OUT OF FRAME: ANNAPURNA CONTINUES TO EVOLVE IN 'COSMIC CUROSITIES'
Annapurna backstage at High Horse Bar
AN EVOLUTION
Annapurna is easily one of the most talented groups of musicians I’ve ever had the privilege of meeting, let alone working with. Singer Greg Hojnacki and I connected years ago about working on a music video that was consistently delayed by Covid outbreaks and restrictions.
Finally, in 2021, we were able to get our plans together and make the music video for their song ‘Vallonia’ and I was just blown away by the band’s progression from their previous work as a 3-piece acoustic project, to a full band and then on to incorporating more of their metal/progressive elements into their music.
On July 15, they released yet another amazing track, ‘Cosmic Curiosities’ which seems to be continuing that trajectory so I sat down with Greg to talk through this new progression for the band and see what else the guys were up to for the year.
Cosmic Curiosities seems like yet another big step in the progression of Annapurna. Can you walk me through how the band has grown from a 3-piece acoustic project to what it is now?
Leaps and bounds, man. It really has been a big jump forward for us as a collective. We’re starting to dial in the sound that we’ve always wanted, leaning into our heavier / progressive influences and letting the reins loose on some of the more advanced guitar concepts we’ve always wanted to integrate. When we were starting off, our approach to writing was much different, considering it was just three of us on acoustic instruments. I think we always wanted to adapt the music to a full band setting, it just took some time to establish our roles, redesign the writing process, and have everyone contribute ideas and critiques equally to make sure this was the music we all actually wanted to play. The progression from acoustic outfit to the full band was a gradual ascent, but the addition of a strong rhythm section really brought the music the backbone it needed, and I feel like we’ve been climbing steadily ever since. I’m also confident and blessed to say that I play with some of the most talented fellas in this city and the cohesion we’ve found and continue to find is something that I don’t take for granted. Most people know, but the other guys played in a metal band prior to this project, so they all came in with some serious precision. I think that technicality translates really well to what we’re going for nowadays.
The lyrics are an interesting juxtaposition to the calmness of the melodies in the song. What was the inspiration?
Yeah, I certainly took a more direct approach with this one. Much of it comes from a place of frustration in regards to humanity’s poor treatment of the earth and my own personal shortcomings in relation to sustainable practices. The idea of endless landfills and plastic oceans is a thought that hits me frequently, and I often find myself paralyzed when I try to think of grand solutions, cause many seem out of reach. However, throughout the writing process, which lasted a good couple of months, I did come to realize that it was more practical to start small and focus on more realistic and attainable goals. That is a process that I’m still in the midst of and, let me tell you what, I’ve got a ways to go…. we’ll leave it and that! Hah
In terms of melodic influence, I was kind of pulling equal parts inspiration from Minus the Bear / Rx Bandits / Paper Rival. With the newer material that we’re writing, I can see some blatant influences that reflect from more recent listening habits, and I really enjoy sprinkling in some small Easter eggs and/or references to melodies/songs that have captivated me. One prime example is the “Like eating books” line… which is a direct reference to the song title “Eating a Book” by He is Legend. Another would be the “vast and visceral” line, which was a slight nod at the Rx record “Gemini, Her Majesty”, which has always had a notable influence on our sound.
In the past, you all have demoed your own songs but then entered the studio for mixing and mastering. This time, you all are mostly doing it yourself, right?
Correct. Well, mostly correct. We do all of the writing, production, and tracking in-house at our home studios. HOWEVER, with this particular track, we teamed up with Jordan Haynes at Earlygrayce Studios to do both the mixing and the mastering. He even made us an edited version like a true gentleman.
It is interesting you brought it up though, because moving forward, we are planning on handling the mixing and mastering portion of the process ourselves. As of late, we’ve been investing in some new gear and software to take things up a notch. I’m sure that will only continue as time moves on. Matt has really committed a lot of his personal time to learn how to mix properly and effectively to industry standards, and he’s lending a ton of good input.
So, the goal is to just keep cranking out new material that we can apply this new knowledge to.
What made you all decide to try and tackle that?
Really just the understanding that it’s achievable with the setup that we have. As I mentioned earlier, we’ve been slowly building our setups over time, and most of us have full recording setups at our houses. So now it’s more about fine-tuning our mixing skills and really dialing in our sound. I think the consistency that we’re looking for is going to be both challenging and equally rewarding.
Up until this point, it’s always seemed tedious, but now that we have skills coming from multiple angles it seems a lot more manageable and I actually look forward to getting better from an engineering standpoint.
The song features an incredible solo and additional vocals by Gabriel Levi. How did that whole thing come about?
Gabriel Levi
YESSIR, IT DOES! Let me just say that Gabe’s contribution to the track totally surpassed all expectations. It all kind of happened organically… thanks to the Instagram algorithmic gods.
I randomly stumbled across one of Gabe’s videos on IG (this riff eventually became his song “Open Sea”) and was immediately hooked (pun intended). Turns out we had a lot of the same influences, and he’s actually had a chance to work with a lot of them directly and integrates that cutting-edge technique into his songwriting.
One of his original songs called “Ripple Effect” was particularly infectious and I reached out and asked if we could set up a lesson to walk through it. He agreed and we had a Skype lesson where he taught me the song in its entirety, amongst other musical conversations. After that we kept in relative contact and one day as we were chatting I tossed out the idea of a feature, and within a week or so, he had sent me his finalized parts.
It was the first feature we’ve ever had on an Annapurna track, and he set the bar pretty damn high. All that to say, we’re honored to work with him and can’t wait to have a beer together one day, in person.
Do you think there will be more features in the future in a similar vein?
You betcha. We’ve already tossed around a lot of different names and ideas. That’s what also makes it equally difficult: we’re surrounded by a ton of talented musicians, so how on earth do we choose?
We might just have to pull a Dr. Dundiff and get the whole city in on a song (Just kidding, no one can do it better than he did.)
Some of our other friends that we want to collaborate with are in other states, so I’m enthralled at the idea of building a song across state lines and having it come together from a host of different places/settings. There’s something cool about that to me. Obviously, I’m not going to name any names, that would spoil all of the fun.
An obvious question when a new single comes out is whether or not there are plans for a new record. Is that the case?
Right now, that’s the long-term goal. When it comes to the short term, we’re going to focus on one song at a time to slowly build up enough material for a full-length record. Each one has its own vibe, so we want to give them all a moment in the spotlight, as well as tie in all the creative elements like album art and such to fit the feeling.
Eventually, we’ll compile all of the individual songs and package them up really nicely together. That’s the thing, most of these new songs that we’re writing mesh together quite well, even though they all have their own flavor. Some of the newer stuff has this positive, bouncy feel to it. Whereas, some of the other ideas are more riffy and guitar-driven. There’s even a ballad-sounding tune somewhere in that bank. We’re pretty open to trying new concepts/formats and I think that will lend itself to the progression of our sound overall. Just trying to keep that train rolling.
If I could forecast what said album might sound like, think heavier.
What are the band's plans for the rest of 2022?
The current and most pressing focus lately has been writing and recording. We’ve intentionally stopped booking shows at the moment to leave time and space to write and chop away at recording new stuff.
I’m sure we’ll get back into the swing of playing shows later in the year, but for now, I think we all just want to freshen things up and have new tunes to look forward to. We also want to expand our Youtube presence, diving into full Logic session breakdowns, putting together tone demonstrations for certain songs, doing more Q&A type videos, and maybe some gear discussion.
We’ve even discussed the idea of shooting a mini doc with our dear pal and super director Mike Thompson about our new direction and overall sound as a band.
So lots of cool things on the horizon! Looking forward to releasing all this goodness.
Check out the amazing new lyric video for ‘Cosmic Curiosities’ featuring Gabriel Levi below, and keep your eyes peeled for more news about this amazing group and all of the awesome things they have coming this year.