Interview with Wishfield
Tell us about your latest release: the main concept; what fans should expect; what were/are your goals with it:
We wanted to create a recording space with no reference of time or pitch, meaning tracking the guitar and bass on fretless instruments, and recording completely live and without a metronome. This was something aesthetically not yet explored or experimented with between the main composers behind the project (Andy Meyer & Nick Stanger). To even further the unfamiliarity, Nick and Andy wanted to track the guitars in mono (as opposed to typically having the guitars double tracked and panned to either side of the stereo field).
Did you have a specific sound in mind when you formed the band, or did that grow and evolve as you played together?
The sound of the group was always a very impulsive, fast-paced decision making developmental process. We of course wanted to be absolutely sure of the takes we had and tones we were using, and to be confident in our performances that we said were “the one(s)”, but what happened after we pushed record, with exception to a basic song structures, was intentionally not planned out. From the very beginning, we wanted to incorporate aspects of improvisation into our playing, and we think we found a healthy balance between structured “song” and free form improvisation.
How does your writing process normally work out?
We wrote the album and took video demos of Nick and Andy playing through the songs on guitar and bass, and then sent those videos to Theo so he could prepare drum parts with some loose guidance. From there, Nick and Andy went to rehearse with Theo as a trio to get an affirmative understanding of the song structure. From that point, we went straight into tracking, and took many takes of each song to see what kind of approach worked the best from all instrumental perspectives (should the bass be less busy here? should the drums hit a bit harder here? etc.). Through these takes, only one performance per song was chosen, and any songs that flow directly into another were tracked as such (for example, “The Fishbowl” and “Shallow Heap” were recorded from a single performance). Following instrumental tracking, Mariah stepped in to record her vocals in the span of 2 days in the studio; fronting the lyrics but still tracking with no reference of time or pitch, and with the assistance of Nick engineering his pedal board for a bank of odd-ball vocal effects to add the final touches to the release. From their, Nick took the multi-tracks from Andy’s studio to his own workspace and mixed/mastered the album.
What’s next for you?
Wishfield plans to promote their debut full length over the summer by playing local shows around Minneapolis, MN, and begin further exploring the foundational aesthetic they set a framework for a future release. Along with this, every member of Wishfield is always active with other projects. To keep up with their chaos, follow their social media accounts (accessible by both Wishfield’s Instagram and Facebook accounts).