INTRODUCING: Black Sky Research
Total creative freedom within a binding narrative is the two key concepts at the heart of BLACK SKY RESEARCH. Their first five-track release, titled One, straddles the line between creating a sonic world but allowing the listener to see it and shape it for themselves. Building this structure that a listener can build-on in their own ways has been the biggest motivating factor for the band’s creative forces in guitarist Luke Hicks and vocalist Mikey Chapman (formerly of MALLORY KNOX).
“It’s the two of those things and us learning how to synergise them into something that works for us as grown-ass musicians with other elements to our lives. The creative freedom has manifested in various ways, from Luke in the very beginning just making tunes that sounded dope sonically and had movement and emotion but no real kind of deliberation anywhere, there was nothing done intentionally it was just done because it was sick,” Chapman explains. “Off the back of that, it created this fantastic wash of colour that then allowed the freedom of creation to come into not only the story concept but also then the specifics of the lyrics that help to push along those concepts.”
Whilst Chapman explains the difficulties in managing a narrative whilst allowing room for people to grab hold of something and jump-off it, Hicks talks about the influence of cinematic music. In trying to convey the same atmosphere of a film soundtrack, the EP had plenty of highs, lows and everything in between. “I love when you listen to music and there are no restraints like I just want that part to sound fucking great, I want that to make you feel like really good. That’s what brings out your emotions,” he says. “You’re basically writing music, not in like a scoring perspective, but you’re doing it in a way that you’re trying to dynamically fuel how the music sounds so it can portray a certain emotion or fuel the listener to be perceived in a certain environment.”
With this open space they’ve created, it allows the band to go in any direction they please, as is the same with the listener. When talking about finding a balance lyrically, Chapman talks about a friend of his who was sent some of the early mixes. Describing a scene of a man on a boat, travelling across choppy seas to get to his love after listening to one track, this gave him the validation he needed due to Chapman’s own vision for the song being completely parallel to this. “It was shocking at first and it began this little trickle of doubt but then I realised that’s it like that’s the thing that we wanted to nail. He was sitting in his own mind and was able to come up with this imagery that was completely independent of what we had done and intended.”
Having to adapt the band’s creative process in a time of lockdown, they’ve missed the opportunity to get together and feel everything they’ve created in a live environment. Though, through the internet, they’ve been able to expand the ways they communicate, share and absorb ideas. “It’s the same with any industry where everyone has had that transition of working remotely, you can still send a logic file or an mp3 and hopefully everyone can have the vibes but you know it doesn’t quite have the same vibes as being in a room together but you’ve got to do what you’ve got to do,” Hicks explains.
Another balancing act that the band have had to learn as they go, has been the idea of creating a conceptual project that needs to be consumed whole versus modern-day listening habits. “I think far more so the culture today is one song on a playlist that you’ll catch once in a while, so idealistically I’d love for people to do that (and consume it whole). Even from a mindfulness perspective of taking time, not looking at a screen and going into your mind and thinking about something that isn’t Donald fucking Trump or climate change and just immerse yourself in an escape of sorts. Ideally, I’d like people to be able to do that but I’m also realistic enough to know that people buy and large will come across BLACK SKY RESEARCH on playlists or through a friend and that isn’t such a bad thing.”
By creating songs that put how they sound as a piece of music at the forefront, BLACK SKY RESEARCH are able to overcome any of these boundaries to their creative vision. Their aim is to create a project that can be what you want it to be, whether you hear one song whilst at the gym or choose to dive headfirst into this sonic utopia from the comfort of your own room.
“It’s not like Fight Club but it’s like when you watch Fight Club for the third time and you’re like oh shit I didn’t notice that. Maybe I’m being ideological but that’s where I’d like it to be and if people come over from MALLORY KNOX and it’s not quite the same but they vibe with it then that’s great and if they don’t like it,” Chapman concludes. “Ultimately, this has been an exercise in the way that we want to be as musicians going forward creatively, being a bunch of nerds that just want to make some tunes and yeah it’s early doors so if they don’t like it well come back in a few years and see if you like anything else we’ve made up until that point.”
One is out now via self-release.
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