AT THE SOUNDAWN

Name: At the Soundawn
Latest release: Red Square: We Come in Waves [2008]
File under: Post-rock/metal

As you can tell by the juxtaposition of the artists I've featured on this blog so far I like music with a range of emotions. So now we come to a genre that gets me hating everybody, especially you - the much maligned genre of "post-metal".

At the Soundawn know how to craft this kind of stuff, thankfully without going on for several minutes too long. The awkwardly titled Red Square: We Come in Waves is a steamroller of melodic guitars, pounding drums and harsh/clean vocals compacted into a half-hour. It's probably nothing you haven't heard before, but it's done really, really well. There's a new album on the way too, this year hopefully.

Q+A

Who are you, where are you from and what is your role in At the Soundawn?
Andrea: "My name is Andrea, I am from Modena (Italy) and I am one of the guitarists."

How would you describe your music? You're one of those bands with no obvious genre...
Andrea: "I would say that our music is heavily emotional and with this I don't mean emo at all! Indeed we try to avoid easy melodies and harmonies, looking for something more personal, something that could have more to say than the usual happily-sad melodies...you know what I am talking about."

I'm sorry for such a dull question but where does you bandname come from? It reminds me of Red Sparowes album "At the Soundless Dawn".
Andrea: "Well actually, our name is taken from that album, but it's not a tribute to Red Sparowes. It's just that we had their CD in our hands when we were thinking about a suitable name for the band. At the Soundawn sounded good and seemed to fit perfectly with the way we conceive music: as an emotional flow, a primitive pulse you cannot oppose to."

You are the kind of band I like to put on when I'm angry. Do you think your music is angry?
Andrea: "I think our music carries many different moods and emotions, but anger is not really among them. I'd rather say that we often get to release a feeling, that can be provided with heavy guitars and yelling vocals. This is the same feeling that I'm looking for, as a listener, when I am angry and I need to cool down with some music."

What other Italian bands should people check out?
Andrea: "Italy has many good bands, often involved in extreme genres...or at least more extreme than us. I would suggest you check out Donkey Breeder (we fucking love them!), Up There: The Clouds, Lento, The Orange Man Theory, Last Minute To Jaffna, Zippo, Three Steps to the Ocean and many more I actually don't remember right now."

Grazie, Andrea.

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