Autolux ready to make noise with ‘Transit Transit’
Kevin Bronson on
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[Here’s the full version of the piece I wrote for LA Weekly on Autolux, in advance of the band’s show tonight at the El Rey Theatre:]
There are fans who would go to the end of the earth to hear the new album from Autolux. So when you’re offered a chance to talk to the Los Angeles trio about that album and they suggest meeting at the Griffith Observatory’s Café at the End of the Universe, you think: Yeah, perfect.
On a hazy, warm afternoon in the Hollywood Hills, bassist Eugene Goreshter, drummer Carla Azar and guitarist Greg Edwards review the past – from the evolution of their acclaimed debut “Future Perfect” way back in 2004 to their current state of limbo – and acknowledge that while maybe that future wasn’t so perfect, they are optimistic.
“I’m optimistic all right,” Edwards says wryly. “I’m optimistic that it will be a great weight off my shoulders to finally get this record out.”
The new album, “Transit Transit,” will not be released until 2010, to the probable chagrin of a fanbase so devoted it is supporting a band that hasn’t released any new music in five years on a national headlining tour (including a date Sept. 25 at the El Rey Theatre).
It will be worth the wait. “Transit Transit” is the sound of Autloux moving forward into even more genre-defying, boundary-stretching territory. It’s futuristic art-rock in the most artistic sense, counterposing the atonal with the melodic, fastidious in its brushstrokes and luxuriant lyrically.
How the new album will be released is still up in the air. “We’re still in the process of solidifying a record label,” Azar says. “We’re not freaked out about it – we have a tour, and things will work themselves out.”
Besides, the trio makes it sound like one of life’s little miracles that “Future Perfect” became the phenomenon it did. The band had one self-produced EP to its credit when Grammy-winning producer T-Bone Burnett discovered them. “T-Bone saw us playing to 20 people at Spaceland,” Azar remembers, “and the next thing I know he’s helping us load off stage.”
“Future Perfect” emerged on the DMZ label, an imprint founded by Burnett and cinema auteurs the Coen Brothers, through Columbia Records. “It was like a Trojan horse,” Edwards says. “Nobody at the label knew we existed for a year and a half.”
But DMZ dissolved, and after a year and a half of touring the band returned to L.A. to find it had little in the way of creative advocates on the business side.
“Something that still sticks in my mind is being told, ”˜You have to make the right record,’” Edwards says. “We had all this pressure to record right away, and we kind of buckled too – we tried to force the writing process.”
In 2006, the band and label parted ways (with Autolux buying back the rights to its debut). Working around detours to other projects – Azar drummed for the PJ Harvey-John Parrish collaboration, and the trio worked with UNKLE on 2007’s “War Stories” and wrote music for an exhibition at the Natural History Museum – the trio started over in its own studio, Space 23.
“The good thing and the bad thing about it is that we had a lot of time,” Edwards says. “It became a battle of acoustics, because really it’s just a rehearsal space.”
Says Azar: “It’s not easy coming off a world-class T-Bone Burnett recording session and then going into a rehearsal space in Glassell Park and trying to record yourself.”
So aside from wrestling with which material to preserve from the first writing session, and with penning new material, the trio fussed (and fussed) over constructing precisely the right soundscapes. “It was extremely painful to do,” Azar says. “I want to worry about the creative process – I don’t want to worry about getting sounds, because we’re all pretty picky about sounds.”
As they have in the past, Autolux looked to film and books for inspiration, frequently jamming in the rehearsal space while an art film played on a nearby computer screen. Far from their minds was any notion of repeating “Future Perfect,” or even fretting over building a bridge to their early work.
“It’s weird when you have a strong sonic identity,” Azar says. “It might briefly sound like more of the same, but it starts out in one shape and then it grows other arms and limbs.”
“Whatever it is we’re likely to evoke with our music,” Edwards adds, “it’s not likely we’re trying to do an about-face.”
In the end, it’s the cerebral music you’d go to the end of the universe for. As Goreshter, Azar and Edwards depart Griffith Park on this afternoon, they invite you listen to the 7-inch mix of the title track “Transit Transit,” which they call “our band’s lyrical statement”:
One more lonely fascist loser
Let the spirit go
60 thousand turnstile kids all bracing for the show
Eyes like vinyl
Lips like rain clouds
Dreams all in a row
The golden age of feeling nothing
Brought your spirit home
Transit
Transit
Hit the planet
Let the future go
Still obsessed with the future? Yes, even as Autolux makes peace with the past.
“It’s a relief,” Azar says. “I feel like we’re coming up from the bottom of the ocean.”
Great article but still so little news. I’m surprised they haven’t just put it out themselves by now, with topspin or something like that.
Agreed.
I am frustrated at the lack of news, sound clips, or SOMETHING from this band. I mean, Audience No.2 is great, which makes it all the more frustrating not knowing what else they are kicking around. Ugh.
I saw them at the Glasshouse early this summer and I got to say, they are probably one of the bands with the least amount of chemistry between members. Nary a word was spoken between Eugene and Greg, or rather, Greg rarely exchanged any pleasantries with anyone.
Still…I love Autolux and wished I was going to their show tonight.
I’ve heard the album and it’s quite good. Depending on your level of frustration with their output, it might even be worth wait. As for chemistry, everybody was quite amiable in the interview situation. Looking forward to tonight’s show.
Autolux: Boston of indie rock.
It is indeed very frustrating to be a fan of a great band that prefers to stay quiet and mysterious in an age where everyone knows exactly what’s going on with their favorite artists at all times. It didn’t used to be like this, but we are so accustomed to it, at least I am. Autolux are “old-school” in this regard and we just need to be patient (still). That said, I’m dying to hear the album.
I’m going to venture to Costa Mesa tonight to see them for the gazillionth time, and the excitement I get when I’m driving to an Autolux show never gets old. Also, in past exchanges I would agree with Bronson and say they are extremely nice and welcoming.
i too have been to almost every autolux show since seeing them open for NIN in 2005. To me, they are light years ahead of what’s being mass marketed today. I am proud that they are not sellouts and maintain their integrity. I can’t stand when fans think they own a band or give a timetable of when to put out art. Autolux ( Greg Edwards especially) are known for taking their time to craft their masterpieces (ie. interview at the KEXP). I strongly disagree with Hugo about their lack of chemistry because it is so apparent in their live onstage performances. I see Greg watching Carla and Eugene and timing everything just like clockwork on his pedal board. Pure musical geniuses . Thankfully they tour regularly and that keeps everyone interested.