“I gave it a listen while walking New York at night. It was like walking a half erased creation where streets were streets only by walking them and what was never walked on, never was to be,” — Daniel Mahoney in a review of the album “Pre Dawn Demo” by Umbral.
Daniel Mahoney summed up his critique of the Berlin-based psychdrone band as, “essential listening.”
In case you are wondering why you’ve never heard of this band, the answer is simple: Umbral never existed. Well, that is until now.
The above quote is from Daniel Mahoney’s book, “Sunblind Almost Motorcrash,” a collection of imaginary record reviews written about imaginary bands. When it came time to publish this book, Mahoney enlisted some of his musician friends to each record a track by one of the fictitious bands.
Greenfield resident Daniel Hales was one of those musicians, and he took on the role of pretending to be in a pretend band with the kind of energy and enthusiasm that he brings to his own musical projects — the frost heaves and hales and The Ambiguities.
Hales recorded a song called “Dawn Undecided,” which appeared on a compilation cassette that was released with the book. But it didn’t stop there, as Hales became enthralled with the idea of creating more Umbral music. So, with the help of his friend JD Hairston of the band Rebel Base, he started recording an entire album of Umbral music.
The completed album, “Predawn to Postdusk,” is a collection of primarily instrumental songs that live in a trippy psychedelic and weird world of their own. The music is experimental — at times, I felt like I was listening to Radiohead’s “Kid A” meets the Beatles “Revolution 9” — yet melodic, with a mystical, dreamy quality that will keep drawing you back.
Spork Publishing of Tucson, Ariz., which released Mahoney’s book, has now released “Predawn to Postdusk.” Spork only releases cassettes, but the album is available as a download on Bandcamp and on CD.
To celebrate this release, Hales, Hairston and some friends will host a release party at the beautiful Pushkin on Main Street in Greenfield on Saturday, April 1, at 7 p.m.
Since the music of Umbral is unlike anything you’ve heard before, this release party will be unlike any release party you’ve ever attended.
The show will be a multi-media event that will feature “Predawn to Postdusk.” In addition, there will be shadow puppets, sound installations, psychedelic slide-overheard projections, a poetry reading, a dancer, immersive theater and so much more. And best of all, admission is free.
I recently had a chance to ask Hales a few questions about bringing the music of an imaginary band to life.
Sheryl Hunter: When Daniel Mahoney approached you about contributing a song to coincide with his book, did he ask you to record as Umbral, or was it your choice?
Daniel Hales: He gave all the musicians involved a choice of what band they wanted to become. His Umbral review was my favorite in the book, so that certainly nudged me in that direction. I was also intrigued by the sub-genre he used to describe Umbral: “psychdrone.” I love psychedelic music, everything from ’60s psychedelic jangle pop to heavy, dark, fuzzed-out psych rock, and I’ve always gravitated toward drone-based music. I have a hard time slowing my mind down enough to meditate, but sometimes when I’m listening to or playing a drone solo (droning on one string while simultaneously playing a melody on another string), I can drift into a kind of meditative trance. There’s something I find deeply pleasing and soothing about that kind of sonic texture.
SH: You once said that Umbral scratched a musical itch that nothing else was reaching. Could you elaborate on that?
DH: Well, I’ve certainly explored psychedelia and drones in frost heaves and The Ambiguities, but in those bands our emphasis is ultimately on crafting concise, dynamic, lyric-based songs. Umbral gave me more of an excuse to let improvisations sprawl out into space — to enjoy the process of creating strange vibe-y soundscapes first, and then go back and refine them into something, like songs, later. I also enjoyed the process of coming up with lyrics for a few of the songs — and then burying the words so deep in reverb and vibrato that you’d be hard pressed to make out more than fragments. If shoe-gaze bands like My Bloody Valentine scratch any of your musical itches, you might also like Umbral.
SH: When did you know you were going to record an entire album?
DH: Soon after I completed the first song, “Dawn Undecided,” for the compilation, I’d become better friends with JD Hairston. JD went on a road trip and as a kind of joke, I gave him a 10-minute cassette that only had “Dawn Undecides” on each side. He dug it, so I asked if he’d be into collaborating as Umbral. We recorded a whole bunch of stuff, often totally improvised, and often incorporating odd audio and field recordings. Then, I culled the things that I liked best, and began further tweaking, twisting, torquing and tambourining them until it started to look and sound like an album.
SH: Since you are taking on the role of an imaginary band, do you feel like you are stepping into a character when you play this music?
DH: Not really, although there will be some element of “costume” involved. The Umbral review says very little about the band — or even what the music actually sounds like. It’s much more about how powerful music makes you feel. When you hear something you weren’t expecting and it totally blows your mind and opens your ears up wider, it has the ability to truly change your life. I believe that, because I’ve lived that several times over — bands, albums or even just certain songs that “ripped me open” and changed who I thought I was. So the biggest constraint the review provided was to try and rise to that visceral challenge: to rip ourselves open and let the music take us somewhere strange, unexpected, beautiful and scary.
SH: Since Daniel Mahoney created the idea of Umbral, what feedback has he given you about this project?
DH: He has given us (and the album) his full blessing and endorsement, which I’m grateful for. However, once we fully committed to this project, we found our wings and left the nest of his review. It provided a perfect impetus for a new project, but from there it was up to us.
SH: Did you always think of Umbral as a band that would have a live show with a strong visual component?
DH: No, I never thought of it as anything more than a fun recording side-project until Spork released the album and we began planning our album release party. The more I thought about what “Umbra” means, the clearer it seemed that there needed to be a whole lot of shadows. And what could be more “umbral” than a band that literally plays in/as the shadows?
SH: What else can you tell me about the show?
DH: JD and I are considering the idea of beginning this big, multimedia show with lots of moving parts by each of us playing a totally acoustic 15-minute set (We still have time to chicken out, though). There will also be dance by Rachel Teumim, drone sound-installations in various parts of the building, a piñata and a DJ to close out the night.
SH: This is so different from your other projects. What would you say to people to encourage them to check out Umbral?
DH: Let psychdrone collage raga rock in through your third ear and it will befriend the shadow puppets inside your skull.
The Pushkin is located at 4 Federal St. in Greenfield. Doors open at 7 p.m., music begins at 8.
Sheryl Hunter is a music writer who lives in Easthampton. Her work has appeared in various regional and national magazines. You can contact her at: soundslocal@yahoo.com