Interview: Kerretta - 'Angelm' Album Release Show

Immaculately crafted and gargantuan in sonic scope, Angelm is the long-awaited new album from Aotearoa post-rock / metal innovators Kerretta, sculpted by David Holmes and Hamish Walker between their respective bases in London and Tāmaki Makaurau. Recording and playing together as Kerretta for just under two decades, they'll be joined by Mat Bosher (Decortica, Domes, Magnalith) on bass for an extremely rare local outing this Thursday at Whammy Bar, celebrating their latest record with friends and fellow travellers Swallow The Rat (their last gig with singer / bassist Stephen Horsley) and Somme. If you're quick you can order the strictly limited Jaspilitte coloured gatefold vinyl LP edition of Angelm HERE. We chatted with Holmes about the geologic themes bubbling through Angelm and much more — read below and miss this powerhouse lineup at your peril...

Kerretta, Swallow The Rat, Somme
Thursday 14th November - Whammy Bar, Auckland
Tickets on sale HERE via UTR

Chris Cudby: Congratulations on the new album! Angelm is centred around "the movement of continental plates and how our lives are both intangibly and tangibly dictated by this 'fragmentation to coalescence' tectonic movement". Did you decide on this theme before you started work on the record, or did these ideas 'take shape' through the process of making and recording?

David Holmes: Thanks Chris! We decided to work with a theme long before any writing kicked off. Previously our music has generally been born from long form improvisations that we’ve recorded, taken the time to live with and then selected elements that catch attention. Those vignettes would get fleshed out and eventually a record takes shape.

With Angelm, we realised that given our different circumstances, we felt a new approach was essential. Firstly, we don’t live in the same place and haven’t been able to tour, so our usual opportunities for writing sessions couldn’t happen. Additionally we’re a lot busier in life than we once were, and we thought a guiding theme with clear parameters would help us stay focused.

Things always evolve and shift when making a record, especially with music like this which is unburdened by lyrics nagging at your cognition, but for the most part the different tracks had a sort of ‘roadmap’ from the outset.

It's a significant thing to release a new album after 10 years between records. What brought you back together and when did you first start working on Angelm?

The motivation for Angelm was driven by Hamish initially, but the sense of being 'back together' is something of a misnomer as it never felt to me like we were apart, just occupied with other stuff for a while, meaning the band gave space to pressing life concerns.

The 10 years thing is chunky when you put it like that. From my perspective, it honestly doesn’t feel like a decade. By the time I subtract the dreadful COVID stuff, and some very consuming business manoeuvres I have been involved with, then it really felt like the time shot by and that there wasn’t any real opportunity to get new music happening. Plus we had released Exiscens in late 2018, which for me required quite a bit of technical involvement and so contributed to what felt like forward momentum.

The first academic draft of what was to become Anglem was kicking around February 2019, with the first percussion tracking taking place mid 2021.

Any specific challenges involved in getting you together to make Angelm happen — did you need to be physically together to make it? Whereabouts are you all based?

The biggest challenge we’ve faced for over a decade now is indeed our whereabouts. I’m in London and Hamish is in Tāmaki, so as I’ve outlined, us working inside of a theme provided the necessary creative conduits to keep the work focussed rather than dribbling back and forth MP3s of riffs and grooves without clear context. The time we spent physically together working on it was about seven days in July 2023 at my studio in London, where the focus was very much on guitars.

The other major tweak to the recipe this time was the decision to start entirely from a rhythmic perspective. In fact, I think every track had all of the drum parts not only written, but also recorded before many melodic forms were really nailed down. There was always contingency planned in order to alter the arrangements if needed as the material matured, and of course some re-records happened on a few tracks. Ultimately though I believe the restrictions it gave actually progressed the writing hugely.

What was the collaborative process of composing the album — did you each have specific roles? Was each track written completely before being recorded?

Much of the embryonic DNA of Angelm came from Hamish who gave us the overall concept. I think he held in his mind a sense of overview which meant I was able to climb into the weeds with details. The division of labour for both the record, and the band as a whole works rather well. He has a strong grasp on much of the business side of releasing music, and obviously I have a career running studios so bring that insight.

I think we both approach our respective instruments without too much of a sense of ownership or personal drama; we’re just keen to make the sounds work as the song suggests. Unfortunately you can’t ask me what pedals or amps I’ve used here and there, because in the studio I prefer to work fast and instinctively, meaning I rarely take comprehensive notes on signal chains — (which I admit is awfully problematic down the line).

I’ve had to at times operate quite close to my own abilities as both a guitarist and a bass player on the record, which feels good in the sense of personal growth, but frankly usually occurred as I’ve attempted to convert a line Hamish might’ve written on a synth into something playable on strings. Tricky as they were, that often yielded new harmonic shapes that were thrilling to me and that I’d never have stumbled upon.

There is a lot of compromise, and the two of us see no problem in disagreeing but we’ll always try the other’s thoughts out and eventually find the balance.

Nothing was written completely before being recorded, at least melodically, though some of the pieces had more narrative substance than others. Much of the guitar and bass writing and recording happened simultaneously, mainly due to me being time poor and seeing that strategy as a potentially worthwhile shortcut. But I also wanted to be able to get tones to feel right and then add the ‘right notes’. I think there's something really interesting in that approach.

There are some amazing textures at play on Angelm — what is that kind of "vocal chanting" sound on 'Eyes In The Bull Temple'?

Thanks! The sonic side is a cornerstone to what we do, as is pushing around what a guitar can be. It’s increasingly easy now to be unimpressed by tones and textures that not that long ago would’ve been mind-blowing. I remember when putting a few delay pedals in series made my jaw drop, and now Strymon and Eventide have presets for all that that anyone can stomp on, so the goalpost for me at least has shifted. I work on a pretty diverse range of music for my day job, and these days a lot more filmic commercial work and so feel some of that has fed-back to my own tastes for Kerretta. I think the sounds in 'Oceania' are some of my favourites produced for this album, though I’m always a bit bummed out when a reviewer assumes it to be a synth.

'Eyes In The Bull Temple', which relates to the North American continent, contains vocal ideas inspired by incredible old recordings of up-tempo, high energy singing. It would pulse like techno but the melodies would run together, around and into each other in these compelling ways; chaotic but forceful and truly awesome. To encapsulate North America as a continent was to reference that kind of history and mysticism, as well as give essentially the only straight up knuckle dragging 4/4 riff-fest on the album. For the vocal itself we wrote some phonetics and a melody that gave something akin to that energy. We then had that sung, screamed and yelled by our friends Steve Hinds and Sandy Mill over and over and messed it up in the mix and that's what you have on the record.

Tracks like 'South Am' sound like they're charting the boundaries of post-rock / avant-metal / heavy music. Did Kerretta have any specific influences or touchstones / reference points in mind for the new album (sonically, visually, or otherwise)?

Speaking solely from my perspective I can honestly say nothing specific. For me part of the objective is supposed to be some effort in the absence or avoidance of influence to try to turn over new soil. I could better pinpoint what we wanted to avoid—repeating ourselves or, worse yet, losing our own interest.

On a basic level, dividing up the globe into its tectonic delineations is a profound immediate visual guide once you float the countries and geographic levels of detail upon it, and I think that remains a much more powerful touchstone than any music out there.

What kind of post-production crafting was involved, beyond the laying down of irl instrumental recordings?

This album is loaded with sound design and post-production touches, and by an enormous magnitude compared to our previous releases. That speaks to the desire to evolve, but also to accommodate more of what we’re interested in these days. I think at points in our history we’ve leaned into writing material with a mind to what works performing on long tours, so it’s punched up and more visceral. These days, we’re more focused on finding surprises, embracing musical contradictions, and creating music with lasting intrigue. If I listen to Angelm now I’m already learning more about it then when we were in it and that's an evolution in and of itself.

'Pan Ultima' contains field recordings our good friend Mark Michel made when skippering boats in Antarctica, and some outrageous Wilhelm screams courtesy of Tyler (the drums engineer). The main guitar figure is also the oldest piece of writing on the record, actually coming from the same writing session we had in Germany many years ago when we had a Russian entry permit denied, and that also produced a lot of Pirohia (2014). 'Valley Towers' has improvisations from Swap Gomez on the Ghatam, and with that one the mix holds a lot back till “the big bit”, and much of the detail till then is obfuscated for the greater good of the impact.

Many tracks have touches of hand percussion and synth, mostly added towards the final mix sessions when we were looking to really rinse it out.

The album itself is beautifully packaged, with artwork by Michael Chalberg. Did you give Michael any specific directions for the art?

We’re fortunate to have worked with Michael Chalberg since the start of Kerretta; he’s always handled the visual aspect of each release. We don’t give him specific direction — that’s his realm. Once the album is finished, we’ll give him a brief on the concept and how the music was conceived, then discuss ideas together. He has an incredible ability to translate our music into a visual medium. With Angelm’s eight tracks, we wanted each to be represented as distinct fragments that coalesce to form a unified whole.

Who do you see as like-minded bands / 'fellow travellers' in Aotearoa or abroad?

I’m not as immersed in Auckland’s music scene since I’m based in London, but we’ve been fortunate to tour with so many great artists. When I’m back, I connect with bands I know personally, like Beastwars and Jakob. Others may not occupy the same musical space but are still inspiring, like Na Noise, Peter Wright, Aldous Harding, Proteins of Magic and Swallow the Rat.

How have rehearsals been going for next week's show with Swallow The Rat and Somme?

Well given that we’ve not played together for 8 years (what??) then actually pretty good! We have a new member in Mat Bosher (Decortica / Domes / Magnalith) on bass so having him join us for live shows has been a treat. He and I have a long history of musical collaboration so this just feels like family.

Swallow the Rat are old friends and I’m looking forward to getting pummelled by Somme.

'Angelm' is out now on major streaming platforms — order the limited coloured vinyl LP and compact disc edition HERE.