by mariah estran
photo courtesy of cousin mouth
Through living life, we’ve all developed a past formed from numerous experiences. It’s what makes us human, by shaping us into dynamic individuals. For the psychedelic R&B group Cousin Mouth, they’ve found beauty in that concept, conveying it in their latest single and beautiful visual for “New Memories.”
The track is magnetic due to its soulfully striking guitar chords that emphasize Alex Burns' rich vocals as gentle backing vocals bring in an angelic tinge. And the music video only elevates that tone — multiple characters are introduced to represent Burns as he views them through a window of a moving car. A compelling preface to the storytelling and experimental sound to come from their upcoming album MayflowerPeacemakerHolyredeemer.
Cousin Mouth took time to speak with us about “New Memories," how they have found their sound since working on their first album Medusa, and what listeners can expect for their sophomore LP.
You’ve recently released “New Memories." What’s the story behind this track?
Cousin Mouth: “Well, without naming any names [laughs], a lot of it comes from my reflections on a shall we say sort of rough conversation with a former partner of mine. I draw a lot of my lyric writing and subject matter directly from my life, conversations, and experiences and things like that, so I guess I’ll just say there’s a few direct quotes in there [laughs]. More broadly though, I was looking to reflect on the ways in which our past conflicts, past selves and experiences have a way of inevitably resurfacing in ways we sometimes don’t expect, often for better but sometimes for worse. Relationships can become very strange battlegrounds when things bubble up from our past or habits creep in where we don’t expect or realize.”
You have this unique, psychedelic R&B sound. How have you developed your sound for your recent releases?
CM: “A lot of it comes just from what I’m generally listening to and how I’ve been writing the last couple years. I knew after our first record Medusa that I wanted to work more with the musicians I’d been performing for shows with in a more stable live-band-type set up and had been pretty much constantly working on the new stuff while finishing the first record. I think I was just interested in creating something that was both very visceral and personal, but also sort of big sounding and theatrical in a way. I also wanted to make a body of work that kind of adopted some of the more left field pop influences I generally look to, Todd Rundgren, Prince, D’Angelo or the Isley Brothers. They all have a way of writing that are obviously incredibly listenable but at the same time very complex and intricate and draw a lot from jazz or funk or blues in subtle or not so subtle ways. I’m a giant Alice Coltrane fan and also had been listening to a ton of Bjork when writing some of this so I think some of the more special or weird sounds or structures come from that too.”
You’re recently released the music video for “New Memories.” What was the inspiration for this visual?
CM: “I had intended this video to be a sort of visual center piece for the album. The characters in the video are meant to be reflections of myself, or different aspects of my creative personality. The title of the album itself is a jumble of the names of all of the characters in the video, kind of like Ziggy Stardust, I had intended the album to be conceived from a different sonic or thematic space for each track in some way. And with the video I thought it would be a cool idea to force all of these characters into the same physical space. As I mentioned, I wanted to express a sort of theatricality with this record, so I came up with all of these costume characters to represent different aspects of the music or the themes or voices I think the record conveys. The track itself again is a reflection on how we interact with different parts of our past and how they come to the forefront in unexpected ways, so I felt like the song was a perfect fit.”
Your next album, MayflowerPeacemakerHolyredeemer is about to drop. How does this LP showcase your growth from your debut Medusa?
CM: “I’d say for me the biggest improvement has mostly been in my abilities as a bandleader and songwriter. Writing with the intention of translating a solo guitar and vocal song for a live band with drums, bass, keys, background vocalists and sax or flute is a new and strange skill I’ve begun to learn through this record. For the first record, since I was working with my brother Donald Lee Roland II, his production abilities and incredible vision sort of acted as a writing partner because I was able to basically just work alongside him in the process of shaping the songs from a musical standpoint. With this record, I really wanted to force myself to visualize and communicate all of my ideas to a full band, as well as challenge myself to do the work of seeing the project all the way through by myself from start to finish. Like really be a part of each step from tracking to engineering to packaging. It was definitely a process and a pretty steep learning curve sometimes [laughs], but I think people will feel that it’s a pretty unique vision I was trying to convey.”
What do you hope listeners take away once they listen to this upcoming album?
CM: “I mean, I mostly just want people to like it [laughs]. Honestly though, I truly think it’s a pretty unique listen and I can’t really think of too many other projects that sound like this one. With really everything I write or create I try and convey an honesty and realness that I think helps make for a pretty direct experience in listening, lyrically, sonically, the whole thing. I think every song on this record in some way speaks to a very real human experience, sure they may be particular to me or my experience, but I think the album is a good point of meditation on a lot of the pretty basic things we all go through in relationships, and life and stuff like that, hopefully it helps.”
Lastly, you have such a stellar creative vision for storytelling through visuals. Will there be more music videos in the works?
CM: “Definitely. Not to spoil anything, but I’m riding a horse in the next one… [laughs]. It was my first time riding one, but I gotta say, I’m converted. In the meantime, the album will be out end of February and our vinyl presale ordering started the same day as the ‘New Memories’ video release. Things are definitely happening regardless though [laughs].”