The Silence Industry was founded in early 2007 and consists primarily of Graham Jackson, and others who wish to work with him on music at a given time. Since then, the project has released around a dozen EPs and albums in a raw Do-It-Yourself style, never compromising in the name of convention.
“The Crawling Eye” is the 3rd in a series of digital 7-inch singles from The Silence Industry. The title track, which is more on the traditional Goth/Deathrock side of The Silence Industry’s sonic spectrum, is an urgent and unsettling piece that combines themes of contemporary surveillance and a fondness for trashy B-grade horror movies.
The digital download on Bandcamp includes 2 ambient noise tracks and a dark and stripped-down rendition of “The Maw of Sleep” taken from the album of the same name.
The digital 7-inch release comes with custom cover artwork and a printable lyric booklet. „The Crawling Eye” is available now on Bandcamp and the title track will be released on all streaming services.
Track listing:
1. The Crawling Eye 06:47
2. The Real Cosmic Horror Is Your Job (A Found Sound Experiment) 04:48*
3. The Maw Of Sleep (Dead Labour Version) 06:51*
4. A Background Of Constant Surveillance* 06:52*
(* Bandcamp exclusive)
Interview – the silence industry
KKM: Hello. We appreciate your time with Kainklangmusik today. We are based in Germany. Obviously Germany is well known for its different music scene and fans. Is that where your greatest response has been from perhaps?
Hello and thank you as well! Yes, I’d say that’s accurate. Germany has certainly been a place where tsi has made many connections with fans and people involved in the music scene. Something that’s great about communications technology is that it’s easier than ever to make connections across the world (like this interview!). Other places that come to mind are Portugal, France, Ireland, UK, Mexico, Indonesia, Italy, Greece and Brazil. Ha, most of these are places with their own traditions of melancholy and dark music come to think of it.
KKM: Can you talk about the latest release?
So, coming out, like, *right now* is the latest single titled “Headlong (general strike!”. This is the 4th in a series of what I’ve been calling “digital 7 inch” singles. The initial idea here was sorta to release songs individually as I was in the process of finishing them towards the goal of putting out something like a traditional full length or EP. This quickly expanded with the thought that “this sounds like a great excuse to play around with some weird stuff that wouldn’t necessarily make it to a traditional release as b-sides”.
So “Headlong…” is the latest of these. It consists of the title track, which is a bit of a thundering and slightly proggy influenced thing with maybe hints of homage to “the sound of the earth vomiting”, along with a noisy remix of a friend’s instrumental composition, a dark ambient noise piece and a tsi’ified version of the Internationale.
Previous to that was “the Crawling Eye” digital 7-inch, which included the title track, a found sound noise piece assembled from field recorded bits I recorded at work, a dark and stripped down version of “the Maw of Sleep” and an ambient piece.
KKM: The latest album includes only new material or also older ones which where hidden in a drawer?
So, the latest series of releases have all been *mostly* new material. The one exception to this was a new mix of the track “Anyways, I’m Running to You” on “Forward and/or Dust!” which originally appeared on “a Song for Bad Sectors”.
Everything else is new new, although there are some “self cover” b-sides of older material re imagined. I do have a couple of “hidden in a drawer” things that I will be working on in the future though!
KKM: Has the creative process changed at all during your time with the silnce industry?
Actually yes! Of course none of it has ever been absolutely set in stone, and it’s always been a thing that’s in the process of evolving but one very significant change to tsi’s creative process happened a few years back.
I used to write *on-the-workstation* a lot more. Of course this was almost always done with guitar or keyboard in one hand, but I used to lay-out and write tracks in the drum-sequencer quite a bit more. Then I had a hard-drive crash and lost all of the drum programs. Since by that point I already had the songs all written and structured in my head, I had to go back and re-sequence the drum programs. I found that I really enjoyed it! So I just kept doing things more in a similar vein.
The title “a Song for Bad Sectors” is sort-of a bit of an in-joke with myself about that, as that’s the album’s worth of material I was working on when I had the hard-drive crash. It set me back by almost a year on the timeline I had in my head for getting the stuff out, but tsi persevered!
Apart from that I’m definitely using the opportunities presented by the format of singles as an excuse to mess around and do weird stuff to be released as b-sides. This has been very creatively liberating.
KKM: Are you involved with any other projects? Are you involved as a remixer or in another related service?
I have at various points over the years, but haven’t had much time for this in the last while. Helped friends with mixing, played guitar on their records, but that’s going back quite a ways now. Currently helping a friend of mine learn some basics about audio production, but that’s sorta been it.
Would like to get back into that at some point though! Collaborations are fun!
KKM: Has there been any change in your use of digital analog instruments over the years?
Interesting question! Definitely yes. I used to use software amp-simulators and synthesizers a lot more. Over the years I’ve acquired a decent collection of preamps, stompboxes and a couple hardware keys/synths. None of these were very expensive.
I would say that all the guitar and bass sounds are done with most of the signal processing done in the analogue domain these days. It’s more fun for me this way, and helps me get sounds that are a bit more lo-fi and rough around the edges. I always want every note to be something that hits the listener in a way which is unique to tsi. Whether or not I’m successful in this is another question! But that’s the intent.
tsi still uses a fair bit of software synths, but more and more I’m using hardware, sampling things, and trying to find new and different ways of using software synths to a similar effect.
KKM: Concerning influences… what would you say that the musical influence would be which might be the most surprising to listeners?
Hmmm, that’s an interesting question as well. It’s hard to say what will surprise other people, maybe Hawkwind? Neil Young? Lee Scratch Perry? Those are 3 that come to mind as significant influences is some way that don’t really sound anything at all like tsi anyways.
KKM: What’s next for you in 2024 and 2025 ? What do you hope to accomplish?
I hope to get the last bits together for the currently-being-worked-on full length. This shouldn’t be too hard to get finished in 2024. Then I’m putting together a new workstation computer (which is all from used parts that were given to me. thanks friends!), and tsi will start working on more material. I don’t really know if tsi has goals to accomplish for the releases themselves. Aenaos has been great at getting the stuff out there, and I just hope it lands with people somewhere and that they are able to connect with it, which they have been and I’m really grateful for that!
So what’s next? I already have some song ideas and even some stuff written already for future releases so I’ll be just moving forward with that. I would like to continue to mess around with different release formats, and releases in different places. Part of that is really just coming into the idea that with digital releases there isn’t really anything tying music to a particular physical format’s length. “Album” “EP” “Single”… these are all essentially meaningless now, so I can see tsi putting out maybe 2 or 3 song releases, doing more long-form experiements and just continuing to push myself to try new things.
I am also hoping to experiment with doing some very limited physical release type thing as a sort of counter point to the above, I just haven’t quite decided on the details yet. I’m leaning towards a cassette thing, or maybe cd-r but I’m still undecided.
To the same effect I’m also really hoping I am able to get the time to put together something like a hand-made zine / lyric book to accompany the release of the current full-length that tsi is building towards. This would also be pretty limited.
Keep on thinking about doing something that’s an odd take on traditional merch. Like spray-stenciled upcycled t-shirts. I do mean to follow through on that one, but we’ll see. Time permitting and all.
KKM: How do you balance time between your profession, your creative work and family?
It’s always a challenge but I think the best art is always situated in the real world. I make time for music, with intention, but obviously paying the bills and taking care of family does always have to take priority. That’s just reality! But using time like coffee breaks to scrawl down some notes, the early hours of the morning and moments when everyone else is occupied can go a long way. I make every use of spare moments that I can.
KKM: How important is literature to you as an artist?
Huge. I’ve read an awful lot. A bit less lately than I’d like, but still…
I’ve been influenced an awful lot by 20th century sci-fi (both the more serious stuff and pure trash!), authors like Steinbeck, poets and visionaries like Neruda and Mayakovsky and plenty more. I think reading definitely influences how I structure my own thoughts artistically in general as well as how I use my own words.
KKM: Favorite cities to visit or perform in?
I don’t leave the place I live enough, but I’ve really enjoyed performing in Edmonton and pretty much anywhere in Texas for live-music vibes. Surprisingly in some ways I think.
I’ve always really enjoyed visiting Portland as well. Great alternative scene and lots of good food.
KKM: What scares you?
Ha! Lots. Like everyone else, being aware of ones’ own mortality is something we’re all dealing with on an ongoing basis.
Apart from that it’s probably pretty obvious to anyone who’s listened to tsi’s catalogue that loneliness, isolation, inequality, war and ecological collapse figure largely in my anxieties.
KKM: Are there any locations on the globe where you would like to retire to & that you think would be inspiring as long as you live?
As it stands right now, one day I’m currently planning on retiring to the Azores (Portugal). We’ll see if that plan changes but I think it’ll be pretty cool and inspiring. I can think of others though. Maybe Mexico. There’s also a martial arts school I would love to spend a couple months at eventually about 25k north of Beijing. Bucket list!
KKM: Name a song that can make you cry. Have you ever cried after you created a song or during the process? If so, what song?
“the same deep water as you” and “a letter to Elise” by the Cure have done that to me. Ha, “if you could read my mind” by Gordon Lightfoot comes to mind for some reason as well. Lots more. “Severance” by Dead Can Dance.
That’s happened a few times in the creative process as well to be sure. I’m not sure I can recall all of them but “on Feathered Wings”, “the Maw of Sleep” and “the Colour of Heaven” all come to mind.
KKM: What was the last great record you heard?
Oh jeez, that’s tough. I’ve been listening to a lot of newer stuff lately, but more and more people are doing singles and shorter releases, so it’s tough for me to say what the last great “record” was if we’re talking full lengths. “Maverick” by Aenaos labelmate (((S))) is pretty great.
I also really enjoyed a noise/experimental electronic full length record by Nonperson called “the night of the world”.
If we’re talking about any length, Darkness by Deliverance and Morose Museum by Lessons in Purgatory.
There’s great stuff coming out all the time these days. Hopefully some of that great stuff is from tsi. :)
KKM: Motto?
I’ve never really thought about it, whether I have a personal or artistic motto. Just do what feels right. Don’t think too hard about fitting into a box that already exists. Genres are for journalists to describe music after the fact, not guardrails for creativity. Be a good human. Don’t be afraid to be compassionate in this often brutal world. Love can be, and often is, subversive and dangerous. Break their haughty power!
KKM: We thank you for your music, inspiration and your time;-)
Thanks so much for the interview! It’s been a pleasure. :) <3
Thanks for reading and thanks for listening! More on the way as always. <3
G.
written by C.T.
Links:
Bandcamp: thesilenceindustry.bandcamp.com
Facebook: facebook.com/thesilenceindustry
Spotify: open.spotify.com/artist/7nIqibTD1Uq6rEjX1s14Po
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/thesilenceindustry
