Jael Holzman fashioned Ekko Astral in 2021 along with her greatest pal, guitarist Liam Hughes, and the band finally expanded to incorporate drummer Miri Tyler, bassist Guinevere Tully, and guitarist Sam Elmore. Dubbing their type – an uncompromising mixture of hardcore, noise punk, and no-wave – “mascara mosh pit” music, the Washington, DC-based outfit dropped their debut EP QUARTZ, that includes the singles ‘TRANSDEMIC, BABY’ and ‘EAT OFF MY CHEST (WHILE I STARE AT THE CAMERA)’, in October 2022. This week, they launched their debut album, pink balloons, which was produced by Pure Grownup’s Jeremy Snyder, by way of Topshelf. Clocking in at simply over half an hour, the report is by turns galvanizing, raucous, and uneasy, however by no means completely dispiriting – confronting a world of struggling and disillusionment not solely by pointing to it, however ceaselessly invoking and subverting what it feels prefer to inhabit it. As hyper-referential as they’re exacting, Holzman’s lyrics are additionally as riveting because the music that drives them ahead. “I can see you shifting in your seat,” she intones on the very starting, however Ekko Astral make sure you stay strapped in.
We caught up with Ekko Astral’s Jael Holzman for the most recent version of our Artist Highlight sequence to speak about her songwriting method, lyrical references, the aim of Ekko Astral, and extra.
What’s your headspace like with the discharge of pink balloons? Do you are feeling about it in another way than you probably did a few days in the past?
We spent a whole lot of time constructing Ekko Astral. pink balloons itself is a report that has a whole lot of me in it, a whole lot of us in it. I obtained this query after the report got here out of, “Is the voice on that report you, or is it some type of character?” And I used to be like, “Nicely, truly, the character on pink balloons is a much more genuine me than the me that folks most likely see day-after-day in my working life.” So it seems like a reduction, an exhale; after a very long time, it seems like I’m truly in a position to categorical myself via this report being out in a approach that I personally have by no means been in a position to earlier than. And seeing the reception thus far has been a tearjerker of an expertise. I couldn’t think about it resonating with so many individuals, and I can’t anticipate it to assist so many individuals and alter folks’s lives. I really feel that in my bones.
Earlier than going into the album itself, how has your personal sense of objective or consciousness as a author developed since beginning Ekko Astral?
My method to writing is “present, don’t inform.” I additionally am a journalist, and I consider in not telling folks how one can really feel. The evolution of Ekko has from the start been about persistently telling folks how we really feel as people current – I do know it’s a cliche time period, however in a society. The main target from a author’s perspective, what I try to do as a author, is carry folks right into a world that’s formed by my very own experiences, however is profoundly common and empathetic to folks of all experiences, narratives, and scenes. There’s this band I like from New York, their title is Massive Lady. The lead singer, Kate Pelkey, is a pal of mine and likes to explain their songs as scenes, like every track is a one-act play. I like to consider what we do on pink balloons as the same endeavor. These songs are one-act performs. They’re moments in time, certain – I imply, we expertise music as a type of temporal shift, however in that, you could have the capability to entry the deepest stretches of who somebody is.
There’s this ebook that I like to recommend to anybody each time I’m doing an interview referred to as This Is Your Mind on Music. It’s written by a neuroscientist, so it goes via, in a scientific sense, why music is that this extremely potent human communication gadget. There’s nothing else that people actually do that’s seen replicated in different species. Music is a deeply human factor; we don’t see anything on Earth do it, at the very least not that we all know. I really feel like I’ve leaned into that objective as a lot as attainable, and I proceed to lean into that. That’s what Ekko is all about: discovering a strategy to talk to folks via track, as many individuals as attainable. As a result of we want that proper now. No one’s listening to one another.
Whenever we speak about experimental or hardcore music of any sort, we regularly begin with this caveat that it’s not for everybody. However you’ve made it clear, with this and in different interviews, that Ekko Astral is very a lot supposed for everybody. When singing or setting up these scenes, are you ever aware of there being a conflict between those issues – the supposed universality of the music and the type or the language by which it’s offered? Do they ever really feel at odds?
There’s magnificence in distinction and in battle. The aim is to not be all the pieces for everybody at Ekko Headquarters. pink ballons is gorgeous, to me at the very least, as a result of it precisely represents one thing attempting to make folks uncomfortable. When the tip aim is attempting to make folks uncomfortable and nonetheless need them to come back again and really feel that approach many times and once more – possibly you’re not for everybody within the eyes of all, however in my view, the communication is for everybody. We’re placing this sign out and saying, “Let’s try to attain as many individuals as attainable with this unlucky reality.” And certain, there’s pressure there, and you’ll hear it within the tunes. It’s there within the lyrics even, within the phrases I select. However that’s the entire level of it. The entire world is in battle proper now, so why ought to our music not? Why ought to the music that’s for everybody not additionally symbolize that? I believe we’re all getting type of bored by the identical issues, proper?
I don’t need to pick too many particular person references and decontextualize them, however I really feel like the primary one which jumps out – “Is it Bon Eye-ver or Bon Iver” – is indicative of their position inside the album; they are often overwhelming and virtually distracting, simply as they are often once you encounter them in actual life or on-line. It’s a part of the dissonance quite than at all times directing you to the purpose of the track.
Each phrase that I choose is intentional. I’m a formalist. I’ve an English diploma from the College of Vermont, frankly probably the greatest Liberal Arts establishments in america. It’s additionally the place Liam Hughes, the lead guitarist who based the band with me, and I met. I satisfied him to be an English main, and he and I each realized how one can write collectively. We each have a deep appreciation for writers who choose their phrases correctly. A number of influences of mine from an authorial perspective – not songwriters, however simply novelists – are Cormac McCarthy and Toni Morrison. My favourite ebook is Sula by Toni Morrison, her second novel. What I like about their work, specifically, is you can most likely train an entire seminar on one chapter from one in every of their nice books, since you may choose aside the variations in distinction between every particular person phrase; there’s even magnificence within the area between phrases.
So, how does that relate to Ekko’s pink balloons? You might be right that every reference may be very, very intentional. However in that approach, you’re selecting up on – and I recognize that persons are noticing this – that these references don’t exist to be coy or fucking humorous. I’m not making popular culture references to seize a Google headline. The reality is that every one of those characters are being bought to folks to distract them from the violence and horror of their lives. Like, what the fuck is that this Taylor Swift album? What the fuck is that this Beyoncé album? Why are these the issues that giant firms are feeding folks at a time of mass disillusionment and emotions of doom concerning the world? Not simply the nation, however the world. Lots of people are in a whole lot of ache proper now, particularly after the worldwide pandemic started. We’ve got been in a tough place as a world, however we’re being served slop. So, as an alternative of telling those that very direct assertion, which is about as didactic and irritating as you might be, what I try to do via lyric is give folks the sensation, present it to them immediately. Right here’s a popular culture reference, and, by the way in which, I’ve stalkers outdoors.
The primary lyric of ‘head empty blues’, “Bubblegum vodka/ I’ll carry a knife/ It’s my proper/ Received’t value ya,” is a reference to a narrative {that a} shut pal of mine advised me. Really, it was our merch man, Henry Carlson; after we first met in fall of 2022, he advised me the story of a trans pal of his who had a nervous breakdown one night time after they have been youthful and had a knife, simply popped out a knife and was freaking out as a result of they felt too uncomfortable and horrified by how tough it had been to easily exist with all of their non-trans mates. And, like, how do you increase upon that? Nicely, there are lots of people who really feel marginalized proper now who really feel the identical approach. There’s an issue on the horizon the entire time; you’re being adopted round in shops, you’re getting harassed on-line, you could have folks harassing you, assaulting you in all types of how, in actual life and outdoors. And when you take that and you set it subsequent to Carly Rae Jepsen with a broadsword, you get Ekko Astral. [laughs]
The La Dispute reference on ‘someplace on the backside of the river between l’enfant and jap market’ feels totally different in that gives a musical template greater than a possibility for wordplay, and it creates a whole lot of area that comes into distinction with the songs round it. What impressed you to drag from that on the heart of the album?
The aim has at all times been disruption. All of us beloved the concept of supplying you with unimaginable bangers, after which all of the sudden, utterly tossing you off-kilter, as a result of that’s the way in which issues are actually. That’s it, plain and easy. I’ve been posting about this the final day – the creator of the poem [Ari Drennen] initially of that monitor you’re referencing has additionally been posting about it, I might suggest you learn what she’s been writing. The entire idea that pink balloons is wrapped in is the inevitability of the popping of the balloons. I imply, what’s a balloon? It’s air inside of fabric that finally does rupture, it doesn’t matter what; you permit a balloon alone in a room, and it pops finally. I like that concept of an inexpensive pink balloon. So, in the course of the report, we type of pop it for you. After which we go to ‘make me younger’ and we ponder the Actual of all of it – the Lacanian Actual. I’m not one to let a thriller lie until it’s intentional. [laughs] Which is true, there are some mysteries on this report that I’m gonna let simply sit. However I additionally assume that the tales behind the songs are fairly highly effective.
Did ‘make me younger’ and its reflection on mortality develop out of the earlier track?
‘make me younger’ is written by Guinevere, our bassist. She confirmed me that track once we have been nonetheless placing collectively the report, and it affected me as a result of it’s so earnest and sincere. The reality is that we’re all gonna die; that’s one of many easiest, broadest human qualities, that issues finish for all of us. As soon as once more, we’re attempting to place the sign out into the universe and have folks perceive the lives of others that they beforehand didn’t. It’s about empathy. And what can somebody empathize extra with than the truth that there’s an finish to all the pieces?
With the album being out, has something new come to gentle that has modified your notion of it?
Are you acquainted with the web conspiracy principle that The Simpsons predicted 9/11? So, once we made this report, all of us deliberately sat down earlier than we went to the studio and thought, “What’s the factor that we need to accomplish with this report? We all know it’s gonna come out in a 12 months, what’s the factor that we need to make that makes the world a greater place when it comes out?” And a part of that genuinely concerned predicting what the world can be in a few 12 months, which I don’t assume sufficient artists do, candidly. [laughs] It will most likely assist folks with being extra related with the occasions and with the tradition by way of its wants. However anyway, there occurred to be a whole lot of coincidental predictions about this report, some humorous and a few very unhappy, that we that we coincidentally wound up predicting on this report. A humorous one, I assume, is {that a} ton of individuals would simply voraciously devour Beyoncé liberal bait; that Beyoncé would come out with extra stuff that might placate to, like, individuals who simply need to go to brunch. [laughs]
However we’ve got an interlude on this monitor referred to as ‘burning alive on okay road’, and the protest by Aaron Bushnell – I imply, when that occurred, the self-immolation, I genuinely was so disturbed by the truth that we had that interlude on our report. It wasn’t a reference to this particular person, and I’ve been requested many occasions, “Was this an Aaron Bushnell reference?” It was not, we put that there as a result of I used to be genuinely predicting folks would self-immolate in DC. Individuals had self-immolated earlier than in DC, there’s a historical past of self-immolation as protest. However I’ve been and can proceed to be deeply disquieted by the tradition of forgetfulness and of a scarcity of mental curiosity that I discover generally within the metropolis, amongst a few of my friends. So I used to be simply imagining you this factor, it has truly bothered me fairly a bit that we put that on that report. I didn’t need to change it as a result of now it’s there and folks join with it. But it surely undoubtedly freaked me out.
Is there anything you’d like to say or add?
Jeremy Snyder, our producer, deserves as a lot reward as humanly attainable. We wrote these songs, and so they’re lovely, however Jeremy not solely constructed the soundscape of this report, he additionally wrote a number of interludes and your entire instrumental in the course of the report, with the poem and the recording of my grandfather and I. Jeremy is essentially the most underrated musical producer in america, he needs to be producing the most important rock bands on the planet. This man is a legend within the making. I really feel honored to have been in a position to work with him and to proceed to work with him. I don’t need to work with anybody else proper now. [laughs] I’d take affords, however it will be laborious to take me away from my communist wizard. I like that man to loss of life. Jeremy closely influenced our work via each his personal music with Pure Grownup in addition to his influences. Jeremy is a scholar of recent no-wave, of recent noise rock; he and I’ve the same style and the same vocabulary phrases of what we like in our rock music, so he and I may simply reference issues and construct issues with out actually having to clarify it to at least one one other. We have been so in sync and so forth the identical web page that it it simply fell just like the time that we spent collectively was this revolutionary expertise. I’ll always remember the times that we spend speaking concerning the world and consuming an excessive amount of wine in North Carolina, making pink balloons, ever.
This interview has been edited and condensed for readability and size.
Ekko Astral’s pink balloons is out now by way of Topshelf Information.