Photo by Daniel Topete, courtesy of Seoul
In internet years, Seoul have already blown it. It was way, way back in 2013 when the Montreal trio first turned heads with the release of their first song, “Stay With Us.” At the time, they had all the indie cred you could hope for as a new band with only one song: They were mysterious, with a professional looking video shot in Japan and a refined, dreamy indie-synth sound with whispery vocals. Conventional wisdom would have been to strike while the iron was hot, but instead of following up the initial hype with an album or some sort of grand gesture, Seoul played it cool. Singles dribbled out of Seoul HQ at a leisurely pace, but still no album. They played POP Montreal and M for Montreal later that year and “The Next Big Montreal Band” title was already being bestowed on them by a few overly eager beavers. That would have been a good time to unveil a debut album, but they remained silent.
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They waited until this June to finally release I Become A Shade, an album that was pretty much finished and ready to roll in 2013. The trio’s sound remains refined, and the album is about what you would expect if you’ve had “Stay With Us” on a loop these last two years. It sounds fine in 2015, but one can’t help but wonder how it might have sounded in 2013. Then again, Seoul are completely and utterly pleased with the album’s lengthy rollout and are not worried at all about having potentially missed the boat.
“The internet denotes time unrealistically,” reassures keyboardist Julian Flavin. “It makes you feel a bit fucked in the head sometimes, but in the real world that’s not how it works. I feel like people experience a lot of anxiety that comes from the internet, and it’s hard as an artist to know how to navigate it. I must say there was urgency to what we did even though it seemed like we were patient. We were hustling all the time, in my memory of it, to bring it to people and get people to help us, but at the same time the concept of striking while the iron is hot gives me a weird vibe. This is your art—if it’s good, it’s good. It’s just a matter of following those rock-step pools where you focus on the rock in front of you and it leads to something else. You have no idea what’s going to happen and how, but out of every situation another one emerges. You can’t plan for what will happen. Just have integrity and do your best.”
Guitarist Nigel Ward adds: “I think people now are following us for more legitimate reasons than when we were a band with just a rollout single. It’s unpredictable, so it results in hype. Then they’ll go to your show because they want to see what you’re all about. Now there’s more content, and I think it results with a more genuine interaction with people.”
The band had a basic plan all along. In a world of loose SoundCloud singles, including their own, they had this finished, cohesive album they felt was worthy of a professional, physical release. In order to get the right parties interested, they built an audience the old fashioned way. Well, first they got the initial internet traffic, but after that they stuck to playing shows and building a fan base that way, in their adopted hometown and then in New York and Toronto. They eventually got Last Gang Records to release their album in Canada and Grand Jury to do so in the US.
“We played a bunch of shows,” says bassist Dexter Garcia. “People reached out to us too, by email, asking us what we’re up to. When there was some interest in New York, we’d book a couple of shows there. We did it for a year and a half and setting up meetings.” While they were looking for a label, they received feedback from fans. A lot of the comments were along the lines of “where’s my album?”
“(That attitude) is strange for a culture that absorbs singles pretty habitually and quickly, it’s a bit contradictory,” says Ward. “You’re not legitimate till you have an album out, yet nobody’s going to bother listening to it.” They also heard jokes about their setlist, which was a big mystery since most of their songs had yet to be released. “The best we got was something like, ‘oh sick, I can’t wait to hear “Stay With Us” twice, “White Morning” three times, then a Guilty Simpson cover,’” recalls Garcia.
According to Flavin, there was never a thought to getting it over with by dumping the album on Bandcamp, the preferred way for Montreal indie bands to get their music out as quickly and efficiently as possible. “I think Bandcamp culture is seen as a way to release music you made in the last two months and when you’re already on to the next thing,” he says. “I feel like people within those scenes are Bandcamp-centric, which is cool. But with this project, we had a goal which is: ‘Let’s not blow the load with Bandcamp, let’s see if we can garner enough attention to release it on a label.’ It felt like the way the music should and could be on. Part of the whole experiment and why it has taken so long is because of that. Whether or not that’s the best way to release music is another question, but I think we wanted for own personal sake to try it out. And our album’s sake.”
But the thing is, bands evolve and grow tired of their early songs. Why didn’t Seoul want to move on from I Become A Shade? “It’s not going to feel the same as when you first finished it, those feelings wear away,” says Ward. “But part of existing as a band is realizing when it’s not about you anymore, so we want to perform the songs for people so they can enjoy them, and they deserve that. Most of the time you play your songs and perform as best you can, but it’s a different zone in the cycle of album releases.”
“At the time of officially finishing it back in the day,” adds Flavin, “I couldn’t conceive trying harder on something. It felt good just to knock it out.” The album has now landed, noticeably without much hype attached to it. They’re fine with the mixed reviews they’ve received so far and excited about the future: most notably a summer of shows with a completed album under their belts.
Actually, because they’re now attached to a label, album number two will by necessity have to come out within a certain time frame. They also intend to spend part of the summer messing around with new sounds. “If you want the option to put it out on the label you have to hand it in at a certain time,” says Flavin.
“Now we’re contractually obligated to put out a record” adds Garcia.
Erik Leijon is a writer based in Montreal. Follow him on Twitter.