Oscillating between dejection and triumph, German-based outfit Giant Rooks create a soundscape where existentialism can happily co-exist with their own unique and formless blend of indie rock. The themes of their latest singles, which have led up to their anticipated debut Rookery, have cemented their status as a band who prioritise looking inward, even when these ruminations could be neglected and avoided. I had a quick chat with guitarist Finn Schwieters about their experimental creative process, the futility of labels, and finding a silver lining as a creative in lockdown.
Congrats on the release of ‘Misinterpretations’! This is the last of your singles before releasing Rookery, what the writing process was like? Did it differ from the previous singles?
Finn: We started working on the album almost two years ago, so we’d gather like thousands of ideas of songs and then decided to work on twelve of them for Rookery. So yeah, it was a hard decision! Then we recorded the album in three studio sessions: one in Berlin, one in Cologne, and another one in a small village in the middle of Germany. And again, we worked with our producer called Jochen Naaf, he’s a great producer, based in Cologne. It was very intense and we’re just very happy to have it out there very soon.
From my own interpretation of the single, it’s both hopeful and melancholic – sonically divisive. Aesthetically or thematically, do you feel like the single differed from the rest of those previously released?
Finn: I think we kind of realised when we finished the album that there’s one topic which is very important for the whole record, we feel like it’s a very questioning record. We ask ourselves questions like, “What is my role in this world?” “What am I supposed to do with my privileges?” The theme of ‘Misinterpretations’ is part of these questions – also the album cover is connected to that I think, when you see us five just falling out of this sky. We’re kind of embracing that feeling of not knowing what lies beyond you, that it’s okay that you’re falling, and so I think that it’s all connected, the general topic of the record.
That’s really interesting, it’s a weirdly existential record from the glimpses that I heard, quite pressing. Being confronted with these questions, not necessarily wanting to answer them but it’s just for the greater good.
Finn: It’s interesting that you say ‘existential’ because this is what ‘Misinterpretations’ is inspired by, by this sentence from Sartre which is like, “misinterpretations in every breath I take.” I don’t know if it’s exactly that sentence but the sentiment is the same; yeah it was a big inspiration.
As well, how would you describe the album compared to your other releases, such as the likes of Wild Stare and the previous EPs you released? Is there anything differing or has it kept thematically consistent?
Finn: Definitely, what’s interesting to know is that we’ve played more than 350 shows these last couple of years and I think those shows definitely formed us as a band because we really developed and really sharpened the vision of the record during that time. I think it’s more conceptual than the previous releases, we actually wrote songs if we felt like they were missing – for example the last song called ‘Into Your Arms’, it’s actually also the last song we wrote for the record. We felt like we needed an appropriate ending for the record and ‘Into Your Arms’ felt like the perfect match for that. I think it’s more conceptual, I mean we did a lot of experiments but it was more like, “Okay we need to do that and that” – it was more specific, if that made sense?
Yeah that makes perfect sense! Did anything spark the conceptual nature of this release in particular? Considering it seems like such a diversion from your previous efforts.
Finn: I think that we live in very interesting and confusing times, very scary times as well, but music-wise I think we live in the most interesting times ever. Genres don’t really count anymore, you just listen to music and not to a specific genre. We wanted to free ourselves of expectations – how does an indie band have to sound like in 2020? – and we wanted to have all these diverse influences as much as possible and also play with these contrasts. For example again, ‘Into Your Arms’, this last song off the record. It has this very classic folk vibe in the choruses – acoustic guitar and few vocals – and in the verses you have these modern beats, out of tune even. We like to play with these contrasts of modern and more classic music.
As well I feel like that ties really well into the current debate of “Rock is dead! You don’t hear guitar music anymore” – but I don’t think that’s a bad thing. It’s important for genres to change over time, there’s nothing transformative about doing the same thing for fifty years.
Finn: Yeah that’s true, that’s how I see it as well.
This is your debut album, overall what was the creative process like? Did you have more freedom and lenience recording an album than you did the EPs?
Finn: The one thing I think we really freed ourselves with was expectations. The biggest difference was that for every song we wrote for that record we also recorded a demo in our rehearsal space, and for the EPs it was more like we wrote songs in our rehearsal space and then we toured those songs and played them live, and after that we recorded them. But this time we recorded the version of it in our rehearsal space, and now these last weeks we’ve been trying to play these recordings in our rehearsal space – it was like the process was twisted. You know what I mean? This was the biggest difference compared to the recording of the EPs.
How did you find the recording process? In between going between three studios, what was it like?
Finn: As I said we had these demos we recorded, and demos always have this special quality and sometimes it’s very difficult to reproduce it in a recording studio. Because when you write a song, and then you sing a song, and then you play the guitar, or whatever – the moment, the first time you sing or play it, is just a special moment and sometimes it’s very difficult to reproduce these moments in the recording studio. So we tried to combine stuff we recorded in the proper recording studio with our demos, so to have this vivid vibe from the demos in the studio versions of these songs. We tried to combine the best out of all the worst, and this is what the process was like.
With demo recordings, they have a very particular lo-fi sound that you can’t emulate in a studio – this visceral emotion of first coming up with this piece of art, sometimes it doesn’t translate as well in the studio. But this doesn’t seem like a problem for you!
Finn: Oh thank you so much!
I feel like this is a pretty obligatory question in these unprecedented times, but how has lockdown affected the release of your singles, the promotion of the album? Even the fact that you are very prolific when it comes to touring – has this dampened your spirits?
Finn: Yeah, I think at the beginning of March when the news came that we weren’t able to tour, and that we had this tour scheduled from April to July, we would be on tour constantly for three months. I think one week we were very devastated – but then it was like “okay, this is a thing we cannot change, and let’s make the best out of it.” And so we used this opportunity of having too much free time to really go into detail when it comes to the mixing process of the record, when it comes to artwork decisions, and at the moment we are producing a short documentary. Yeah, we can’t tour and this is very devastating for us, because as you said playing live was very important to us as a band for the last few years – but we’re trying to make the best out of this, to use the time we have. Maybe even use some time to explore the city, we moved to Berlin two years ago but I haven’t seen that much just because we’ve either been on the road constantly, or in the studio. But it was nice to discover some nice places here, I think we’re doing alright.
It’s a really important time to support artists like yourselves through merch sales and the likes, or pre-ordering your latest release. Anyway it was really wonderful speaking to you, best of luck with everything!
Finn: *laughs* Thanks so much!
Giant Rooks’ debut album Rookery will be released on all major streaming platforms on 28th August.
