5Q

What inspires Cecilia::Eyes to continue creating music?

Gauthier: I think it’s the music itself that inspires us to continue and create new songs, I mean we can be inspired by the idea that one of us has got at a certain moment, and of course we are inspired by the music everyone in the band listen to, or by the music we grew up with. Important people and moments of our lives are also a source of inspiration I think.
Chris: After the first album we wanted to create a darker one, less accessible, wich doesn’t fit in the rigid context of what is commonly called “post rock”, but which musically remains nevertheless the obvious result of MOUNTAINTOPS ARE SOMETIMES CLOSER TO THE MOON, with typical sonorities from cecilia:: eyes, that the public will be able to recognize.

Your last release, Mountain Tops are sometiomes closer to the Moon, was a great success, what’s next?

Chris: The repercussions of the first album were very positive in the Belgian and foreign press. Shows we performed with ILIKETRAINS, A SILVER MOUNT ZION, APSE, GLISSANDO, CRANES, etc undoubtedly pushed us to look further into the experiment. Gauthier, who came to join us for the composition of “Here dead we lie”, also brings new elements which give broadth and personality to our current sound. All in all, what you will hear on the album remains typically in the vein of what we composed with the preceding album, the production is on the other hand extremely different.
Gauthier: Personally I was not involved in the first album (which I love), but I think this one is a bit more “complicated” and less accessible, I think it will be one of this album that gets better the more and more you will listen to it, anyway I hope so

Post Rock generates creative (and often lengthy) band and track names, how does Cecilia::Eyes come up with these?

Chris: With our new album HERE DEAD WE LIE, the set of themes was preestablished: an album dark, funerary, mixing despair and melancholy, with in backdrop abrasions of the war and the wounds caused during big world wars. All the titles were discussed and determined in this spirit.
Gauthier: The general theme for “here dead we lie” was the war and all types of scars that comes with it, lots of tracks names on the album come from this idea. We didn’t want to do politics or to make people cry but lots of pictures of war consequences inspired us for the concept, and for the names.

How does Cecilia::Eyes decide which tracks will be on a release? testing them at gigs, or a different method?

Chris: During two years we composed songs which seemed to correspond to the set of themes evoked before. Some titles were composed in studio during the recording of MOUNTAINTOPS ARE SOMETIMES CLOSER TO THE MOON. We test our songs in concert regularly. It is a good method to see whether a title is better in live situation or if it is rather a “studio.formatted” title

What have you been listening to recently that you would recommend to your fan base?

Christophe : Redjetson, Glissando, Her name is Calla, Crippled Black Phoenix, Gregor Samsa, Jeniferever, Kwoon, Saxon shore.
Gauthier: The new Kwoon (FR) is amazing, I love the last PG.Lost and I would also recommand the last album from APSE.

The obligatory digital media question: We all know that digital downloads (legal or not) are changing the music business, would you say this is a challenge or an opportunity, and why?

Gauthier: I think it will always be something positive : first of all, the Internet (and digital downloads) is an easy way to touch more people. Then, I think that when someone really likes an album (even after downloading it), he will buy it, or he will come to our shows and that is more important I think. We also tried to do something cool with the packaging and the content inside it, I think this is also a good way to make people buy the original album.