Shapes Stars Make
Practice Kinda Makes Perfect
By: Carl Sundberg
Last updated February 24th , 2010

With a name that equals the spacey sounds it creates, Shapes Stars Make, a trio from Dallas, Texas, has launched it's sonically ambient music into the world with their debut album, "These Mountains Are Safe", an ambitious, yet subtle post-rock experience that some have likened to Sigur Ros, Mono and Radiohead.

Just a few short years ago, guitarist/vocalist Michael Gooden was originally playing standard-issue indie rock with bassist Jon Cook when they decided to branch off in late 2007 into the more trippy, gently, instrumental shoegaze music of Shapes Makes Stars.

As a duo, Shapes Stars Make recorded a self-titled 6-song EP in just six days with producer John Congleton (Appleseed Cast, Explosions in the Sky) in 2008, with Gooden writing and playing all the drum parts. Shortly after that, they began a serious search for a drummer, which they found in Zachary Edwards. "He's really creative," says Gooden. "The other drummers we had gone through, they could play anything, but they couldn't really come up with crazy original beats. And that's something that stood out with Zach when he auditioned. We were like, ‘Wow, this guy has some cool stuff'." With Edwards onboard, Shapes Stars Make was finally complete.

They played their first show with Edwards in Dallas at a small packed club called "The Door." "I think there were eight or nine bands on two different stages in one room," Godden recalls. "We weren't super altogether, and on top of that, the sound was awful, so we kind of struggled through the first few songs. I ended up turning my amp towards [Zach] so that we could all hear and we finally got it going, but I remember everyone was kind of flustered."

With a completed lineup, Shapes Stars Make's label, Dreamt Music, wanted the band to record a full-length album, and the band knew exactly who they wanted to produce it: John Congleton, who produced their EP. "I immediately contacted John," Gooden says, "I told him we'd love to get on his radar, because he's booked for ages." They had to work around Congleton's busy schedule, but it was well worth the wait. "Recording with him is a little different than what we had done in the past," Gooden says. "John likes to record most, if not all, of the tracks live. So we're all in the same room and playing together. John is super laid back and lets you do what you're doing and every once in a while he just has these little nuggets of insight and when he does have that insight you definitely listen. They're things that really change the album, which is cool."

The lush soundscapes of Shapes Stars Make can be attributed to the writing process of the band, which happen in a very organic, natural way. "Half of our practices usually consist of just playing," Gooden says. "Not stuff we've officially written yet, but if it sounds good and it sticks, we'll come back to it. We kind of get lost in playing." And although the band's musical origins come from a strong improvisational streak, Gooden points out that the music is still fairly rooted in the song itself, due to the fact that a lot is going on, musically. "Our live show is kind of technical, because we're a three-piece," says Gooden. "And I've sometimes got three different guitar parts going on at once, because I've got a looped guitar part and we've got to play to those."

Technical jargon aside, Stars Makes Shapes makes the kind of music a person might hear in a dream. "Our music sounds like a journey," Gooden says. "Our desire is for our songs to have scenes that take the listener on a journey, not a specific journey, but something people can take away personal messages from the music. That's our biggest hope. We want people to be inspired by what we do, and not get caught up in what kind of music it's classified as far as is it post-rock, is it indie-rock? If you listen to our stuff, it's really all thematic. We want to create our own memories and take our fans and listeners on a journey as we grow and put our thoughts and emotions into the music."


 
To purchase or check out These Mountains Are Safe, click here.

[Tags] Rock

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