Where do you feel at home? Maybe Walmart.
“A lot has changed on a personal level, but also in the industry, in culture. Every time we put out an album it’s an incredibly different experience for a multitude of micro and macro reasons,” he says. Zach Choy, frontman of Crack Cloud when we met with him on Zoom, Bryce C. and Aleem Khan to chat a little about the background of his new album.
Red Mile is a piece of street in Calgary, hometown of several members of the group. It has its own cultural phenomenon and therefore also imprints a feeling on those who know it and belong to it. The title of the album has several levels. Yes, Zach He moved back to Calgary and it feels like coming home, but where is home really?
For Aleem It's simple. “Home is where your heart is, whether it's in a field, in some kind of institution, or Walmart.” And it's not just about the physical place, it's also about the people. “The Medium” They sing that if you feel sad, go to a show“Maybe a concert is where you find your community and that community can give you a sense of home. So it’s about connecting with other people,” he says. BryceFamily, friends, even strangers can become your home, even if only for a moment.
But while home is the subtext of the record, that doesn't mean the band created it at home. Red Mile was created in the Mojave Desert in California. A bit of a desert, according to Crack Cloudrelocates you, centers you.
Every album is different. We like to change and try new things every time. In that sense, this was an experiment to capture the magic in the bottle. And rightly so, there is a lot of lore and stories of musicians working there. It’s a very evocative place,” Bryce says, to which Aleem adds. “There’s this metaphor of the desert as a place of honesty and self-discovery, which leads to a kind of rebirth.”
“In the vibrancy of nature you can recalibrate and reorient your values and your overall perception of life. I think we discovered something very important about stillness and expansiveness in the Mojave Desert. And that contributed a lot to the sound. We scaled back the production, which I think gives it a lot of spiritual depth,” he says. Zach.
When giving play We listen. “Improvisation and a lot of seizing the moment, like capturing the here and now,” he explains. Bryce. “A nice natural sound with good instrumentation and truly melodic arrangements. It's not what you'd expect, at all,” according to Aleem. “Lack of rigidity”, defines Zachbecause they came with ideas to the Mojave and simply let them flow, leaving behind preconceptions, fears and thoughts about the should be. And you are invited to listen to it in this way: without preconceptions, fears or thoughts about it. should be.
Red Mile is now available on platforms, as are the tickets for his concert at the Indie Rocks! Forum next October 10th.
