Tape 0304 ~ Spraelle & Desvelada

Transatlantic desire lines and cinematic desolation inform the duo's latest EP on Contain. We asked them about distance, time capsules, and kitchen sinks.

Texture Magazine · Tapes 0304 ~ Sprælle & Desvelada

~ How does this mixtape feel?

Sprælle: Like an extraction of the feelings, sounds, and influences that you can hear in our recent EP, ‘escaping from the body of a sleeping hummingbird.’ We’re just piecing things together until it feels right to us. In that way, it’s a very collage-like process.

~ What does it look like? Were there any visual references for its conception?

Sprælle: I’m actually not the most visual person, that’s her side of our collaboration.

Desvelada: I wanted it to continue the feeling of tales and woodland vibes from our EP, a long introspective walk in the woods at dawn. A huge part of the visual conception comes from traveling through rural Texas, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. I love when a mixtape tells a story.

~ What does distance sound like in your work as a duo?

S: It’s a lot of back and forth, sharing ideas and trying to avoid the pressure of time. I make most of the music, then send it to her to feel out. It’s always hit or miss. When she fucks with it she’ll start recording her voice and send it back to me, then I just keep messing with it.
We live in pretty different places, which definitely affects how we make music. Most of the magic happens when we’re together though. We like improvising, I’ll throw a bunch of samples from past sessions and start playing guitar or synth over it while Desve does vocal loops on top. I guess the rawness of it all inspires us. That’s how tracks like ‘Tree Up Ahead’ were born. We try to record as many of these sessions as possible, as they’re often the roots of the final versions of the songs.

D: It’s a blend of everything influencing us at that time and place. We can be in different headspaces, so when he creates something and sends it, I may have a completely different interpretation of how it should feel. The goal is to stay connected through the distance so ideas can flow. For example, ‘Turn To Talk’ was made primarily when we were apart. When I first heard the demo, it immediately took me to a place where I envisioned rivers, spirits, and solitude, which inspired me to write those lyrics. And from the lyrics he was able to add more elements and samples that accompanied the story I was telling.

~ And how does it feed into your output as solo artists too?

S: I feel like we stay very much ourselves as a duo. Like, the way we approach music doesn’t change when we’re together or separately. There’s this chemistry when we jam together, guess we’re a good match. Trying to not overthink too much, trusting our guts.

~ What are your favourite movies?

S: I like Park Chan-wook’s Lady Vengeance. Biutiful was great too.

D: Attenberg, Wings of Desire.

~ Given your disparate musical backgrounds, what was the first musical reference point you truly shared?

S: In 2017, I moved to Texas for a few months and and at some point wanted to make a band. She answered the call right away and we ended up just listening to music together. It wasn’t until much later that we started making stuff together. I was into Blonde Redhead, Tricky, or Sonic Youth back then, while she was into Björk, Dean Blunt, and Animal Collective. We both loved Death in Vegas, a band I discovered through my dad. Still love them.

D: I think we had a lot of musical crossovers when we first started sharing inspirations. Music that both our parents liked, like The Cure and Massive Attack. It’s funny because we were both really into the idea of making darkwave and EBM music haha which is not what we are about at all.

~ How does it refract in the music you’re making now?

S: Hard to tell. There’s a cacophonic feeling from some of these influences that I try to embrace in my music, like thriving in chaos. I like dissonance but also love melodies. Melancholia is something I carry, for better or worse. The music I enjoy has that, and I think the music I make does too. A lot of our work feels like a time capsule or storybook. Some of it sounds almost skeletal and unfinished. Paradoxically some of it sounds grandiose, like a weird symphonia. Lately, I’m drawn to minimalist compositions.

~ There are a lot of references in the EP’s blurb; Jodorowsky, Tarr, Sakamoto, Borges etc. What was your corniest, lamest influence on the EP?

S: Ariel Pink? But what a great songwriter… The guy who wrote the EP’s blurb is actually some anonymous fan who seems to know us way too well!

D: This one’s tough because I don’t really think of any influence as “corny,” but there are definitely obvious ones I don’t mention often, like Untogether by Blue Hawaii, Kelela, Laurel Halo, and CocoRosie. Maybe Pan’s Labyrinth or some sort of Grimm’s story lol.

~ What’s your musical guilty pleasure?

D: I like embracing music that one would feel guilty listening to. I love when someone shows me a track and they explain what makes it good, resulting in a new perspective and appreciation. That being said, I’d say TikTok mashups, I love a Lana Del Rey x Billie Eilish moment.

~ Is the incorporation of a web of influences deliberate from the offset, or does it only become clear in hindsight?

S: We don’t talk much before making music. I’m not really into concepts, so it comes together naturally over time. After a session, we’ll chat and think, “oh yeah, that’s what this track is about.” That’s it.

D: Yeah, we mostly work by intuition and then later realize, “wait, this sounds like this or that.” But we don’t get hung up on the influences. They accumulate organically, and it’s cool to see how those patterns subconsciously made their way into the music.

~ There’s a mournful tone to this tape, speculative. How do you deal with uncertainty when making music?

D: There’s definitely a mournful tone, especially with ‘Tree Up Ahead.’ In the jam session where it came to life, I channeled emotions from losing a friend a few years ago. I carry her memory with me and I like to process those feelings through singing. Much of what we do is improvised, so we never know where it will take us.

S: Uncertainty is part of our lives. Most of the time, we don’t know when we’ll be together again. I don’t have any clear answers, but that’s alright, it’s just the way things are. I think it translates in the music, we never know how things will evolve. We do have hopes for sure tho.

~ Texas and France are pretty different places in a lot of ways, what are the most surprisingly familiar aspects about these two backgrounds?

S: Disenchantment?

D: I feel like both places get a bad rap from outsiders who haven’t taken the time to visit them beyond a superficial level. Being misunderstood and not embracing the fact that these places have a lot of cultural diversity from the people that live there.

~ Talk to me about kitchen sinks. Is there something mundane about your music?

D: Absolutely, I think there’s beauty in the mundane, and it’s something I’ve always woven into my music. Singing about love, dreams, loss, and nature, are universal themes but they’re often rooted in small, everyday moments that might get overlooked.

~ What’s the deal with the Hummingbird?

D: Birds are a major part of the soundscape for this EP, they’re always a source of inspiration for me. I came across a video of a snoozing hummingbird, and the way it began to hum captured my imagination. I pictured this tiny bird dreaming, exhaling the sounds and emotions that fill our EP.

S: Think I had a limited sound palette when we started working on these tracks. Had a bunch of birds recordings I kept resampling over and over again until they practically became instruments, voices from the EP.

~ What’s your favourite noise?

D: Brown noise and the sound of my mom and grandma laughing. <3

~ What would be the soundtrack to your funeral?

S: Behind The Mask by Ryuichi Sakamoto, but the live version with the Tohoku Youth Orchestra. Maybe slowed down a lil. It’s a direct flight to heaven.

D: Music In Twelve Parts by Philip Glass (the full ensemble version to be dramatic). I got a chance to hear it live in Houston 8 years ago and I got chills.

~ You have a time machine and can travel into either the past or future to experience a musical performance. Where, and when, do you go?

D: Ooooh, not exactly a musical performance, but I’d go back to the construction of El Castillo Pyramid (Kukulcan) to witness how they recreated the Quetzal bird sound by clapping toward the pyramid, and to see their understanding of acoustics. I love birds.

~ A song that always makes you move?

S: Nasenbluten’s Blinded.

D: Naomi Elizabeth - God Sent Me Here To Rock You

~ A song that always moves you?

S: Selena’s Dreaming of You.

D: Brian Eno - Golden Hours

~ $$$ Plug Zone: Tell us about upcoming projects, news, shows, spam, advertising, useless info etc

S: We’re just gonna have fun together and take a breather. I’ve got some new music I’m putting together, there’s no rush. To be continued… Oh, come to the show at Avalon Café next Friday, think it will be good.

~ Tracklist:


Spraelle plays Texture Magazine Live on Friday 8th November, 2024, at Avalon Cafe in London.

Interview by Christian Jones


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