“Experimental yet accessible”
In Cathedrals is an exciting new project by Dev Walker & Katie Higdon. Today on IndieVerse, both Dev and Katie shine a little light on the history and concept behind their project.
-Mark
What’s the story behind In Cathedrals? How did the two of you meet? And when did you decide to make music together?
Katie: I would say that music was really the common ground of our friendship from the beginning. Actually, Dev and I were introduced for the first time in the studio, and ironically, he was completely distracted, working on a mix. It wasn’t until several months later that we became friends, with most of our first conversations revolving around our love of music. We found that we both had a history of involvement with bands, musical and recording education, and a passion to create and experience new sounds.
Dev: It was maybe 6 months ago that our conversations about writing music together started to occur more frequently, and the idea grew into something very real. Once it became real to us, it was instantly exciting because we both have such a wide love for all types of music. I think that going into it with no expectations and specifically titling ourselves as “experimental” allows us to draw from all the styles we love and to create outside of a box.
I can definitely feel something special about your music, but I can’t quite explain it. Tell us about the musical grounds In Cathedrals is currently breaking. What sets your music apart?
Dev: We personally don’t think we’re breaking any new ground. However we do think that we’re able to take ideas and sounds that we love and piece them into something that we find beautiful, and most importantly, something we would want to listen to ourselves. I feel that should be true of every musician, that they make the music they would want to hear.
Katie: As for setting ourselves apart, there are a couple things that come to mind. We find there’s so much freeing potential in the experimental genre and how it lends itself to unpredictability. We might release an electronic song and then follow it with something folky and organic. We’d love to see more people exposed to new styles and challenged to expand their ideas about musical tastes. Outside of the unpredictability, I would say that our faith plays a large part in our writing. As Christians, we don’t create for ourselves, or even others. We’re creating for God’s glory. And I think it’s a really unique opportunity to be able to weave those spiritual themes into our love of so many styles of music.
On your SoundCloud, someone described Transits as “experimental yet accessible”. Is this an impression you hope your listeners will get from your music?
Katie: Yes, definitely. We never want to take the experimental to such an abstract place that the music becomes distracting. That would be art for the sake of art. Even where aspects of our music could be considered strange, it should still strike you as being sonically beautiful. That is always our goal, from the melody to the mix- to be uncommon without alienating.
The cover art for Transits and Constancy is really eye catching. Is there a particular visual direction you have in mind for In Cathedrals?
Dev: In the writing process, we very often tend to create some sort of sound or texture, and then take time to visualize what we are hearing. We find that this visualization process propels us into a concept direction for the rest of the song. So when it comes to creating a graphic, we already have a good idea of what that song should look like. To give you an example, when we started discussing visuals for Transits, we both saw the same thing- a city time lapse, where the transit system resembled blurred lines. It inspired the entire concept for the rest of the song. With that being an important part of our process, graphics will most likely continue to evolve through it.
So what’s next from In Cathedrals? Any plans to release more songs?
Katie: Absolutely, we have several songs in the works. Honestly, we use a lot of the free time we have from our careers and relationship to add to this project. It has become a large part of our lives now, just purely out of our love for it. So as long as we love doing this, we will keep at it. And we don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Any final words to your fans and readers of this blog?
Dev: Music is more readily available these days than ever before. There are countless options. We realize that it’s very easy for us to get lost in the deep sea of music online. With that being said, we are truly thankful for all those who have taken the time to listen to our music and show support. And a big thanks to sites like yours that help bring to light the music that could very easily have stayed hidden in that deep abyss of MP3s. We appreciate it. Thanks Mark!
-Dev Walker & Katie Higdon, In Cathedrals
https://www.facebook.com/incathedrals
