Bryan Funck - Thou 'Umbilical: Punk Redefined'
Thou are labyrinthian in every sense of the term. Whether it pertains to their artistry, ideology or the conceptual space between, it all defies precise categorisation; and what’s more, they're not in the least bit concerned with making the experience accessible. Even for those who manage to unravel Thou’s vast catalogue of recordings - replete with numerous EPs, compilations, splits and full-lengths - their latest release, Umbilical presents their most formidable undertaking yet.
Whilst acknowledging the group’s association with the Louisiana ‘sludge’ scene, it’s best to cast preconceptions aside. At their core, Thou are a punk band, and what you hear on Umbilical is unequivocally protest music - just not in the traditional sense.
As vocalist Bryan Funck explained to WoS, Thou are revolting against themselves: “It's hard to exist as a band for so long without making concessions. It’s not like I’m tormented with regret, or flagellating myself over it. But in the strict, cold, ideological dissection of where we started as youths and where we are now, there are a lot of things that I/we could/should have done differently.” In consequence, Umbilical is a scathing record. The vitriol is directed inwards, and ties back to this notion of compromising principles and ideals that Funck and his band might have held at some earlier stage of their lives. You can hear him grappling with these afflictions on ‘Narcissist's Prayer’ and ‘House of Ideas’. And although themes of self-deprecation are not altogether new to Thou’s art - take for instance ‘An Age Imprisoned’ from 2008’s Peasant - this time around, it somehow feels more personal.
That self-antagonism fed into and influenced the abrasive sound prevalent on Umbilical. Virtually all melody was gutted from the arrangements, and the sonic elements were distilled down to their base essence to emphasise the music’s raw intensity; this persisted even after the mix was ‘cleaned up’. “Originally we were going to make it even noisier, gnarlier and more messed up; we actually reigned it back quite a bit.” As with everything Thou does, it was guided by impeccable feel. “Part of that is just the nature of when you write the songs. You start working on something, and then you have to follow where the song goes. Within the band and the writing of the music, you start making concessions in the service of what the song needs to be. We definitely wanted a noisy, gross sounding record, with a minimal amount of melody.”
Missions accomplished! Umbilical stands as Thou's most challenging yet approachable record to date. In one respect, there is a greater focus on ‘hooks’, often in the form of repeated vocal refrains (“Stab, stab, stab it 'til you're dead to me” - ‘Emotional Terrorist’). In another, Umbilical steers away from the type of post-metal melodicism that featured on several of Thou’s recent releases, particularly Heathen. “Magus was supposed to be our anti-Heathen record, where we did away with the self-indulgent, melodic, post-rock meanderings. Even then, people still said that Magus was too long or whatever, so we were like “oh, then we’ll do one that’s fairly concise”.”
Owing to the succinct, impactful format of its songs, Umbilical harkens more than ever to Thou’s punk roots: “I’ve been saying we’re a punk band - I’ve been saying it this whole time!” Yet the songwriting pulls from so many diverse areas that it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly where the influences are coming from. Sometimes, they are decidedly non-metal. With critical listening, you can pick up prominent notes from the darker shades of grunge. We even put it to Funck that the groove-infused, desiccated style of ‘Panic Stricken, I Flee’, calls to mind Alice In Chains’ ‘Bleed the Freak’. It’s no secret that Thou are fans of 90’s grunge, having released an album composed entirely of Nirvana covers, titled Blessings of the Highest Order. “Well, Andy [Gibbs] said when he was writing it, he was sort of riffing on ‘Angry Chair’ by Alice In Chains, so you’re not far off there! That was one of the last songs we wrote for Umbilical - I wasn’t sure what to do with the vocals, and he was like “oh, think of the Angry Chair melody”, and I kind of just went with that.”
At a certain point, comparisons like these become reductive. Over years of playing and performing together, Thou have carved out a niche that is singularly theirs. “We are so deep into it now, that it's just what we sound like; it's just variations on how we play." Speaking to Umbilical specifically: "If anything, I think we were aiming to go back to somewhere in the era between Tyrant and Peasant, and trying to channel that sort of energy; a bit more up-tempo / frenetic / riffy, and not leaning too hard on the enticing, melodic stuff. The reference point was sort of writing things that had the typical structures of pop songs - like the Rhea Sylvia stuff we did - but a heavier version of that. Rhea Sylvia was all stuff Matt [Thudium] wrote, and Andy wrote 75% of Umbilical.
In contrast to the brighter tones of Rhea Sylvia, Umbilical envelops listeners in a bleaker, predominantly dissonant atmosphere, broken only by sporadic respites, like the closing guitar riff in 'House of Ideas'. “That outro, Michael Berdan [from the band Uniform] wrote. We and James Whitten [who produced Umbilical] had been working on a secret studio Thou record. It was going to be an industrial / electronic / experimental sort of record - I’m not sure what it is now - but I received pieces from other people, and Michael sent me a bunch of that material. One of those ideas, we basically straightened out into the outro for ‘House of Ideas’.
Even the seemingly innocuous moments are imbued with a tormented quality. The lyrics to ‘I Feel Nothing When You Cry’ are akin to a meditative mantra, where the narrator recites phrases connected to the concept of equanimity. However, the more that these affirmations are repeated, the less compelling they become, as if the person is trying to convince themselves of something they don’t inherently believe. “That is a perfect analysis! I wrote it in the mindset of a person trying to detach themselves from harsh situations, but with the idea that detaching yourself like that is not necessarily a good thing. That main line - “I am a rock, in a sea of chaos. I am impervious”- it’s from a Law-and-Order episode of people who are mixed up in a cult thing, so it’s a rip on that. I wanted to have our own little posi-core, youth-crew style song, over a light Smashing Pumpkins riff.”
Studio work for Umbilical was entrusted to James Whitten, who is no stranger to Thou’s creative process. Having collaborated with the band extensively in the past, Whitten assumed the role of encouraging artistic expression, rather than dictating creative direction. “We essentially act as the producers. James Whitten - who records all our stuff - will chime in with ideas, but he’s not one to push you in a direction. He’s more concerned with capturing what we want to sound like.” Whitten is intimately attuned to what Thou want to achieve sonically and is capable of preemptively realising that vision. “James’ thumbprint is on the mixing. By the time we get to the end of recording, there is a rough mix, but it is nowhere near to what he does with it eventually. He really goes to town on it and makes a lot of adjustments. Usually, his initial mix isn't too far off from what we were trying to get at; it just requires minor tweaks from there.”
To support the release of Umbilical, Thou will be touring Australia for the first time this August, alongside grindcore outfit, Full of Hell. The fact that many Aussie fans will have never seen the band perform live, won’t influence the setlist choices, says Funck. “We’ve basically just been playing Umbilical stuff for the last handful of months. And part of that is because of the way we practice, and how getting together is not easy. We wanted to keep the songs fresh, and we’ve also been really excited to play this stuff. So, I think we’ll probably know all of Umbilical, and we’ll probably try and figure out 5-10 older songs, likely stuff that is roughly in the same vein. But we always go back and forth on this.”
“Why - is there something you wanted to hear, something specific?” Since he was offering, WoS suggested something obscure that would appeal to longtime fans, like a deep cut from one of their split releases or EPs. Commenting on the sheer breadth of Thou’s back catalogue, Funck playfully added: “Is it too much, have we gone too far? Definitely not; if anything, it keeps us engaged. “Thank you man! You know on our Bandcamp, there’s that Hightower compilation, all the old stuff that we re-recorded. We will probably know most, if not all of those, and then probably one track off The Body collab that we just play without them. And there will probably be a couple of other things as well. It depends - we have 3 days of practice between the local tour we’re playing, and when we leave for Australia. So, I guess it’s whatever we can figure out in those 3 days.”
Here at WoS HQ, we wait in eager anticipation!
Interview by Alexander Burgess @alexburgessmusic
Tickets on sale now via United Front Touring
Full Of Hell & Thou - ‘Why, God, Why’ Australian Tour
Wednesday August 14th BRISBANE - The Brightside
Thursday August 15th SYDNEY - Mary’s Underground
Friday August 16th CANBERRA - The Baso
Saturday August 17th MELBOURNE - Stay Gold - SOLD OUT
Sunday August 18th ADELAIDE - Crown & Anchor
Monday August 19th MELBOURNE - Stay Gold
Wednesday August 21st HOBART - Altar
