INTERVIEW: Kevin Shannon – The End of the Ocean

Post-rock has evolved considerably this past decade. With a healthy crop of forward-thinking bands, the landscape surrounding the genre in 2019 is one that is very positive indeed. THE END OF THE OCEAN are one such band. 2011’s Pacific·Atlantic announced the Ohio quintet on the map and since that landmark release, the band have gone on to be considered a torch-bearer in the second wave of American post-rock. However, new music from the band has been few and far between but now, the wait is finally over. After an agonising seven year wait since their last release, 2012’s In Excelsis EP, -aire has arrived. Prior to the record’s release, we spoke with guitarist Kevin Shannon to get the lowdown on their new effort, including its development over such a long time, as well as reflecting on post-rock’s recent boom.

So, your brand new album -aire releases next week. What can people expect from the upcoming album?

Kevin: -aire is a bit of a departure from our previous material. People can expect a more straightforward and deliberate sound with a little more aggression to it.

-aire arrives after a seven year wait since your last release, 2012’s In Excelsis. Why did it take so long for you to write a new record?

Kevin: After putting in a solid amount of work to support In Excelsis through 2012 and 2013 we all needed a bit of a break to recharge, reanalyse, and redirect what we were doing both individually and as a group. We always had intentions of writing another full length, we just had to figure out when the right time was to fully commit and buckle down to do it.

And with this new album being seven years in the making, are you feeling much pressure surrounding its release?

Kevin: I pull a little bit from both ends on this one. Obviously I want something that we’ve worked so hard on to be enjoyed and get the overall “seal of approval” from fans. At the end of the day though I’m not paralysed by the perceptions and expectations of others. We worked super hard to create something that we’re proud of and we stayed true to ourselves by not watering down the vision we had for the album.

Can you describe the writing and recording process for -aire?

Kevin: Trish and I did a lot of emailing ideas and riffs back and forth for input from each other. With her living three hours away it makes practising regularly pretty hard and we’ve never written well on the spot under the guise of “let’s all meet up to write new material”. A lot of the songs came from organic jams just by following what someone would randomly lay down, be it a drum arrangement, keyboard melody, etc. bravado expands on a previous demo we wrote back around 2013.

Our time in the studio with Mike and the crew at Vudu couldn’t have been better. We tracked 8-12 hours a day for 16 days straight but the vibe stayed super positive and light hearted. Mike and Frank were down with experimenting with pedals, really dialing in solid tones on amps, etc. We never felt pressured or under the gun to hurry up and crank out the finished product. We also succeeded at our goal of collectively eating a five pound bag of spearmint Lifesaver mints between all of us. The breath in the studio was beyond fresh and I think that you can really feel that in the tone of the album.

According to the press release, I believe this album was very much cathartic experience putting it all together. So, how much of an influence has personal experience had on this new album?

Kevin: Our own personal experiences are a cornerstone of the writing process. It would obviously be a lot easier to translate a lot of those experiences via lyrics but it’s fun to try to compound whatever it is we’re trying to convey strictly through instrumentation.

And do you feel by pulling from personal experiences and personal pain, it allows the the music to come across as more emotionally organic?

Kevin: Absolutely! We definitely write from the heart and try to come across honestly and earnestly.

The music itself on -aire pulls from a range of emotional feelings. One moment it is chaotic then it is beautifully tranquil. How difficult is it to portray these emotions in the sound of your band?

Kevin: We’ve never laid out a road map per se of how a song “should sound” or what direction it “should take”. We just try to let each part melt and merge their own way into whatever follows it.

With the fact that this is your second full-length effort, how do you feel you will develop your sound moving forward?

Kevin: Only time will tell! We pull from so many different styles and sounds that we’re all over the place and in my opinion that’s a good thing. I don’t want to pigeon hole ourselves into one specific genre or style and I think that -aire really proves that. The last thing I want is to be in the frame of mind of “this song sounds cool but it doesn’t sound like something from Pacific. Atlantic…”

And can we expect such a long-wait for new music following the release of -aire?

Kevin: Hopefully not, but good things come to those who wait, right?

In the past decade, post-rock and in particular, instrumental music has become much more accessible and popular than ever before. Why do you think this is?

Kevin: Music in general is a lot more accessible and available with platforms like Spotify, Bandcamp, etc. – I’d guess that’s a big part of it. Social media is also connecting niche communities which is helping spread the fire.

And with the fact that post-rock is booming, are you hoping to capitalise on the popularity of the style with -aire?

Kevin: We’ve been doing this long enough now that we just hope people connect with and enjoy what we do. After almost 10 years of doing this I think it’s clear that we’re more concerned with legacy and releasing honest music for the right reasons rather than capitalisation.

It may sound like a difficult question, but what do you hope to achieve with -aire?

Kevin: The achievement was writing and releasing it.

Can we expect to see THE END OF THE OCEAN performing on our side of the Atlantic any time in the near future?

Kevin: We’ve got a lot in the works for 2019 and beyond – hopefully that’s in the cards.

To close, we’ll offer you the chance to leave a parting message to our readers. Do you have anything to say to the readers of Distorted Sound?

Kevin: Check out our new album -aire coming out January 18th via Equal Vision Records. Thanks so much!

-aire is out now via Equal Vision Records/Rude Records.

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