INTERVIEW: Rowan Burn – Midas Fall

Ambient music often has an ethereal and grounded feeling that is far reaching, and expands into an untapped sense of being that can’t be felt in other genres. No band has quite the heart and honestly in their sound as MIDAS FALL. Taking influence from a variety of genres, incorporating electronica, post-rock and prog, the band are incredibly broad in the scope and scale of their tonal palette. Having released their fourth album Evaporate last month, we spoke to Rowan Burn about the development of their sound, the intention behind the sound and about playing their music live.

First, could you tell us a little about how MIDAS FALL came about?

Rowan: We met in Edinburgh in roughly 2003, but it was only after each of our other bands had dissolved in around 2008 that we decided to start writing together. We brought in a drummer and bass player a year or so later and threw together a UK tour, mostly just for a laugh. Around a month after we returned from that tour we signed with Monotreme and haven’t stopped writing since.

What was the influence for MIDAS FALL’s developing sound over the years?

Rowan: Our influences have developed a lot over the years. At the very beginning we had very differing tastes; I was really into metal, like TOOL, PANTERA, CELTIC FROST and Liz was listening to a lot of 65DAYSOFSTATIC, EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY and also going through a hardcore FRAMES/Glen Hansard phase. Since then we’ve explored a range of genres and while there are now more artists we have mutual appreciation for, I think it’s our differences that allow us to challenge and push one another as writers.

There’s a real ethereal feeling to your music, how do you approach building a song?

Rowan: Usually a song develops from just a simple guitar/vocal skeletal structure, a few words, or perhaps just one melody. From that we build on top the layers of instruments, experimenting with different instruments to see what works best. Often one of us will hear in our head how the song should sound, sometimes that idea becomes a reality and sometimes the song goes through several manifestations and ends up sounding completely different to how it started.

The music itself is also very emotional, do you draw this from a personal place?

Rowan: Every song is an emotional response to something; writing music is very cathartic for us both, so when we write it’s essentially a reaction to something that has happened in our lives and something that is born out of a negative mood that needs to put down in musical form before the mood can be improved. Writing is essentially a form of therapy for us.

The vocals are a big part of what makes your sound so unique, what else do you think makes MIDAS FALL stand out?

Rowan: I think we approach writing a song or album without any defined outcome; so we don’t restrict ourselves to a particular set of few instruments or specific song structures, we try to let the track lead us, hopefully in the right direction! The great thing about producing and recording this album was having the time and software resources to really play around with new sounds. There are a lot of synth and guitar sounds that are completely unique to the track we were working at the time.

With the album, Evaporate coming out, what was that journey to making Evaporate like?

Rowan: From the inception of the first song (Soveraine) to the final masters, this album took us two years to make. In that time we moved from Manchester, England to Argyll, Scotland. In Argyll, where the majority of the album was written, we were surrounded by bleak and mountainous landscapes; the striking scenery engulfing us had an almost inevitable impact on the sound of the record. From the making of Menagerie we’d also had time to consider how our technical capabilities had evolved and the influence that had on our confidence as writers. We felt less restricted, less afraid and emboldened, somehow and it enabled us to create the album we’d always wanted.

A quick note about the name- is this more of a theme, or is there a more symbolic element to it?

Rowan: Evaporate was one of the first songs we’d written for the album and as such it (somewhat unintentionally) set the tone for the rest of the record. The sparseness and lyrical content of the track Evaporate (and also Soveraine) conjured images of Icelandic landscapes, which led us to the album artwork. There is certainly a lot of symbolism, but rather than be specific about what that symbolism means to us, we’d rather listeners were able to draw their own meanings from the music, lyrics and art, so there’s no right or wrong way to perceive anything.

What is it about the genres MIDAS FALL play with that you enjoy?

Rowan: Our music dips its toes into a number of different genres, but never truly submerges itself into one specific place. Sometimes our songs will take you on a journey, so they’re closer to prog than, for example, the tracks with atmospheric, reverb-laden guitars and intense building crescendos, which are far closer to post-rock. Conversely, we have simple, folky tracks that are pretty far-removed from either post-rock or prog. Being able to combine what we love most from various genres to create something that is entirely our own is deeply rewarding.

You’ve played a lot of different Festivals over the years, how do you find the response from rock and metal fans who might not have heard anything like your sound?

Rowan: Over the years we’ve been fortunate enough to have played various festivals aimed at a very diverse listenership. From goth and hardcore, to post-rock and pop we’ve been lucky enough to have gained fans and made friends at all of our festival shows. That we straddle a number of genres possibly widens the appeal, so whilst there are heavier moments in a lot of our songs, I think we’re still gentle enough to not frighten away listeners who aren’t necessarily rock or metal fans. In any audience there’ll always be purists who may question why we’re playing a particular event, but we find a lot of people really open minded; a lot of our fans happen to be metalheads and we tend to find they’re the most open minded!

Finally, how are you feeling about this next year and the release of this album?

Rowan: Well, the first shipment of the Evaporate vinyl and CD’s arrived from the label just a few days ago and it immediately made us think about what might come of this year and the next. To finally hold the end product of two years of work is pretty huge; it’s somehow sad because that particular album is now, in a way, behind us, but conversely it’s really exciting because we can now bring the songs to people on tour and forge ahead with the next album. It’s also really amazing to have the opportunity to work with booking agency Artery Global. They’ve organised our May UK tour and after that we plan to tour Europe once more in autumn. It’ll certainly be a busy year for us (particularly the next six months or so), but I think for right now we’re the most excited about being able to bring the songs to life on tour.

Evaporate is out now via Monotreme Records.

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