06 Mar GORGING SHADE: ON THE BETTER-LATE-THAN-NEVERISMS OF A CULT MASTERWORK & HOW A LEGACY ACT MAY HAVE BEEN SLAYED IN THE SHADE
by words/interview by Fallow Heart
Nature is both incredibly elegant and remarkably protean. Nudging one atom from its alignment
into an ever-so-slightly heterogeneous position can result in an entirely different molecule, one
that demonstrates wild new shapes and possibilities. Never mind that, barring a slight shuffling
of their sequence, the structure remains anatomically consistent with its previous identity; one
artful readjustment can alter everything. When Canvas Solaris bassist Gaël Pirlot began to
envision an equal parts blackened to progressive, extreme metal side project in late 2015, he
naturally thought to recruit a musician outside of his primary band’s fraternity in order to clearly
distinguish this new outfit from his more familiar one (while maintaining Canvas percussionist
Hunter Ginn). But false starts and poorly suited dynamics drove the project aground where its
material would lie dormant for more than a year. In Gaël’s words, “Cohesion and immediacy
lacked, and I think we all felt that there was no unifying force to the material. The interest
waned… and we drifted.”
Ultimately it was the reconsideration of how the full Canvas Solaris ensemble would interpret
these components that gave it the ol’ thwack in the carburetor it needed to get properly
motoring. “In one of my conversations with Hunter [roughly one year after Gorging Shade’s first
draft was scrapped] I mentioned starting the material from scratch with no reference to [the
project’s] embryonic stage. It quickly became apparent that the inspiration was still there and the
philosophical backbone of the project crystallized from the ashes of our prior efforts,” Gaël
concludes.
The result is the band’s restlessly awaited debut album Inversions, a record that weds the
panache n’ poise of early Opeth to Gorguts’s lurid abstractions delivered over a bed of filmic,
ecclesiastically foreboding murmurs. And though the listener will occasionally catch movements
on Inversions that betray the band’s alter ego as instrumental tech adepts Canvas Solaris, the
distinctions separating the two enterprises are so profound that one could brush aside these
flickers of harmony existent between the two as a mere trick of the light. I find this particularly
interesting. One could imagine the creative energy unifying the four players who make up these
conjoined outfits as something like that old children’s fortune teller game. They form one
collective, folded in upon itself again and again to create a slate of different textures, colors and
impressions that are only perceivable via the proper input. The atom shifts ever so slightly and
in turn, the molecule must demonstrate a peculiar transubstantiation. It has been shouldered
into a brave new octave.
I was lucky to pin down Gorging Shade percussionist/band ambassador Hunter Ginn for a brief
chinwag. Given that he’s also hitched to the Agalloch wagon in addition to commitments to
Sculptured and his own project Plague Psalms, (not to mention
co-hosting the long-running Radical Research podcast and co-directing the music and film
journal Deserts of Hex), his itinerary allows precious little room for digression. You’ll notice that I
didn’t include Canvas Solaris among the sundry projects that Ginn is presently juggling. Well,
we’ll get to that omission along with the past, present, and potential future of Gorging Shade
as well as its commanding and meticulously tailored debut lp. I certainly hope that you came
hungry; there’s no light repast on offer here…
DECELERATED TESTING PHASE
Fallow Heart: It’s well known by the underground cognoscenti that there were issues regarding
the midwifery of the Gorging Shade project in its initial phase. Tell me about the band’s genesis,
(including its name), and also about the challenges of bringing Inversions to bear. It was kind of
a breech birth there, wasn’t it?
Hunter Ginn: Yeah it was, very much so. The original material, I think Gaël wrote in late 2015
and we demoed it out with a guy who was going to be the singer and the keyboardist as well as
play the second guitar and it was kind of a non-starter from the beginning. Like, he didn’t
understand what Gaël wanted, he co-opted a lot of it and eventually we just put that kibosh on
the whole thing so the material just sat there for a good while until finally Gaël wanted to reup
and got all of us, (including Chris [Rushing\guitar] and Nathan [Sapp/guitar],) involved; Nate
offered to do the vocals as well. The basic DNA of the material didn’t change but the
personalities of the four players kind of brought to bear on it and that’s really what made it what
it is now.
As for the name, it was inspired by a Baudelaire poem [“Un Voyage à Cythère”]. I figured Gael’s
French and I’m a fan of symbolism so…
FH: Well, based on your lyrical contributions on the album, I’ll posit that that goes without
saying, (but I’d like to dip into the lyrics a little further on).
So, I’d assume that working with a crew that you’re so intimately familiar with, (as opposed to
shoehorning in a relative newcomer), would have to alter the interpretations of this material.
Ginn: Yeah, in terms of the guitar language, I’d say that the word “tendrils” is a very good
descriptive word because the two guitar voices are broken out really starkly and intertwined in a
way that you really don’t hear very often anymore. I mean it’s intensely orchestrated.
FH: Agreed. The superliminal orchestration is remarkably well spun; “guitar language” suits me
as a term in this context as Chris and Nathan are constantly insinuating these little remarks, like
offhand epigrams into the melodic narrative. But there’s a borderline subliminal element to the
record’s orchestration as well which brings me to Plague Psalm. It sounds as if Plague Psalm
must have had some impact on Inversions in that regard. Do you agree with that analysis?
Ginn: Well, Gaël and I were starting to work on the new Plague Psalms record [The Gifts of
Wrath] before the Gorging Shade record was completed. I’d say yeah, the soundscapes on the
Gorging Shade record were influenced by what we were working on at the time. I think that the
symbiosis between those two is confirmed by the fact that the next thing we do is going to be a
Gorging Shade/Plague Psalm split.
FH: To my ears, that could hardly be more apparent. I’d be surprised if you’d said that you didn’t
feel there was a degree of bleed over.
Ginn: I felt that -during the incubation period for both of these things- they were essentially
feeding off of each other. You know, different outcomes but similar intentions.
FH: I’d also say that that carries over not only aesthetically but also on an intellectual and even
a spiritual level. Plague Psalm reminds me of hearing Neptune Towers for the first time in my
late teens, (not knowing what to expect but assuming it was going to be a black metal project
and just being slapped around by that album’s insouciant, sorcerous vibe). But Plague Psalm
is even more cloven hoofed with a tribalistic, Crash Worship underpinning. It’s more pontifical,
liturgical and ecclesiastical in its underwiring. And likewise, Gorging Shade is just dripping with
those weird airs…
Ginn: I would say that Gorging Shade is intensely ecclesiastical…
OrChid A
FH: So, let’s talk about distribution. I have (I’m guessing a false memory), of Crucial Blast
playing some sort of a role…
Ginn: Well, the new Plague Psalm is released through Crucial Blast.
FH: Right, I was aware of that but I guess that I conflated that with Gorging Shade. Is there any
sort of distribution deal going forward? Bandcamp is the project’s only outlet at present, correct?
Ginn: It is the only outlet though I suspect that… I mean, it’s doing quite well. {Note: At the time
of this publication, Inversions is streaming on Tidal, Qobuz, Apple Music, Spotify and Youtube.}
I suspect that there’ll be enough traction to draw some label interest in the near future. But
really, it’s just symptomatic of label culture in general. Most labels don’t want to touch a band
that doesn’t tour and Gorging Shade doesn’t really have the capacity to tour, (I mean, there
might be a possibility of a festival and some one-offs). But the only way to promote a band
anymore is to tour; even to move product and ultimately, we’re just not in a position to do that.
FH: That’s a shame particularly given how dialed in Inversions is; it really needs to be heard.
What’s particularly awe inspiring about the record is that the album opener [“The Mass of
Entropy”] positively combusts with so much command and promise that I was frankly preparing
myself to be a little underwhelmed from there on out. I assumed that there was no way that
Inversions could maintain that momentum, (much less build upon and even surpass it). But as
[track 3] “Clepsydra” wore on, it became clear that this album actually had the audacity to build
upon and to actually improve on its opening salvo.
Ginn: “Clepsydra’s” one of my favorites…
FH: It’s gorgeous. And then, you get to the “The Actor and His Setting” which is so remarkably
tonic by comparison. It sounds very European to me…
Ginn: It is! And you know, Gaël was born and raised in France and was living in Paris until he
was 16. Even though, sure, he’s thoroughly American now, that European sensibility is just
embedded in him.
FH: Right. There’s something about the sophistication and there’s also just the…not so much
the stylism or the attack but rather the actual feeling of first discovering the Opeth debut Orchid
that’s echoed by this album. I’d argue that its character lies somewhere between Gorguts
alloyed with the elegance and imperious élan of Orchid with Bohren and der Club of Gore
functioning as the album’s constantly simmering, genuinely unnerving substruction.
Ginn: That makes me really happy hearing you say that.
GOD REST YE MERRY DJENTLEMEN
FH: It’s my understanding that Gorging Shade isn’t a project that’s necessarily intended to be so
much of a focal point beyond this release. Is that right?
Ginn: Well, I’m not so sure of that…
FH: Really? Okay, so what’s the vision?
Ginn: Well you know, Canvas Solaris has had a critical mass of material built up over the last
five or six years but I don’t know if any of that will ever actually materialize. I think that [instead]
we’ll continue to work together as Gorging Shade.
FH: That’s pretty big news! Would you cannibalize some of that Canvas material?
Ginn: Probably not but I can’t say. Maybe we would one day but it’s been on the shelf for so
long and we’ve been really excited by Gorging Shade and the possibilities there that I think that
that’s going to be our focus going forward as a four piece.
FH: Huh. You know, in many ways, I do see Gorging Shade scratching the same itch as
Canvas. I’ve recently revisited [Canvas Solaris’s 2021 release] Chromosphere and there are
movements off of the track “Zero Point Field” that sound like a more sun-dappled expression of
something a listener would find on Inversions.
Ginn: Yeah, the impulses are all there and accounted for…
FH: Sure. Creatively speaking, I wonder if it’s actually valuable for you as a collective of
musicians to continue to develop both projects. I’d personally love to have another Canvas
Solaris record. Chromosphere is my personal favorite Canvas effort and I’d appreciate having it
expounded upon but I’m also comfortable with the band Irish-goodbye-ing on that note given
that it’s such a lofty one, you know?
Ginn: I kind of am too.
IT’S COLD GINN TIME AGAIN
FH: So, when you’re performing these Gorging Shade tracks, what mindset do you occupy
versus say, performing for Canvas Solaris? Is it blue collar, timekeeping diligence or is it
oriented around high handed, gnostic shenanigans? What’s in your head?
Ginn: Oh, it’s definitely more supportive. But, you know, that sort of mis-sells it too because I
always felt like I was being supportive in Canvas; it’s just a matter of context. You know, Canvas
demands a sort of more rebellious rhythmic approach. A more contrarian approach.
FH: Can you elaborate on that?
Ginn: Yeah. So, with Canvas, I’m always trying to challenge what the other musicians are
doing. Whether that be polymeter, whether that be pushing and pulling a little bit… Whereas,
with Gorging Shade, (actually, I took this tack on Chromosphere too and the guys in the band
argued with me)…basically, I made an argument to be mixed lower…
FH: So that’s not my imagination! Thank you!
Ginn: No. That was all me. I was like, “this is a guitar and a synth record.” [Producer] Jamie
King, who has this storied audio production career, is also a drummer and he always gave mix
preference to the drums so I had to make a real case to be situated lower in the mix on that
record because I thought that the guitar, the bass and the synth work and the interplay between
those things was what was most vital.
{Note: I don’t bother to box Hunter into the “‘aw, shucks!’ corner” with this observation but I
would argue that he is, (alongside Larnell Lewis), perhaps the most eloquent and harmonically
responsive drummer currently operating within the field. In Gaël’s words, “Hunter is raw
inspiration; Gorging Shade would not exist without his fiercely musical approach to
drumming…”}
FH: Well, that underscores an unusual ability to appreciate your work from a macroscopic level,
more holistically, (which very few artists are capable of doing and unfortunately, that blinkered
perspective often does result in cattywampus mixes). I think that you made the right choice.
Ginn: I’m glad that… I mean, thank you. You’re one of the very few people that’s said that. But I
believe that it was the right choice too. I have no regrets about pressing that issue. I think it
made Chromosphere a better record because I really think that it’s the melodic and the
harmonic side of that album that makes it what it is. But with Gorging Shade, it’s sort of the
blackened death metal aspect that makes it less about syncopation and more about linear
momentum. I can’t help but be who I am and I still feel like I sound like myself on that record but
I tried to adapt to that context and offer support in a way that I didn’t in Canvas Solaris. Canvas
Solaris was more like choreography, where you’ve got four or five people doing different things;
it’s like robbing a bank with light detection and you sort of dance between the laser beams. With
Gorging Shade, it’s more about just really hammering down. And it was kind of funny and sort of
anticipatory in that we did that and then I got drafted into Sculptured and then after that I got into
Agalloch… It was like a preparation for that kind of support too.
But I grew up with that. Dude, I didn’t start playing metal until I was twenty years old. It’s not that
I didn’t want to, it’s just that I didn’t have the opportunity. I grew up playing in R&B based rock
bands. For me, the drums are a support instrument; that’s how I roll. They can enhance things
but at the end of the day, the drums are a foundation. I’ve gotten rid of a lot of my ego over the
years too. In fact, before I play a show, I say a little thing to myself like, “let me serve the music.”
And that’s just kind of where I want to be situated now.
FH: So would you say that that background forms a stylistic underpinning that wouldn’t be
obvious or even recognizable to the listener?
Ginn: Definitely. I’d go back to Muscle Shoals and Stax Records. I grew up with all that stuff.
And Bill Ward. And John Bonham. I mean it’s easy to find the [Bill] Bruford and the [Billy]
Cobham influences in my drumming but the older I get, the more I just really appreciate that
deep, deep pocket and feel. And also, (and this is weird), the older I get, the heavier I hit.
FH: I’ll be honest: I’ve always thought that you sounded like a drummer that hits heavy…
Ginn: Yeah, I do! And the older I get, the harder I dig into the drums. Tony Williams [Miles
Davis/John McLaughlin] said that one time. He was like, “Dude, the drums are meant to be hit
hard. It feels good.”
FH: I appreciate that. It reminds me of all of those death metal vocalists that you listen to and
it’s just like, “C’mon pal, you’re not intimidating. This isn’t powerful and it ain’t menacing. You’re
basically just whispering into the mic with a flashlight under your chin. You know what I mean?
Ginn: Yeah! Exactly!
FH: The menace isn’t there, this is more like a Halloween costume you threw on. As opposed to
these people that you listen to and you just want to fork over a bag of Ricola to them because
they really committed their throat to the performance. I think that that principle translates to
drums as well. I used to believe that you needed to play significantly more gently in order to
coax out that finesse but my opinion’s definitely evolved.
Ginn: I used to feel like that too.
GET OUTTA MY DREAMS
(GET INTO MY GRIMOIRE)
FH: The Gorging Shade album plays out as a decipherable journey. The record fulfills a
satisfying but also a totally logical arc; it just feels like a well-considered narrative. Is that simply
a function of clever sequencing or is that how it was envisioned?
Ginn: I think Gaël intended it to be like that. I think he always imagined it to be a journey. He
was solely responsible for the album’s sequencing, like [for example] “The Ordeal of the Bitter
Water” and the way that that leads into the album’s second side. That’s a confirmation of his
craftiness.
FH: And Gaël and yourself split the lyric writing duties, correct?
Ginn: I think I wrote four of them. The ones that I wrote were in late 2020. I’d just gotten sober.
I’d just gotten divorced and I was forced to reckon with a lot of things in a way that I had never
had to and those lyrics reflect a lot of that. They’re written in heavily coded language but they’re
largely about that.
FH: That’s interesting. And heavily coded indeed; I wouldn’t have deduced that they referred to
those sorts of experiences. I will say that there’s a tremendous amount in these lyrics that would
prick up the ears of the occult practitioner. Like “The Mass of Entropy.” Did you write those?
Ginn: No, that’s Gaël.
FH: Ah. Well, there’s this powerful movement where [guitarist/vocalist] Nathan Sapp delivers
this Karl Willets circa Bolt Thrower’s Warmaster death metal sermon…
Ginn: Oh god! I’m gonna call Nathan after this interview and tell him that. That will make his life!
FH: It’s an amazing, authoritative moment and lyrically he’s spitting about the kabbalistic tree of
life and the sefirots of Chesed and Gevurah, not to mention name dropping Heinrich
Khunrath…My ears immediately pricked right the fuck up. It reads to me like a spell that’s designed
to open the record as if it’s unlocking an energetic doorway for some kind of entity to
lumber through.
Ginn: It is, man! That’s exactly the reason that “The Mass of Entropy” opens the record.
FH: And what do you see that doorway being a portal to?
Ginn: Negative energy. The entire record’s very negative. But it’s destroying everything in order
to build up something else.
FH: That makes sense. You know, it’s easy to mistake or undervalue the creative power of
negative energy. Atoms naturally have both negative as well as positive charges. Of course
from a day-to-day, street level perspective we’ll predictably do everything within our power to
contravene what we perceive as that “negative charge” but from a macroscopic context it’s an
integral mechanism in terms of the way that life is properly catalyzed. Friction is necessary for
momentum of any sort.
Ginn: It is! It’s Blakeian.
FH: So do you think that that negative dynamism has fully incinerated those old structures you
were mentioning? I mean, would the energy be different on a sophomore Gorging Shade
record?
Ginn: Yeah, I do. I don’t know what the energy would be like going forward but… I mean,
there’s no way to replicate the dynamics that powered this album. And I would suspect that Gaël
doesn’t have any interest in trying to do that, (I certainly don’t.) But there’s plenty of other
energies from which to draw.
FH: And that’s the thing too. Why necessarily choose to linger there?
Ginn: But the energy that powered this record was not a choice. It was just a matter of
circumstance and we seized on it. You know, it all coincided and we, (not to sound
Rockwellian), made the best of it.
FH: Sure, you repurposed it – which is exactly how those sorts of impulses should be managed.
I mean the words “entropy” and “entropic” come up again and again in these lyrics. We’re
talking about dormant energy which eventually has to be given a purpose and exercised. If it
isn’t allowed to express itself, (regardless of the manner or the dialect that it’s articulated in),
ultimately you’re left with something that results in neurosis or disease…
Ginn: Yeah, or a collapsing star.
FH: Yeah! I go with “disease” and you come back with “collapsing star!” I mean…gadzooks!
A CONCESSION OF OUR CITY
TO MODERNITY… AND BEYOND
FH: The track “Disease of Feeling, Germed” includes a beautiful melodic coda that distinctly
recalls Transcendence by Crimson Glory. (Actually, you might say Psychotic Waltz; I know
you’re an especially tremendous fan of those guys…)
Ginn: Well, I’m certainly flattered by that analysis…
FH: Ah, but no intentional or direct allusions to either of those bands?
Ginn: No. But you’re right… Actually, Nathan and myself are both huge fans of Crimson Glory and
Psychotic Waltz. I doubt that Gaël and Chris [Rushing; guitars] are into either though.
FH: Huh. I mentioned it because it extends well beyond just the performance. It feels
intentionally insinuated within the actual production. It must be in the DNA.
Ginn: It must be. And you can read that all through the entire discography of Canvas Solaris
too. It’s what ties us all together. There are threads running through that relationship between
the four of us. And even if Gaël and Chris don’t listen to either of those bands, they’ve been
playing with two guys that worship them for so long. It’s probably seeped into their DNA without
their knowledge.
FH: Okay, just a couple more quick ones: Given that Gorging Shade’s composed of people who
are all so familiar with one another’s capabilities: when you were first listening to Inversions’
early masters, was there anything that surprised you in terms of the performances of your
bandmates?
Ginn: Yeah, actually, how intense they were! I think we all dug in. But it was shocking to hear
the completed project because it happened sort of sequentially; I mean we recorded the drums
at my place way back in February 2021.
FH: Jesus! Why the delay between the recording of the drums and the delivery of the finished
record?
Ginn: We move slowly! You know, we’re geographically spread out and yeah, it just took time.
Also, we tend to be more deliberate these days. Regardless, after [tracking the drums], the guys
recorded their parts in their own studios and when it all came together, I think we were just
struck by how committed and inventive it sounded! You know, the parameters are a bit narrower
in Gorging Shade as opposed to Canvas Solaris. Nathan said something to me a long time ago
and it’s always stuck with me. He said, “if it’s cool, it can work in Canvas,” which has meant
many, many things over the years. For example, Canvas has a song called “Chromatic Dusk”
on The Atomized Dream album and that song’s like Kraftwerk, early Def Jam stuff, video game
soundtracks, Skinny Puppy… I mean, Nathan was right. In that band, any influence that was
cool and functional would work whereas in Gorging Shade, that’s not exactly true, (and in
Plague Psalm that’s almost certainly not true). But I think we impressed each other by how far
we were able to stretch out in Gorging Shade. There’s a lot of nuance in that music and I think
we all impressed each other in terms of how far we pushed it and in terms of how much we still
had inside of us.
FH: Do you think that Canvas’s liberal nature and openness to all of these disparate influences
and caprices created greater headwinds for the band in terms of finding its proper audience?
I’ve always felt that “tech metal” didn’t properly summarize Canvas Solaris.
Ginn: Yeah, I think so. Music critics… “reviewers” have tended to struggle with that. I mean, I
think that we as human beings are inclined to neatly categorize things, so the reviewers tend to
fall back on the exercise of trying to pin Canvas down. Is it dissonant Death Metal? Is it Black
Metal? But it’s got all these other elements… But there’s just always going to be this sort of
polyglot aspect to the work that we do. That’s characteristic of who we are.
FH: I’ve always felt that Canvas belonged to a slightly different audience than the one that they
seemed to be pitched at. An audience whose tastes likely tessellate with the tastes of the
broader metal crowd for sure, but…
Ginn: And Canvas has always frustrated the tech metal community too because of our
tendency to color outside of the lines.
FH: Yeah. I once confessed to [Crowbar’s] Kirk Windstein during an interview that for the
longest time, I’d listen to his band with a list of demands in mind. I wanted slower tempos, I
wanted lugubrious melodies and when they would slip out of that and indulge their interests in
hardcore, I would essentially say, “Nope. This ain’t it. As far as I’m concerned, this ain’t
Crowbar.” And then one day, I allowed those requisites to begin to soften and blur and I listened
to a Crowbar record and simply allowed it to be what it was rather than busy myself with the
exercise of sheep-herding the experience. Once that happened, I was able to actually
appreciate the band for what it is without distracting myself with the burden of what I’d been
insisting it should be. And the same thing would hold true for me for Canvas Solaris and really
for anything else. It’s stepping out of the way and allowing a creative work to have its say rather
than talking over it the entire time.
Ginn: That’s a great way to put it.
FH: Anything else you’d care to add about Gorging Shade or Inversions?
Ginn: Just that I’m very proud of it. I think when you put these four guys together in a room, the
chemistry is inevitable. You can sort of reshape how it’s communicated, you can recast it but it’s
still the same chemistry.
{This echoes a sentiment that Gaël expressed to me separately so it only seems fair to allow
him this valedictory observation.}
“I gave each [band] member no direction,” he reveals. “I trusted and wanted their own voices on
the album. Consequently, Inversions is raw and doesn’t follow my initial transcriptions. The
songs are bound together by the lyrical themes, orchestration, and the unedited layering of four
distinct musical personas. However, in that sense Inversions does match its foundational
concept; it only took gestation and an embracing of musical anarchy.”
Still and all:
https://gorgingshade.bandcamp.com/album/inversionsinstagram.com/gorging_shade
https://plaguepsalm.bandcamp.com/album/shivers-of-transmigration
instagram.com/plague_psalm
instagram.com/canvas_solaris