Fabric Hand Sculpture Mix 3

Sidestep Complex

Interview by L. Valena

First just describe to me what you responded to.

L: We're talking about the blue knit hand art. When Dan and I were working on this, we were talking about the texture and the shape, and the different emotions we were feeling at the time. How the hand was reaching out, and why is the knit rounded?

D: We opened it up, and then we kind of looked for pieces and elements of the sculpture that spoke to us, and gave us ideas for how we could interpret them musically. For instance, my immediate thought when I saw the sculpture, and the hand beneath the fabric, my immediate thought was a filter- a sound filter. I don't know how familiar you are with music creation, but a filter is a certain kind of effect that kind of literally filters out frequencies. You can't quite hear or make out everything that's happening. One of the other things was, like Liz said, the hand seemed like it was trying to rise out, so there's that building here. As if it's trying to make its way out of its fabric shell.

L: In other words, kind of creating a narrative. Because music happens over time, to introduce different textures and shapes.

What happened next?

D: You'll hear this click/hi-hat that comes in. That, for me, was the fabric itself. I can't necessarily put it into words, but the hi-hat/click goes through a number of different effects that come in and out. When we were approaching the track, a lot of it was about that wavy movement that we were interpreting from that hand. It's not like a violent hand that's ripping out of this thing. It's a delicate, light blue fabric. The hand looks like it's comfortably beneath it- it's kind of has that flexibility, moving up and down. That was one of the ways we approached that song. That rise and dip, without getting way too in your face, but without going too soft at the same time.

L: Dan took a lot of initiative in creating the piece, and mixing it. The part where I come in- we sit and talk about what the art meant to us. What it conjured up in my mind. I've been working through some stuff. Life is crazy for everyone. I was reflecting on the piece in a way- the delicate knitting, and the reaching. My own experience of things that happened in my own childhood, versus what's been happening to us. We've been married for three years, and there's a lot of buzzing about the biological clock. So you have this light baby blue, and this piece was just vibrating in this way for me. How do I create something based on this? How do I even talk to Dan about this?

That biological clock thing is really weird, isn't it?

L: It is. I can't even explain it- and that's the thing about art. That's the angle that I've been looking at it. I think it's making my blush. It's just not that time yet, at all, but that was part of how I was encountering this- or how I was ascribing this idea. You knit and purl, and you're encoding your reality, and you do your best to let the music to take shape in a way that allows the openness of interpretation. And like I said, that was my particular reaction to this baby blue yarn. But that's kind of how it was vibrating in my mind- I don't know what's going on with my body, it's just doing that.

That's what this is all about, right? Just responding, and not worrying about it too much. Tell me about how you brought those themes and ideas into this music.

D: This kind of goes back to that idea of taking certain parts of the image or certain feelings, into particular instruments. Instrument by instrument. To take a step back, when we normally make a track, they can be very complex in the sense that there are a lot of instruments going on sometimes. Sometimes a part might come in half of the track later, and then leave the track altogether. Whereas with something like this, I think there's six or seven instruments that happen, and they're mostly playing technically the whole time. They've got their certain moments where they shine, and come in more powerfully than others. When we make a song normally, we're not trying to assign a sound to a particular image. That for me was a fun challenge. What is this blue, how can I translate that, sonically? That blue fabric to me spoke to filtering and washing. You literally hear a wave sound- a white noise that is literally a washing sound. Liz said "how about we do a white noise washing sound?" and I was like "That's exactly what I was thinking!" Some of those elements felt more obvious- they sort of thing just made sense to us, where some of the other stuff we had to really work out. For me, that click/hi-hat was the fabric itself. The way I could describe it- in a fabric there's all these connecting points. It's never 100%. It's not like a wall, where everything is flat and connected, and it's always the same.

L: Is it kind of like a topographical map?

D: Yeah, I guess. I literally changed the rhythm of the thing, kind of in the sense of...

L: Or like a grid? Have you seen Tron?

D: I've seen Tron- we watched it together. I'm having a hard time explaining it. We tried interpreting sounds.

L: I liked that when we came together, Dan was totally receptive to the way I was looking at it. I think Dan was looking at the overall shape, and how the knit piece was arrayed on the planes, or on the surface. And I was looking at the individual knit and purls, and I also like to think about the concept of magic craftsmanship. Each knit and purl carries its own intention as you move through it in time. The waves and falls, as though the hand is reaching, and there's movement and action going in some directions. But also I was paying attention to the release of this piece- it doesn't entirely resolve. It's as if the hand kind of...

D: ... washes down.

L: Yeah. It gets absorbed into the fabric of reality. [Laughter from everyone] Okay, I'm stretching it.

Can you say more about this idea of magic craftsmanship?

L: It's a blurring where science and spirituality become flush. It's the combination of thought, and imbuing it with strategy, color and timbre or movement that encodes the ideas, and manifests them into reality.

It reminds me a little bit- I just read A Tale of Two Cities last year, actually, for the first time ever.

D: For the first time ever?

Yep. And there's a character, Madame Defarge, who is knitting peoples' names into a shroud- and it's like a hit list. It's wild.

D: I'm a writer by trade- I was lyricist before I was a musician. Lizzie taught me most of what I learned about music. Writing really is one of my absolute loves. I can appreciate good writing anywhere, but part of why that book really spoke to me is the fact that that page is like, all one sentence. I just liked how he broke the rules. Technically, it is a sentence, but it becomes quite run-on, and anyway, I was like, this motherfucker's breaking the rules!

Yeah- I want to read more Dickens! Is there anything else you two have to say about this piece, or about the process?

L: I had a thought, but it made me feel very personal, and vulnerable, and I tend to protect that emotion. But life is crazy for everyone.

D: Well, then let me touch on that. It was, without getting into it, this piece was great in that it helps artists and creators like ourselves touch base with some of that. Some of these things are no fun to bring up sometimes, but that's the power of art. It might bring us to a place, whether or not we like it, but it's important and vital to express it. Particularly in a safe way. I think this sort of project really allows that. It's up for the listener's interpretation, without going full-on expressive. Some of that personal stuff can be expressed in a more direct way.

That totally makes sense. And I agree with you- it's been a weird season- this winter has been really rough for almost everyone I know; especially everyone I know who's in our early-mid thirties and has been married for a few years. Just so you know- you're not alone. It's been a time of unpacking things.

Do you have advice for someone else doing this project?

L: We've collaborated with many different types of artists. I think that I would encourage people who feel like they may not want to grapple with this stuff all the time, to approach the project feeling good about self-expression and openness.

D: Free.

L: Feeling free, and feeling the flow is a good thing.

D: Feel free. Feel free to express. This project is really cool, because it allows for a completely open interpretation. You guys didn't say "here's the sculpture, here's what it means. We need you to do something like this." You were like "Here's the sculpture. Whatever it means to you, do that." I think for a lot of people that can be an intimidating thought, but I do think overall it's for the best. A great creative challenge is really important to any artist in order to explore outside their comfort zone. Especially when you have this sculpture that we would have never ever creating something in response to. This very one of a kind piece that we did, is thanks to being open, being willing to have our own free interpretation.

For anyone in the future: feel free to express, and do your thing. Don't hold back.

Call Number: Y18VA | Y23MU.siFa

Sidestep Complex is a married musical collaboration creating intuitive multigenre music by weaving the epic violin tracks & experimental composition of Liz Anaya Sheils with the intricate raps & hip hop production of Scatterboxx. Our mission is to bring together visionaries, musicians, & creatives of all kinds in epic collaborations of love, revolution, & genuine self-expression. We write about our psychedelic romance, post-apocalyptic adventures, and the unfolding of the collective cosmic consciousness and we believe that a cross-cultural body of work can open minds and give folks the opportunity to connect with each other.