk. Their sequence and the respective timeframes of writing and recording were entirely natural. If anything, their composition was influenced by the seasons in which it took place: the bulk of "All Is Wild, All Is Silent" was conceived during the summer months, while "Constellations" was written over cold, solitary winter months. And so, the embrace of each season finds a clear echo in the music.

Specifically, when you write your songs, do you ever think about a particular way the listener should experience them? Would you be willing to offer a little "listening guide" to your music, suggesting a way or a situation in which it should be listened to?

I think our music can find its ideal setting in headphone listening within a quiet landscape. I imagine it can have a deeper effect when listened to while traveling, or while doing something in a reclined position. Still, I think every listener has a different perspective, so I hope everyone can connect with our music in whatever situation feels most natural to them.

Even though it would be reductive to think of it as a kind of soundtrack, your music often evokes very powerful images and moods, as the beautiful video for "Remembrance" perfectly demonstrates. How do you experience the relationship between music and images?

In all the tracks on "All Is Wild, All Is Silent" there's a specific narrative progression: "Remembrance" represents one passage of that imaginary story which, wordlessly, we told across the whole album, following a specific and well-defined plot.

In general, our music evokes powerful images for us too, ones that correspond to feelings that live inside us. We're only able to express a small part of our own background, but for us it's important to leave listeners free to develop their own images to connect with the music. Much like with a book, we don't want to take that possibility away from them by pouring all those suggestions into a film where the characterizations and images are concrete, limited, and perhaps even at odds with what the listener might have imagined.

Besides imagery, the theme of memory recurs often in your records, especially tied to places, landscapes, seasons. Is music for you a way to bring them back to life, or is it more a way to crystallize certain moments in a frame that fixes them in an unchanging past?

Auditory and olfactory memory, perhaps even from a scientific standpoint, represent the strongest receptors through which human beings form their own memories. Certain sequences of tones, just like certain smells, trigger very precise and detailed memories in us; in that sense, yes, music can be crystallized in a given moment, but even then it can't be confined to that alone. New sensations and new memories come into being continuously, with every listen, depending on what the listener is feeling, both physically and emotionally, at the moment they're listening.

On "All Is Wild, All Is Silent" a few more pronounced vocalizations appear, but your music remains exclusively instrumental: what's behind this choice? Do you think you might ever write an actual song?

Here too it was a completely spontaneous choice, and we prefer to leave its meaning open to the listener. Lyrics are very often interesting, but their absence removes any limit on the purposes the music can serve, allowing it to be shaped according to the most varied meanings. This breadth in the range of possible interpretations can in some way be hindered when words end up constraining the imagination.

Precisely because there are no words in your music, the titles of your songs and albums are often very effective and full of meaning. Where do you draw inspiration from when choosing them?

The inspiration for our titles usually comes from what surrounds us and is emotionally tied to what we feel while composing, as well as to history, literature or art that might relate to the overall structure of each collection of songs. All the tracks on our new record, in fact, describe the prevailing feelings we experienced while writing and performing them.

What do you think of the term "modern classical"? Do you feel it's in any way appropriate for your music?

It's a good definition, I think it's more than appropriate. Some have also used the term "post-classical", which also sounds just as fitting. But our music is simply itself, so we're fine with whatever definition makes it easiest for listeners to identify it.

How did the idea for "All Is Wild, All Is Silent Remixes" come about? In general, do you think electronic music can enrich your sound in some way?

Over the past few years we've met a lot of friends with whom we share a certain stylistic affinity, or at least similar musical leanings. Actually, it wasn't our intention to try to "add" something to our music that we felt was missing; we simply wanted to let friends reinterpret our compositions according to their own sensibility. The various reworkings are very different from one another, because each one is the result of adapting the tracks to the expressive approach each artist felt most comfortable with. And indeed, the result turned into a wide range of sensations that were very special for us too.

You've already come to play in Italy a couple of times, almost always staying in the north and playing only in fairly small towns. Why this choice of particular locations? And how were you received by Italian audiences?

Actually we didn't have much say in the places where we played, so the cities and venues where we performed were simply the ones that were available and enthusiastic about having us. In both of our Italian experiences, every show had a great turnout, and some even sold out, which is very rewarding when you're so far from home. Italian audiences have always been very warm and friendly toward us, and we truly fell in love with the places we visited; we can't wait to see and experience new ones. We'll be back to play in Italy in April!

This interview will be published at the same time as the release of "Constellations": can you give us a preview of the inspiration behind the new record and what we can expect from it?

"Constellations" is a more essential work, maybe it could be read as a step back. It's a wintry, nocturnal album, holding maritime suggestions as well as an overall sense of darkness (though not in a negative sense), which also comes through in the song titles. There are only a few hints of percussion on the record, while its direction leans more toward quiet piano pieces and string arrangements. It's a more "classical" record compared to our previous ones. We spent more time than usual writing and recording it, which is why we see it as a good step forward for us as a band. And we hope that everyone who listens to it will feel the same way.

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