Interview: Catching Up With Language + Stream Plymouth EP

Photo Credit: Bryan Bruchman

Last week, Brooklyn-based trio Language released a new EP, Plymouth, their first with Good Eye Records. The five track short player bristles with the experimental yet finely tuned approach at the heart of Omar Afzaal (guitar), Charles Sloan (lead vox, bass) and Wes Black’s (drums) creative kinship.

To celebrate the release of Plymouth, we sent the band some interview questions. Check it all out below and be sure to order your copy of the EP here.

Hi, Language! Congrats on your new EP. Can you tell us a little more on who you are and how you first got into making music?

We all grew up in the Midwest, playing music in one capacity or another. Charles and I and started writing stuff together, found Wes, and our interests converged. It was definitely a happy accident. Being in a band together wasn’t necessarily our end goal, but we all became super close as we grew together. Language was definitely a natural evolution.

What’s your songwriting process like? Who are some of your biggest influences?

Our songs don’t start with any sort of complete idea whatsoever. They evolve as we play them from both improvisation and personal sketches. What really resonates makes the cut. A lot of the time we don’t even a general direction.

As far influences go, it’s hard for us to really agree. That being said, to us it’s about pushing the envelope with whatever cards you’ve been dealt. We all love Deerhoof, This Heat, Lightning Bolt, Fugazi, Don Caberello, Oneida, Krallice, The Jesus Lizard, Television, etc.

What are some of the larger themes at play on the Plymouth EP?

The songs are all roughly about traveling from one place to another. It’s not a political album, but the frustrations of the day are an underlying part of the tension in the lyrics and the performances.

How have the songs on the EP evolved live, if at all, since you recorded the EP?

The songs don’t ever stopped evolving. We feel that the recordings are all snapshots of where each song is that the moment.

Any new artists/venues/purveyors of the arts you could turn our readers onto?

We love Idles, Horse Lords, Big Bliss, Russian Baths, and Mezzanine Swimmers. As far as venues go, the people at Alphaville, Sunnyvale, and The Gutter are people who are continuing to foster a positive and welcoming environment in he city.

Where can we follow you and where can our readers catch you?

Languagenyc.bandcamp.com

Fb: @Languagemusicnyc

Any parting thoughts? Open platform!

Watch Mr Rogers. Live it.