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Dylan Carlson: Definitely. After I started doing my solo thing, which was heavily influenced by British folklore and folk music, I wanted to leave Earth free to do whatever it was gonna do next. Then I found myself—for whatever reason, midlife crisis or whatever—going back to the music that inspired me during Earth’s formative years. The music that made me want to do this in the first place was hard rock and heavy metal. As weird as we’ve been, I’ve always viewed us as that kind of band. There weren’t any other bands on Sub Pop wearing Morbid Angel shirts in their photo shoots.We did a tour of Japan, Australia, and New Zealand as a three-piece, so right then we’re not dealing with the cello and the trombone and that kind of stuff. One of the songs I started writing in Perth was "Even Hell Has Its Heroes," around the time we went to Bon Scott’s grave. AC/DC was the band that made me want to play rock 'n' roll in the first place, so it seemed fitting.The folk element crept in a bit because the song "Rooks Across the Gate" was originally for my solo project, but then Adrienne really liked it. The lyrics were based on a folkloric trip I took to Suffolk, and it’s also kind of a murder ballad. It was originally a folky tune and then I redid it as an Earth song.
I was gonna ask if your work on the House of Albion stuff had you writing lyrics that were mostly influenced by folklore.
Definitely. "Rooks Across the Gate" is based on an East Anglian tradition, so that one’s specifically folkloric. [Guest vocalist] Mark Lanegan came up with his own lyrics for "A Serpent Coming," and I really liked the lyrics he came up with—the title Primitive and Deadly came out of that song. It was a good title for a number of reasons. A, it sounded like a Scorpions record. B, Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light was a very introspective, quiet album. This one was a "storming out the gates" record.
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Adrienne Davies: We always try to make music that’s very evocative and emotional, especially now that we have vocals. Music that can take you out of reality and transport you to another one. It’s almost a meditation in a strange way—not consciously forcing the audience to do it, but hopefully influencing them. When I play music with Earth, I experience it that way. It’s very soothing and transports me somewhere else.I like how the influence of occult themes and esoterica ends up leading you to make music that has a shamanic or ritualistic effect on people.
Carlson: There was a shamanic tradition in every culture. In some cultures it’s been totally exterminated, but in others it’s very present. I always find it weird how that term automatically connotes "someone in the Amazon," or something. I think the traditions are the same everywhere—they just have different outer manifestations.It’s a very human thing.
It’s what humans do. We alter our consciousness and attempt to deal with the world in the best way possible.Davies: We honor our dead and communicate with our elders, and so on.Carlson: I think in the old days, everyone did it to some extent. And we’ve kind of abandoned it for technology.If someone wanted to read some texts in that vein, what would you recommend?
To start with, Religion and the Decline of Magic by this guy Keith Thomas. It came out in 1971. It’s a long, tedious book, but it’s the first book to really talk about English cunning folk. Another book came out somewhat recently called A Grimoire for Modern Cunning Folk.
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In the past we’ve done more artwork covers, and Hex was old found photos. This time I wanted a photographic cover. We worked with Samantha Muljat, the art director at Southern Lord, and she shot the photos. I wanted something that evoked the title. It’s an alien landscape, but not necessarily another planet—more like another realm or spirit world. Also definitely has an 80s metal vibe to it. I wanted a metal cover.Do you think future songs will continue to reflect your early metal influences?
I’ve got a few songs I’m working on that are definitely a similar vibe to these. We’ll see what happens. It’s definitely continuing in the harder vein.You both have a minimal and deliberate way of playing. It's very disciplined. Do you find yourself doing that consciously or is it just the way you’ve evolved?
It’s just how we work now. My songwriting hasn’t changed much over the years. I’ve matured, obviously, but the main way I write is all theme and variation. It starts on a riff and then just variations on that riff.
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Yeah, film was a huge influence, especially when I first started.Davies: I always loved the really slow-paced movies where things culminated very slowly into some sort of huge climax.On that note, were there any really unusual influences or things that have happened in the past few years that have shaped this record?
Carlson: The Angels era and the impetus for my solo project were inspired by a number of personal experiences I had in England of an "othernatural" nature. And then, during the Angels era I was chronically ill and—near expiring, I guess you could say. That was obviously a big influence on the whole situation.This record definitely reflects the fact that I’m healthy and excited by life again. I’m in love with somebody, engaged, and going to get married. This isn’t what someone would expect from an Earth record. And I’m really fortunate to still get to work with Adrienne and maintain a friendship over the years.Davies: If nothing else, we’ll always have the music.Carlson: At least my midlife crisis is helping the music progress.
