"you were born stiller than a statue..."
The raw emotional mayhem of "Statue" by Portland, Maine's Mouth Washington feels like your guts tied up in knots. The dirty noisy guitars, torn drums, sweeping bass and Max Hansen's guttural vocal wails feel like they are fighting with each other. No wonder, the song stems from the band's full length "Remiss" whose narrative, in part, is informed by the tragic life of Constance Fisher, a Maine woman who in the 50's "drowned her three children and was institutionalized. Upon her release she had three more children, who she also drowned along with herself. The songs on 'Remiss' don’t directly tell Fisher’s story, rather they inhabit the imagined emotional space of Fisher and her husband, leaving enough ambiguity for the listener to construct their own narrative. These songs are mixed with other material that draws from the Hansen brothers lived experience, with the autobiographical material occasionally bleeding into the Constance Fisher narrative, resulting in a document that is neither strictly factual nor entirely fictional."
The details shaded appropriately gray I pulled directly from the bands press notes. I find this blending of one's own life experiences with that of a well known tragedy wildly interesting. The Fisher story is a mind boggling, horrific story about the study of psychiatry still learning to walk and stumbling badly and societal and political forces that furthered their agenda's with deadly consequences.
Mouth Washington is Max Hansen (vox, guitar), Zach Hansen (drums), Ian Gierhan (bass) and Will Held (guitar). "Remiss" is scheduled to drop this summer (on vinyl by Repeating Cloud).
-Robb Donker Curtius
* * *
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
https://www.facebook.com/mouthwashington/
https://mouthwashington.bandcamp.com/
In 2010 Max Hansen was in the wake of the breakup of his first serious band. He had committed several years of his creative energy to the project and was taken aback by how quickly it could disappear; it was not a loss he was eager to repeat. Forming his next band, he enlisted his brother Zach to play drums under the assumption that being siblings they did not have the option of breaking up.
The original lineup of Mouth Washington released their first album, Dichotomy, in 2011. Over years the brothers added and subtracted members, bringing in Ian Gierhan on bass for the 2015 album Don’t Mean and guitarist Will Held for their 2017 album 4th Floor.
As the band evolved, their songwriting process followed suit. In their earliest material, Mouth Washington’s songs were essentially punk translations of Max’s acoustic songs. Now, on their forthcoming album Remiss, the effort is much more collaborative. Some of the songs from Remiss still begin with Max’s lyrics and song structures, while others grew out of riffs and ideas from Ian and Will, animated by Zach’s propulsive drums. The emotional heft of this new material derives equally from the instrumental and lyrical content.
Mouth Washington’s songs have always tended toward narrative, and their most recent album follows suit. In part, Remiss borrows from the life story of Constance Fisher, a Maine woman who drowned her three children and was institutionalized. Upon her release she had three more children, who she also drowned along with herself. The songs on Remiss don’t directly tell Fisher’s story, rather they inhabit the imagined emotional space of Fisher and her husband, leaving enough ambiguity for the listener to construct their own narrative. These songs are mixed with other material that draws from the Hansen brothers lived experience, with the autobiographical material occasionally bleeding into the Constance Fisher narrative, resulting in a document that is neither strictly factual nor entirely fictional.
Remiss was originally scheduled to be released in the summer of 2020, with initial recording completed just before the onset of the global pandemic. The forced slowdown allowed the band to take more time in the recording and mixing process. They worked collaboratively with producer Scott Webber, who took a hands-on approach, pushing the band to expand and refine their material. The resulting album is more dynamic and polished than their previous work but retains the intensity and honesty found in all of Mouth Washington’s catalog. Remiss will be released on vinyl by Repeating Cloud this summer.
https://mouthwashington.bandcamp.com/
In 2010 Max Hansen was in the wake of the breakup of his first serious band. He had committed several years of his creative energy to the project and was taken aback by how quickly it could disappear; it was not a loss he was eager to repeat. Forming his next band, he enlisted his brother Zach to play drums under the assumption that being siblings they did not have the option of breaking up.
The original lineup of Mouth Washington released their first album, Dichotomy, in 2011. Over years the brothers added and subtracted members, bringing in Ian Gierhan on bass for the 2015 album Don’t Mean and guitarist Will Held for their 2017 album 4th Floor.
As the band evolved, their songwriting process followed suit. In their earliest material, Mouth Washington’s songs were essentially punk translations of Max’s acoustic songs. Now, on their forthcoming album Remiss, the effort is much more collaborative. Some of the songs from Remiss still begin with Max’s lyrics and song structures, while others grew out of riffs and ideas from Ian and Will, animated by Zach’s propulsive drums. The emotional heft of this new material derives equally from the instrumental and lyrical content.
Mouth Washington’s songs have always tended toward narrative, and their most recent album follows suit. In part, Remiss borrows from the life story of Constance Fisher, a Maine woman who drowned her three children and was institutionalized. Upon her release she had three more children, who she also drowned along with herself. The songs on Remiss don’t directly tell Fisher’s story, rather they inhabit the imagined emotional space of Fisher and her husband, leaving enough ambiguity for the listener to construct their own narrative. These songs are mixed with other material that draws from the Hansen brothers lived experience, with the autobiographical material occasionally bleeding into the Constance Fisher narrative, resulting in a document that is neither strictly factual nor entirely fictional.
Remiss was originally scheduled to be released in the summer of 2020, with initial recording completed just before the onset of the global pandemic. The forced slowdown allowed the band to take more time in the recording and mixing process. They worked collaboratively with producer Scott Webber, who took a hands-on approach, pushing the band to expand and refine their material. The resulting album is more dynamic and polished than their previous work but retains the intensity and honesty found in all of Mouth Washington’s catalog. Remiss will be released on vinyl by Repeating Cloud this summer.
Mouth Washington, heavy rock, grunge, garage rock, punk, "Statue", full length "Remiss", Constance Fisher, tragedy, murder suicide, not fact or fiction, raw emotional mayhem
No comments:
Post a Comment