014.5 - The Deep Dive - Jude Frankum - Haunt Lines Notes and Interview

The deep dive is for readers who want to dig further into the album by reading the notes and pre-review interview that is done with each artist.  It is best read after the review.

 

Notes

Content - This song starts off very soft with gentle rain falling.  It's so quiet I had to turn up my speakers quite a bit before I heard it.  A simple chord is strummed with quite a bit of delay on it… it has a very nice feel to it, balances well with the rain.  THe whole effect is extremely minimal, with the same elements in place for the first 1:30 in the song.  It really gives us a glimpse of what most of the album is going to be like.  
After 1:30 we start getting a bit of chord progressions but there is still quite a bit of time in between the strumming of the guitar.  I really like this, it's meditative and reflective.  When listening to this I really get a sense of sentimentality and reflection.  This is music that can be used to meditate to.  
The music progresses slightly more with some notes emerging from the chords.  I can’t stress enough how well the album title fits the style portrayed on this track.  The whole thing truly is haunting.  The production used, the background of the rain, the subtle electronic effects in the background.  There can’t be more than 4 tracks in this song, and everything is used to maximum effect.  
The song keeps coming back to the opening chords as almost an anchor after the guitar has done some playful melodies, almost like the guitar lead is dancing in the rain.  I get an image of a ghostly ballerina dancing in the rain as she remembers what life once was.  The guitar lead shows her movements, slow, graceful, and yet haunting.  
As an opener this is extremely well done.  The song establishes clearly what is going to be on display the entire album.  Minimalism is the operative term here.  The guitar is the unquestioned centerpiece of the album.  Additionally the vibe that the whole thing gives off just takes me to another world, like we are seeing a glimpse into a world that is not normally observable by the naked eye.  

The Vast Distance From the Physical Body - Oh man, this thing starts  off wonderfully.  Simple chords again but they are accompanied by a subtle and wonderful synthesizer in the background that truly bring all of the characteristics from the opening track to life.  This is building off of the principles set out on Content and altered slightly.  
The chord progression here is quite a bit faster than it was at any point in the opening track.  
That by no means makes this a quick or hurried song.  The notes still have ample time to rest and allow the listener to soak in everything.  Again that sense of meditation is huge; this is the kind of music you want to listen to when you want to reflect or you want to just be in the moment.  
The song goes through a slight change around the halfway point where an ethereal lead comes in.  I can’t tell if it's an effects laden guitar or if it's a synth… maybe a guitar synth? I don’t know but the effect it has is almost chilling, just another layer to add to the atmosphere.
With how minimal this album has been to this point you would think that it would have a hollow tone to it.  In fact it's just the opposite.  The silence present on much of these tracks allows the simplicity of the release to truly shine.  This is minimalism done correctly, something that is very rare.  The production also really helps take this to the next level, everything is clean but not so much so that it sounds sterile.  If it had super high production values the magic of the album would be lost.  
The title of the track really helps guide the mental visuals that accompany the song.  This sense that we are floating away from our physical form is really encapsulated in the way that the song progresses and develops.  We slowly drift from our body and we are swept away by the whims of the ghostly realm that we are visiting.  

I Don’t Regret a Day of Our Life Together - For whatever reason this song starts off with a darker tone than the other ones.  I don’t know if it's the effect on the guitar or if it's the notes used, but there is a sense of trepidation here.  It's not anger or dread, it's just something that seems a little off compared to the first two tracks.  
The reverb and delay on the guitars is amped up to 11 here, maybe that’s what's giving me this sense that something is off.  Maybe that effect is loneliness.  I think it may be, because right around 2 minutes another instrument comes in with a huge sense of warmth and it completely changes the tone of the track.  
The two guitars are calling out to each other.  The first will call out and then the second will answer, almost as if it's a whale call.  I love the effect.  The first notes are so lonely and unsure of themselves and then the warm chord comes in to let us know that everything is ok, we are not alone.  I absolutely love this.  
Around 3:15 the song changes again.  A third guitar comes in, the call/answer of the previous section are still there but then they are followed up by a series of notes.  Going with the previous narrative, it's the sense that everything is going to be ok and now we are forging ahead in a new life together.  
Another layer gets added into the narrative after 5 minutes.  The song really seems to take to heart that once we were lonely and then we meet someone that brings warmth from the lonely cold.  That person helps root us and helps us to build a new life together, one where loneliness is no longer a factor, where we are now in a partnership instead of facing the bitter world alone.  Maybe everything will be ok as long as we have each other.  
I love the narrative that is portrayed in this song.  I don’t know if this is what Jude was going for, and if it isn't I would love to hear what he was thinking when he wrote this song.  The way everything is put together really offers itself to vivid storytelling.  God I love this whole album.  

I Erased/Guilt - Wow… after the journey that takes place on the last track this one really gives that same floating/drifting feeling that track 2 had.  Though this one has more of an urgent feel to it.. Largely because of the rhythm guitar having a coststant strum.  This is a huge change for the album.  
There is a lot going on in this song compared to the rest of the album.  The rhythm guitar has a consistent strum that acts as a backbone for a lead guitar that is almost tremolo picked, but not quite.  There are also some lazy notes plucked in the background.  
All of this adds up to nearly a flurry of activity that is really jarring compared to the rest of the album.  Not so much that it takes me out of the flow of the album but it gives me the sense that something concerning is happening at this point compared to the rest of the album.  This does not have a reflective sense to it… it has more of a sense that something is wrong… mild panic, or concern.  
From the song title it seems like this is reflected.  There is something going on here, we lost something or something happened where we no longer have that anchor or that warmth from the last track.  Maybe we lost it and are now desperately searching for it again.  
The album ends seemingly mid note… it ends unconcluded.  I don’t think we’ll ever know how this truly ended, unless this is the end… and were just left with nothing.  Crazy.  Love it.  

Overall - This album is a clinic in how to write minimal music.  I adore the use of delay on the guitars to give the whole album an ethereal or haunted feeling.  The way that the guitars are used as well really evoke some strong visuals from me.  Paired with the song titles it really provides a strong musical narrative.  
I don’t know if everything is linked or if these are just individual scenes that are connected by an overall theme.  In either case they work extremely well together.  The title of the album is perfect.  Everything in it is haunting.  Just beautiful.  

Interview

This album has an extremely focused scope, could you describe what you would like the listener to take away from the listening experience?

I think I’d like the listener to be taken to the place where I was when making it. It is an album that calmed me mentally and it was something to escape into, which I think would be brought to the listener too. It’s about a reconnection to yourself and whatever space around you that you’re in.

Haunt Lines is quite different from a majority of the other albums in your back catalogue.  What contributed to this change in style? (I haven’t listened to every single album you’ve released yet, so correct me if I’m wrong on this one)

Compared to my Remember output it’s extremely different, but this sort of ambient/guitar playing style predates my Remember material quite a bit. Post rock, shoegaze, guitar based ambient are my first loves and where I feel most personally expressive. Remember is more about world building and creating narrative, whereas Haunt Lines and other ‘Jude Frankum’ releases are essentially the opposite of that, and focus more on me as a personal and my more deeper emotions and ideas.

The guitar is the dominant instrument on this album, the choice to use an undistorted electric guitar over an acoustic one is interesting.  The music is so simple and organic an acoustic guitar may seem like a natural choice for this kind of music.  What led to this choice?

The electric guitar has been my instrument since I was 8/9 years old, growing up on metal and punk I naturally gravitated towards it. Getting into my teens and exploring post-rock and ambient reminded me that the electric guitar didn’t have to be distorted all of the time, and through that I found that a clean electric guitar is a lot more expressive than a distorted tone. I actually don’t really like the sound of acoustic guitars generally, I feel that it’s a fairly placid tone and just sets a tone in music that I’m not massively huge on. Maybe I’m just not listening to the right acoustic music haha

On ‘I Don’t Regret a Day of Our Lives Together’ there seems to be this call and answer narrative going on within the music, contrasting and then ultimately building into a wonderful crescendo.  Is there a type of narrative that you wanted to get across in this song? When you were writing this song what were you hoping the listener would take away from it?

I wrote this song as a love song to my girlfriend at the time. I always find people really natural sources of inspiration, as people have emotions just like myself, and sometimes those emotions intertwine. This one definitely has the most ‘post rock’ feel to it. It’s essentially a post rock tune without any drums or other instruments. Probably my favourite on the album if I had to pick, musically.

I Erased/Guilt has a huge stylistic change from the rest of the album, feeling hurried and urgent in comparison.  What was the reason for this stylistic shift?

All the tracks on the album other than this one had a fairly tempoless feel to them, played very loosely. I think with the last track I wanted something with a little more rhythm than the rest of the album, but didn’t want the rhythm to come from any percussion, but from different playing speeds and delay.

Around 2:40 into ‘Vast Distance From the Physical Body’ there is an effect in the background that I can’t tell if it's a guitar or a synth.  What did you do in this part specifically?

If I remember rightly, I didn’t use any synths on this release, it was all guitar. I believe the effect you are referencing is the same guitar chords that appear throughout the track, but pitched up and down an octave with the reverb on 100% wet. It creates an almost choral sound to the track.

What or who (if any) would you consider your primary musical influences, in general and on this album specifically?

The list is so vast I would be here for years writing them out haha. For guitar based stuff I turn to bands like Mogwai, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Lowercase Noises, Logan Hill, Brian Eno, Kevin Shields/My Bloody Valentine, Slowdive, The Jesus and Mary Chain, Public Image LTD. Take all of that what you will.

I remember (haha) you saying that Remember was where you got your musical start, what made you branch out to release music under your own name rather than just keeping it all under the Remember moniker? Conversely have you ever considered releasing any dreampunk outside of the Remember name?

In fact I actually started releasing Jude Frankum material as early as 2013. I would say that Remember was first project however where I felt I was creating music that resonated with the world building and story driven aspect of music, creating music in a fictional sense rather than an autobiographical one. I don’t think it would be appropriate to make dreampunk based music outside the Remember project, that’s where it belongs. But who knows?

If you are comfortable sharing what type of equipment was used to create this album?

If I recall it was just my Fender Telecaster and Ableton stock plugins, Amp, Delay, Reverb etc. I must admit though it’s been a little while so I can’t remember all too well haha.

Also if you are comfortable sharing, is there an overarching narrative that you were trying to tell with this release? Or is it just a collection of songs with a strong musical theme? Or something else entirely?

I must admit, I don’t think there was a narrative involved, just a mood to be evoked. A lot of my Jude Frankum material contrasts to my Remember stuff as it relates more to reality and nature. I tend to imagine myself outside in nature when I listen back to a release such as this, rather than some cyberpunk metropolis with the Remember stuff.

Do you ever plan on revisiting this style in the future?

It’s quite possible that I will. In a way I do feel like I’ve ‘completed’ this style and would rather work on making something new and unexplored for me. But I do love making music in this style, so I won’t completely rule it out. Never say never!

How would you say your music has evolved over time? Looking back a few years where do you see the turning points in your sound?  If you are comfortable please give a little bit of detail as to what contributed to the twists and turns.  

My music style and ideas change every 3 months I would say haha. I never like sticking with one sound, tempo, mood etc for too long as I get bored easily and get more enjoyment out of experimenting more than anything. Discovering the guitar as a clean, expressive instrument has been a major turning point for me, and has influenced me everything I’ve done since, even when writing with synths, as I’m applying the same methods in a way. Honestly I think my music just evolved with my production skills. As my skills got better, the better I could experiment and try new things, as I had the capacity to do so in a way where I can create something cool to listen to at the end.

Is there anything further you would like to say about this album or your music in general?

Just a thank you to anyone who listens to any of my music. I get weird imposter syndrome sometimes and it trips me out to know that others listen to my music. It means a great deal!