‘The Crawling Eye’ by The Silence Industry
On this very Friday, we whisk you away into the sublime yet shadow-laden realm of Goth Rock, where the heart of Post-Punk beats incessantly. The Silence Industry has recently set a benchmark with ‘The Crawling Eye’ that other artists will find difficult to surpass in the foreseeable future. Endowed with an impressive back catalog,
The Silence Industry approaches a topic of grave seriousness in their latest release. The track addresses omnipresent surveillance, shedding light on its profound implications as well as the personal apprehensions it evokes.
Musically, Graham Jackson creates a scene of distressing perfection, where elements of Death-Rock leave us breathless and the fear of omnipresent observation becomes palpable. Driven by a dark Post-Punk aura, Graham rises with a performance at the microphone that recalls memories of Jaz Coleman (Killing Joke).
The artist not only succeeds in maintaining the tension for nearly seven minutes but also subtly intensifies it, making the listener believe they have only taken an ephemeral excursion into the world of Gothic. If there were a parallel universe where Robert Smith (The Cure) had decided to opt for a rockier sound, one might almost think ‘The Crawling Eye’ would come close to this ideal. The song is part of a 4-track EP that also satisfies fans of the Ambient-Noise genre. With ‘The Maw Of Sleep’ as a crowning addition, another outstanding title plunges us into the depths of Graham’s universe.
For fans of Goth Rock, it’s a true delight; for musical explorers, it’s a captivating odyssey that will not be forgotten. ‘The Crawling Eye’ by The Silence Industry is undoubtedly a must-experience.
‘The Crawling Eye’ by The Silence Industry [DE]
An diesem heutigen Freitag entführen wir Sie in die erhabene, zugleich aber auch schattenbehaftete Sphäre des Goth-Rocks, in der das Herz des Post-Punks unentwegt schlägt. The Silence Industry hat jüngst mit ‘The Crawling Eye’ einen Maßstab des Genres erschaffen, der es anderen Künstlern schwer machen wird, diesen in absehbarer Zeit zu übertreffen. Mit einem beeindruckenden Backkatalog im Gepäck nähert sich The Silence Industry auf ihrer neuesten Veröffentlichung einem Thema von gravierender Ernsthaftigkeit.
Der Track thematisiert die allgegenwärtige Überwachung und beleuchtet deren tiefgreifende Implikationen ebenso wie die persönlichen Befürchtungen, die sie hervorruft. Musikalisch erschafft Graham Jackson eine Szenerie von beklemmender Perfektion, in der Elemente des Death-Rock uns den Atem stocken lassen und die Furcht vor omnipräsenter Beobachtung spürbar wird. Angetrieben von einer düsteren Post-Punk-Aura, erhebt sich Graham Jackson mit einer Performance am Mikrofon, die Erinnerungen an Jaz Coleman (Killing Joke) wachruft.
Es gelingt dem Künstler nicht nur, die Spannung über die Dauer von nahezu sieben Minuten zu konservieren, sondern diese auch subtil zu intensivieren, was den Hörer am Ende glauben lässt, lediglich einen ephemeren Ausflug in die Welt des Gothic unternommen zu haben.
Würde es ein Paralleluniversum geben, in dem sich Robert Smith (The Cure) für einen rockigeren Sound entschieden hätte, könnte man fast meinen, ‘The Crawling Eye’ würde diesem Ideal entsprechen. Der Song ist Teil einer 4-Track-EP, die auch Liebhabern des Ambient-Noise-Genres gerecht wird. Mit ‘The Maw Of Sleep’ als krönender Beigabe entführt uns ein weiterer herausragender Titel in die Abgründe von Grahams Universum. Für Anhänger des Goth-Rocks ein wahrer Genuss; für musikalische Entdecker eine fesselnde Odyssee, die in Erinnerung bleiben wird. ‘The Crawling Eye’ von The Silence Industry ist zweifelsohne ein Pflichterlebnis.
Q&A
How did your passion for music begin, and what are the main influences behind your musical style and identity?
It's one of those things that's a bit tough to pin down exactly, but I will try! When I was very young, about 6 or 7 years old I remember that my parents had bought a little Yamaha Portasound keyboard for my older sister who was actually taking piano lessons (we didn't have an actual piano at the time). I remember more or less just nabbing that, turning on the sustain and setting it to "organ" mode and just hammering out minor chords like I was beethoven or something. It just made sense to me and felt good.
A number of years later, I think I was about 12, I wanted to learn guitar. I was able to get a cheap one as a gift. Started out just learning whatever rock stuff was out there at the time, but I was a weird and alienated kid, and so I quickly got into darker stuff. By the time I was in my mid teens this was largely 1st-3rd generation goth & post punk. I remember finding a used copy of "Script of the Bridge" in a record store and getting in based on a recommendation from an older friend and it totally blew me away.
Since then I've opened my mind up an awful lot and have gone through phases of listening to more electronic stuff, some more experimental and noise related stuff, prog-rock, more conventional rock and synthpop, some hip-hop etc. Eventually it just all becomes part of your language that you use to understand and also write music.
It's tough to nail down what influences you the most at some point, but I'd say the Chameleons, Danse Society, the Sisters, Steve Reich, Test Dept, Hawkwind, Killing Joke, Pete Seeger all figure in there somewhere.
What was the inspiration behind your latest release, ‘The Crawling Eye,’ and what’s the story behind it?
The Crawling Eye is a song that I had written some lyrics for that was mostly about contemporary surveillance, both it's serious implications and my more subjective anxieties around it. Musically I was kinda feeling a frenetic, anxious deathrocky vibe around it.
It didn't have a real working title, but I'd say 70% of the lyrics were written. I love trash cinema. Especially sci-fi b movies. I watched an older episode of MST3K with my kids which featured an old horror film "the Crawling Eye", and I was just like "that's it!" and basically just thought it sounded right to describe what the song was about.
‘The Crawling Eye’ is one of four tracks; could you encapsulate the mood of the 7-inch single in a single sentence for our readers?
Afraid, maybe even paranoid, and reflective.
Although the song is nearly 7 minutes long, it maintains excitement throughout its duration. What's the secret behind your creative process?
I'm not sure I have any secrets (laughs). My process isn't always the same, but I do like to give myself time to let an idea mature. Play some stuff, record the idea very roughly to my phone or a tape recorder or whatever, do it again a bunch of times. Don't get too attached to any of it at first. Experiment, but don't try too hard. Just play it a bunch of times until it feels right and let things evolve in terms of structure, transitions, etc.
Then when actually recording and arranging the song, I try to have fun and just do whatever interests or entertains me at the time. If I have an idea I'll usually try it. Often it works. Sometimes it doesn't. Hah, I'm probably making it sound more complicated than it is. A lot of this kinda "just happens". Hopefully that makes sense!
What are some of the challenges that you face when working on new songs?
I do like to actively challenge myself a bit lately in arrangements, especially things like vocal phrasing. Actually I usually write words that don't necessarily flow or rhyme in easy ways, so that's definitely a thing.
There's also always the challenge in overcoming the usual artist's self-doubt, and pushing forward past the point of "is my writing terrible? is this idea worth pursuing?", but I'm a terribly willful and stubborn person so I guess that helps. ;)
If you take a look back at your first songs, how would you describe the evolution of your songwriting?
That's a great question. It's something I have indeed thought about a bit here and there, but if I'm honest it's not normally really on my radar. I'm still quite proud of all of it really. I've learned a lot about the whole technical process along the way. A lot of tsi's songwriting has gotten a bit more complex and has branched in a few different directions, but I think the essence (if such a thing exists) is largely the same. Like most artists I'm always the most into what I'm doing right now, but when I revisit stuff years later and I can hear what I was thinking or feeling at the time, I'm usually like "yeah, that's me." I think I've just given myself a lot of time to mature as a human and as a songwriter, to try new things. I've definitely pushed myself here and there in some ways to grow, but most of it has been a pretty "natural" reflection of just living life and exposing myself to more music and more musical ideas. I do probably identify most strongly as a songwriter so I have put effort into developing in that way, but not too much. Wu wei or something.
Do you have any plans to perform live on stage?
TSI hasn't for some time. I keep on wanting to, but I'm just not sure what that would look like at this point. I think I'd want to meet a really cool bass player at least to work with. Also the live music scene here isn't great and I live a pretty busy life, which makes it tough. I might look into doing some weird alternate acoustic & drum machine versions of tsi songs just for kicks at some point, I just find that my limited time seems best applied to writing and recording new songs.
Maybe I'm wrong though. I should really give it a go at some point.
Who is your dream conversation partner for music, regardless of their living status?
With that qualifier (regardless of living status) it makes it kinda easy. Hendrix! I loved his music as a kid so much, and it was just so creative and innovative for its' time. There's others of course. Robert Smith is an easy (living) one. I'd also love to pick the brain of a seminal Los Angeles deathrock vocalist who is no longer with us, who was definitely a stylistic influence on me at one point, but whose name I won't mention because I've come to see that he probably held some pretty problematic views. :/
What are you working on right now, and what can we expect from you next?
Currently working on a few more songs and tracks for an eventual full length ish release. Actually now that most things are digital I'm not really sure that terms like "full length" aren't just irrelevant anachronisms, but anyways... a release with a bunch of songs on it. :)
Probably one will see release as another single first. Maybe not, but I think so. It's kinda proggier. Sorta.
I'm also toying with the idea of doing, like, super limited things like a hand-made zine to go with the next release, and maybe even include a "physical" piece of music with it, even though it's unnecessary, like a cd-r or usb stick or something. With the way everything has gone to streaming, I'm really curious about ways to re-connect more directly with the audience and there's something about these sorts of ideas that really appeal to me in regard. A couple of fans may have also requested something. ;)
After that I'm gonna keep writing and recording and releasing more songs. Got a few somewhat sketched out already. I think there's a good chance I'll keep playing with singles and maybe explore other release formats. Maybe do some more alternate versions or re-recordings of older songs just for fun.
Anyways, definitely stuff. There will be stuff. I hope you can all connect with it in some way. <3
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