Mr. Gnome Discusses the Creative Journey Behind ‘A Sliver of Space’ and Upcoming Tour
In this exclusive interview, Mr. Gnome opens up about the creative process behind their latest album, A Sliver of Space. The band delves into the freedom they found in exploring new genres and styles, the emotional inspiration behind their music, and how they brought their expansive art-rock vision to life. They also share insights into the making of their ferocious new single “Fader,” the impact of personal loss on their lyrics, and what fans can expect from their upcoming North American fall tour. Get a glimpse into the band’s unique DIY visuals and the evolving sound of their live performances.
1. “A Sliver of Space” has been described as a living, breathing, shapeshifting realm of psychedelic orchestration. Can you elaborate on the creative process behind this album and how you managed to push the boundaries of your sonic exploration?
We released our last album, The Day You Flew Away, right at the beginning of Covid in 2020. After the release, we couldn’t hit the road and tour like we usually do, so we pretty much just threw ourselves into the writing of our next album, which would become A Sliver of Space. I think our last album, The Day You Flew Away, really set the stage for us to go anywhere with this next one, any genre and any style as long as we were digging the direction it was going and the way it made us feel. We wrote so many rock songs, so many electronic songs, and dabbled with pop elements we hadn’t visited before. There were no boundaries set up on what we could do, no limitations. We always tried to push a song as far as it could go, and didn’t limit anything stylistically. I think allowing ourselves to go anywhere when writing allowed us to really explore ourselves and push our style. So excited to keep going…we feel like we still have a lot to say and a lot to discover.
2. Your new single “Fader” is noted for its unrelenting ferocity and sonic assault. What was the inspiration behind this track, and how did Jonah Meister’s contributions influence its final form?
Fader was the last song we wrote for A Sliver of Space. We wrote a ton of “rock” songs for this album, but we were searching for a massive song that would take the listener on a journey. The original riff was bouncing around and I was able to write both aggressive and soft, floaty vocals that would become the verse and chorus of the first half of this song. We loved the feel of it so much that we wanted to continue to push it further, creating the second half on a whim and creating a whole other movement out of it. We had the vocals and bass line in place for the second half of the song, but couldn’t quite find a guitar part that complimented this section. We brought Jonah in and he just started wailing over the vocal line, allowing it to be propped up and accentuated. We carved out a nice space for Jonah to freestyle over and he improvised an insane guitar solo that soared over the driving bass line. It was super exciting and we loved the old, heavy, stoner vibe of the entire song. Stylistically, we drew inspiration from some of our classic favorites – The Stooges, Black Sabbath, Joy Division, while throwing in some shoe gaze as a glaze over the whole thing.
3. You mentioned that “A Sliver of Space” was born out of personal loss and life upheaval. How did these experiences shape the lyrical and musical content of the album, and what message do you hope listeners take away from it?
Covid started for us with the loss of my cousin, Greg, who was my best friend since as early as I can remember and a true brother to me. And then we lost Sam’s brother, Matt, two months later. It was all really unbelievable and shocking, and we were consumed with grief and sadness. Plus having just released The Day You Flew Away, which was about losing my Dad and the birth of our son…it was all just super confusing. We felt like we had just closed a chapter of pain, and then it all came back twofold. The lyrical content was not planned in any way, but instead I wrote these lyrics to survive and to literally save myself from going crazy. I had to work and sort through so many intense emotions and writing music has always been my way of coping with whatever life throws my way. So this album is a story about loss, love and discovery. This is a love letter to the two amazing souls we lost in 2020, but it’s also a celebration of love and a love letter to each other and to our son. The overall theme is love’s ability to save you from the darkest moments in life.
4. Mr. Gnome is known for its ambitious audiovisual presentations. Can you tell us more about the inspiration and process behind your DIY visuals, including album covers, press photography, and short films?
We don’t have an exact process when creating the visuals that represent our albums, press shots, etc., but we always get super excited to start creating a visual world around the music. When making our album covers, we always want the visuals to feel like the music, to really capture the vibe of the whole thing through the colors and content. The process is usually pretty trial and error, building costumes, building sets, searching for the right colors, and finding the overall vibe that compliments the music. Much like in our song writing, we love creating new worlds and characters that represent certain parts of our psyche, and represent whatever journey we’re currently going through.
We started doing our own press shots right at the beginning of mr. Gnome, and kept pushing the visual aspect of how we could present ourselves. We’ve always been inspired by artists like Frida Kahlo, Matthew Barney, etc. Artists who push those boundaries of the self portrait. So fun and so cool to transform yourself.
And regarding our videos, we usually come up with pretty insane ideas for music videos, and then have to scale our ideas back because it would take years to make the visuals we see in our heads! Our video for “House of Circles,” was probably our most ambitious project we’ve completed, but it took forever to make and didn’t come out until a full year after we released 2011’s Madness in Miniature. But ultimately, we love creating a world for the viewer to get lost in.
5. With the upcoming North American fall tour, what can fans expect from your live performances? How do you plan to bring the expansive and technicolor art-rock vision of “A Sliver of Space” to the stage?
We started as, what a lot of people would consider, a post punk band. So we took a very raw and emotional approach to our live set. Honestly, we still do take this approach and try to keep things pretty raw and sweaty, but over the years we’ve been building on all of this, sweetening the sounds, adding electronic elements, fine-tuning everything as we go. We’ve also added a third member to a section of our live set, our brother, Jonah Meister, who plays on our albums as well. Having him on stage allows us to do more beyond loop pedals, and gives us a fuller, more layered live sound when needed. We’ve been incorporating more electronic moments within the set as well. Just want the live set to showcase everything we are as a band, the loud, the quiet, the beautiful, the aggressive. Take our fans on a journey throughout the set. So incredibly excited to get back to it! There’s no other feeling like connecting to an audience and sharing that moment with each other.
Check out “Fader” below:
