In expectation of the unexpected - EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY

25. April 2016

Explosions In The Sky

In expectation of the unexpected - EXPLOSIONS IN THE SKY

In the beginning there was this one moment, which can be decisive for the future of a band: In 2004 the musician, composer and producer Brian Reitzell, a true jack-of-all-trades, became aware of the troupe from Austin, Texas and engaged them in his function as music supervisor to write the soundtrack for the film "Friday Night Lights". So far, so good. Two years later it became a very successful TV series, in which the music of Explosions In The Sky was used again and again - the ticket to US television, because since then the songs of the band have been used there again and again. This success did not detract from their creativity, as their dynamic sound is by no means subject to commercial considerations. "It even helps us to value our songs even more," guitarist Munaf Rayani reveals. "When you put music over pictures, new levels of meaning open up for the songs I haven't seen before."

On their new album "The Wilderness" the post-rock band has now made a cautious style change. "It was about a search - the search for something new, something different, something within us, something outside of us," Rayani explains. A little reluctantly the band decided to try electronic sounds: "We want to keep our music 'human' and were afraid for a long time to become an electronic band once we started. But when we recorded 'The Wilderness' we wondered what it would be like to interact with all these new technologies. And not sound like robots."

In the meanwhile 17 years of their career it has always been one of the band's goals to get involved with new and unpredictable things. There is no plot, nothing planned in their band history, Rayani reveals, and this is also reflected in their songs. This unorthodox open approach ultimately led to "The Wilderness": "On the penultimate day of studio time, we were devastated because we knew it was not going to happen, we just didn't like the record. When we were depressed in the studio the next day, we only tried a few small things, let some ideas flow in, changed things, nothing big. And suddenly after only three hours we had an album that we all loved! That's it."

More about the band
www.explosionsinthesky.com
www.facebook.com/ExplosionsInTheSkyMusic

* * Sascha Seiler