Drowse

Cold Air: "Why am I afraid of my own thoughts?" After a severe mental breakdown, Kyle Bates of Portland OR's Drowse was prescribed a plethora of antipsychotic drugs to subdue his paranoia and suicidal ideation. Several unmedicated years later Bates’ anxiety began to resurface, and he turned to Klonopin and alcohol to blanket the intrusive thoughts. It was during this time that Bates wrote and recorded Drowse's second full-length album, Cold Air. Marked by fanatical self-exploration and expansive detuned instrumentation, Cold Air is the project's first release for The Flenser. Drowse is a peek inside the mind of Kyle Bates, the band's only full time member. Cold Air was painstakingly recorded over nine months in Bates’ home. The house itself appears several times on the album in the form of field recordings and background occurrences. Although Bates himself is a secular person, his lyrics were influenced by the religious writings of Anne Carson and Karl Ove Knausgaard, whose ruminations on death correlated with his own. Cold Air is an album that frames big picture ideas within intimate, often shame-ridden experiences: a nose broken while blackout drunk, a seizure followed by feverish hallucinations, a father’s stroke, the death of a close friend. Cold Air is the sound of the uncertainty beneath our lives surfacing. The shimmering dissonance with hints of slowcore, post-punk, ambient and shoegaze that characterizes Cold Air will appeal to fans of Mount Eerie, Planning for Burial, and Have a Nice Life. Many of these songs feature vocals from the band's creative partner Maya Stoner. Drowse is a complex and layered project set apart by its raw ambition. credits Memory Bed EP: Drowse is the work of Portland, OR artist Kyle Bates. In December 2013 Drowse released debut EP songs to sleep on followed by full length soon asleep in June 2015. ‘songs’ is an anesthetic sound space where Bates’ explores his mental break and subsequent near-suicide; soon asleep translates the effects of related prescription drug use into sound. drowse also co-wrote two songs on Miserable's "Uncontrollable" LP ("Stay Cold" and "Salt Water"). New EP memory bed was largely written and recorded using one microphone, a laptop and an acoustic guitar during a Summer spent working in Zamora, Spain. While traveling, Bates found himself returning to the dark sounds from around his home for inspiration--music of the Pacific Northwest such as Grouper, Mount Eerie, Velvet Cacoon, and Unwound. Organs and synths ooze from crackling guitars, noise groans in the distance and swallows voices; the sound mirrors the feeling of wandering unfamiliar landscapes. 'Memory Bed' plays with themes of detachment and memory and their relationship to the "self" from the perspective of someone who has suffered dissociative experiences. Heavily influenced by writers like Roland Barthes and Sarah Manguso, Drowse works with ideas of “the self as text”, “making the personal public” and allowing space for a paradox to create new meaning. Maya Stoner of Portland band Sabonis lends her voice to every song and contributes lyrics to “memory”. Her lyrics reflect on experiences with Bates; these lyrics are refracted in the song “break”. “i” continues to explore the topic with the intent of all Drowse recordings: to reach beneath meaning through sound. Soon Asleep: drowse is the musical pseudonym of Kyle Bates; a Portland, OR based musician who has spent time in various noise rock and metal bands. drowse crafts introverted and cloud covered songscapes inspired by a diverse range of artists such as Duster, Mount Eerie, Slowdive, Weakling, Oneohtrix Point Never and Grouper. drowse released his narcotic debut EP songs to sleep on in December 2013 with a sound to celebrating dark music in all its forms. songs to sleep on was accompanied by a graphic memoir titled 'A Little Pink Pill...' detailing Bates' near-suicide and subsequent year of medication. soon asleep is drowse's 6-song next development, placing a greater focus on songwriting, the album translates the woozy affects of prescription drugs into sound. The recordings capture processed guitars and synthesizers swallowing each other, detuned, fading drums, wolves, bottles, and kids vying for auditory space and Bates' voice (amongst others) suspended atop it all, whispering in your ear. The haze is alive and it wants to overtake you. soon asleep addresses forms of self-imposed seclusion, absurd rumination, and the spaces in between dreams and life. The album is accompanied by a short memoir titled 'Mnemonic' which expands the narrative of 'A Little Pink Pill...', but does not serve as its conclusion. Bates' textual work exists as another wormhole into the nightmarish yet lucid realm from where drowse's sonic reflections prevail, swarm and overtake. Songs to Sleep On EP: This recording is dedicated to Miles Avila-Crump Rest In Peace 1993-2013. Processed Guitar/Gray Pop. Music I write and record at home. Some sounds recorded in the woods/around the city. https://drowse.bandcamp.com