When it comes to music I suffer heavily  from FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) and thus I’m always scouring the internet for tips about releases in any of the music genres I like. There is a reason that I have a new music playlist in Spotify  that is constantly between 30 and 40 hours long. A band that I stumbled upon while reading the Grind my gears column on Heavy blog is heavy is Fawn limbs. Their debut record Towing heads was mentioned as a must listen there, and boy, was that a true statement. I was totally blown away by the technical yet very brutal grind with Mathcore and sludge influences. This was in august of last year. Since then 2 more releases saw the light of day. And Fawn limbs are currently gearing up to release yet another thing next week so keep your eyes peeled. I decided to get in contact with the people behind this project, to see what they were all about.

Fawn limbs is a project band with the two members living very far from each other. How do you manage to write music? Is there a very strict division of roles?

Eeli: Via this internet thingy. As far as roles, we don’t have any apart from our actual, individual instrument defined roles. We bulldoze as a unit before all else.

Lee: There is definitely a few formulas we stick to.  Lots of texting. Lots of gifs. Tons of WeTransfers.

You did release 3 records this year. Was that always the plan? Or did inspiration just came. Based on the content of the records it seems like you wrote a bunch of songs and then thematically divided them over your albums.

Eeli: All releases were done individually, without any additional planning (before the third one). People have asked about it before, but we indeed did every release individually. We just went with the flow.

Lee: We never had a plan, really. Once we were finishing up the first EP Towing Heads, I think we were so enthralled with the result, and with how smoothly it all played out. More music was the only reasonable decision. However, during Languor we had started talking about the future….THRUM, and beyond.

All your releases are self released and digital only. Is there a reasoning behind this. Or did this just happen?

Eeli: We chose to go independent since it simply felt right. We work really fast, and we didn’t want to sit on the material or wait longer than necessary. It’s all a learning experience, and handling everything by ourselves has definitely taught us quite a lot. Us being currently independent with a tight schedule is also the reason why the releases so far have been strictly digital. That being said, we do have physical pressings coming soon in one form or another.

How would you describe the style Fawn limbs plays. I hear influences from grind, mathcore, noise, sludge and doom? Did you intentionally set out to stress the boundaries of a pretty extreme genre as is?

Eeli: Easily put, we play dissonant and abrasive, chaotic mathgrind. It was clear from the beginning that we want to push ourselves and our boundaries as much as possible.

Lee: FL is all about bringing those influential elements together, in a very organic manner. Progressive, yet earthy. Intricate, but relatable. Intense and aggressive.

Is the deviation in style on Thrum intentional? It is quite a different record from the earlier two. Although that style seems to always have been part of Fawn limb’s DNA.

Eeli: It is definitely intentional, though some of the stuff wasn’t written with this release in mind. We wanted to expand the noisier and moody side of ourselves with that release, and we do think we succeeded in it. It’s not supposed to represent a new direction by any means, but it’s something that is always there, this time just more apparent and from a different angle.

Lee: Thrum was sort of an experiment, in how we write. I had a completely blank canvas, drumless song structures. So in that respect, it was to see how well we really can work/write together. Very happy with the result. In fact, we weren’t even certain we were gonna release it under the FL name at first. But like you mentioned, the FL sound is present.

What holds the future for Fawn limbs? Will you continue or will it be back to your respective bands? Are your other bands still active? If we get a new release what can we expect from it?

Eeli: We’re just getting started, and there’s plenty of things planned and already in motion, some of them happening rather soon. We’re both involved in other projects, together in some, but we’ve found a way to make everything work. What you can expect from our future material is that it will sound like us, but crazier. A lot crazier, actually.

Lee: Although FL is a studio project, it is one of my main focuses. You can expect fairly consistent activity. I’m involved with a few other bands as well, most are in the early stages. And I occasionally do session studio work, but not my main focus right now.

What do you consider the things that influence you the most while writing for Fawn limbs. This can be music, but also other things like books, movies, your work, your family etc…

Eeli: Life in general, music, movies, art, the sort of basic stuff. Inspiration comes in all forms and shapes really.

Lee: For me it’s mostly life, life is my inspiration. Having the opportunity to work with people from around the world is a powerful thing.

Is there a special though behind the artwork of the 3 EP’s?

Eeli: We want the art to represent the music, but not in the most conventional way. Blood and gore is perfectly fine, but personally we want to stay away from that field, at least for now. I also like to delve deep into the different aspects of what human body can bring into the table, without using facial expressions or blunt imagery. Symbolism is also key, but that’s the viewers/listeners thing to decide, I’m not telling them what they should see and think. When it comes to the individual artworks, I do experiment a lot, so there’s not a clear plan or vision to follow really. The most important thing is that it looks good, whether the image presented is about arms, legs, said blood and gore or a carton of milk for instance.

Lyrically you opt for quite abstract prose. Is there a message that you want to convey with Fawn limbs. Or are the lyrics meant to set a mood?

Eeli: The lyrics might seem abstract (and they should), but they’re always about concrete, real things. The lyrics are definitely a part of the overall mood, but I try to write in a way where the lyrics can stand by themselves. I know a lot of people don’t care about that, but some do, and the latter is why we publish them. The subjects of the lyrics vary a lot, from personal and external overwhelming matters to criticizing organized religion and other such tragedies, pollution, immigration, what have you. I write from my own perspective obviously, but try to keep it ambiguous. I’m not afraid to use some odd and really harsh sounding phrases, but they’re always part of the context.

Are the spoken word parts on Thrum part of the lyrics or are they excerpts of a book/ Poem. And if so, where do they come from?

Eeli: The spoken word parts are part of a single story/narrative I wrote for it deliberately, but they are not part of the lyrics. I’ve always loved good narratives and stories, in both movies and books respectively. The haunting vibe of the songs required something a bit extraordinary, and since the sort of soundtracky feeling was already there, it felt like the appropriate thing to do. The story is based on real people and real incidents, and I’m sure we’ll expand that story further later on.

Any last words?

Thank you for having us! And thanks to all the people that genuinely enjoy the music we create. A lot more is coming.

 

Fawn Limbs