NEW ANIMAL

Hands down, New Animal's self-titled album, released at the turn of 2011, is one of my favorites of last year. Catchy, ambitious, experimental, addictive, their music strikes you with its honesty. So themselves yet so apt for the present climate in music.

They got number one on Ohmpark’s top 25 Atlanta albums list of 2011: http://ohmpark.com/features/ohmparks-top-25-albums-of-2011/

Please do yourself a favor and download their album for FREE: 

http://newanimal.bandcamp.com/album/new-animal

Matthew Sherling: When did New Animal form and how would you describe y'all's approach?

Kris Hermstad: Derek and I have known each other since middle school and we've been close friends ever since. We both played music, and have played in different bands together over the years. At the beginning of 2010, we moved into an apartment and were immediately compelled to start collaborating on some music. By January 2011, we recorded about 40 songs, and released 15 of them on our debut. Our recent addition to the band, our drummer Russ, is someone we’ve both known since we were kids... So it all feels very natural and relaxed to play with these guys.

I don’t think we have a specific approach. It’s always about trying something new in a song, that we haven’t tried before. When I write a song, I try to make sure the next song I work on explores a different area of music. I think people have a hard time categorizing us, because we really don’t identify with any one genre. But that’s how music listeners are these days; they listen to everything. So we feel less restricted in having to really pick a genre. We'll write a folky acoustic song... An electronic heavy thing.. Etc. Whatever is inspiring us at that moment.

Matthew Sherling: Yeah, I've noticed the wide range of aesthetics you guys explore on the album. So are there any particular artists that inspire you?

Also, what's the process of creating / recording your songs? How much improvisation / planning goes into it?

Kris Hermstad: I guess it’s different for every song, but I wouldn’t say we do too much planning ahead. I personally just sit down and play an instrument, whatever it be, until I find something I like. Then I improvise over that idea on another instrument, and just keep building from there. It’s all very free flowing... 

It’s hard to say who our influences are. I’d say all the bands we listen to influence in some ways. I will say we were listening to a lot of Sigur Ros / Jonsi while we were recording these songs, whether or not it shows!

Matthew Sherling: Hm, I can see some Sigur Ros / Jonsi influence I suppose in terms of ambience. Never would have called that though. So you guys are from Atlanta, right? How do you feel about the Atlanta music scene?

Kris Hermstad: Heh, yeah, we definitely dont sound much alike, but we took a lot of cues from them as we were recording. One thing we loved was the hyper rhythmic drums/percussion on the later Sigur Ros stuff (and Jonsis record). Songs like Out There, In The Water At Night, Grow, and Kill the Lights all have a vibe that was inspired by them, but of course you mix in all of our other influences and it gets muddled. We are recording a lot ofnew material and we are definitely more in that direction; less electronic, less lofi, more real instruments (as opposed to samples and synths), etc.

Atlanta has been great. I don’t have much to compare it to, we’ve both lived here all our lives. 

We released our record in January, and after just a few weeks and a couple awesome blogs posted our stuff, we were getting emails from a few local bands and venues to play shows. It’s been really great. The community is incredibly strong here. After playing a few shows you really see how tight it is. Everyone knows each other it seems! The Atlanta bloggers are super supportive as well. (Emily from whollyroller.com, and Denton of Littleadvances.com) Davy from http://ohmpark.comwas at our first show. (and like 10 since!) There are some great venues as well, so we can’t complain about Atlanta! They’ve given us an amazing year, and we’re glad some people dig what were doing.

Matthew Sherling: Right, do y'all plan to go on an extensive tour outside of the southeast anytime soon?

Tell us about your setup and approach toward performing live. How do the dynamics shift from those in recording? 

Kris Hermstad: Yeah, we really want to and plan to go on tour very soon, but we want to do it at the right time. We're about to take a little break for a few months and plan out our next step. We're working on a new record and we want to wait till we have some new material to support before hitting the road. 

Our live setup is pretty traditional. Derek and I both sing and switch off on guitar and bass, depending on the song. We both play keys / synths as well as use samplers to trigger sounds. We originally started as a duo, but we eventually brought on our good friend Russ to play drums. 

I'd definitely say the live show is a bit different than our record. The drums really add another level of energy and intensity, as most of our drums we recorded were samples of ourselves playing drums. It lacks the dynamic range a real drummer can bring.

We take some liberties and Improvise over a lot of different parts of our songs. We want the live show and the performance of the songs to be a bit different from the recordings.

Matthew Sherling: Right on. Do you guys see yourselves shifting in direction for your next record?

KH: There is a shift, but it has been gradual. I think in general we're looking to clean up our production a little bit. Our self-titled was all home recorded and we didn’t really know what we were doing. Since then, we've gotten better gear and better ears and have just gained a better general grasp on recording.

We're definitely going less lofi, less electronic. More real instruments as opposed to samples/synths on the recordings. We really want to challenge ourselves to write good songs, as opposed to relying heavy on the technology we have. 

MS: How do you see the internet affecting the music culture and the world at large?

KH: It's hard to say what will happen down the road with the internet and music.  But right now, it seems to be in a healthy state. (more so now than I feel 4 or 5 years ago)  We've gotten more and more connected.  And while bands don't sell records like they used to, I think it’s much easier to get heard these days. The internet has really democratized music, with social networking and blogs. Sure, sites like Pitchfork have a heavy hand in the marketing of a lot of the current music out there (and I like a good percentage of the acts of pitchfork, so I'm glad they are there). The internet has just made things better.  

MS: Awesome. As a final question, what film would you recommend to the reader?

KH: The Fountain (2006) directed by Darren Aronofsky. I didn't see it till this year.  I think was a really beautiful, fascinating, and I believe misunderstood, little film.

Thanks Matthew! If you need anything else, please let us know!