TAN COLOGNE

It was the Northern New Mexico surroundings that the pair found conducive to capturing the sentiments they were exploring, as well as to absorbing all the healing properties their environment offered. Creating a world within a world, complete with its own sense of safety and personal refuge, a private space the pair could delve into to build their new record was established, as they explain. “Many of our surroundings and life familiarities completely changed during the writing and recording of Unknown Beyond. Recording this new album was an alternate dimension to drop into. It became a healer of sorts, an escape from our human life cycle. The process unfolded and broke forms of what we felt day by day. It was a stream-of-consciousness approach to recording; we did what we felt and went with it. Personal loss of family, friends, and childhood homes all within the same timeline contributed to creating this album to be centered on “what we do not understand or comprehend.” Creating this album felt like a therapeutic outlet for grieving, dealing, shifting, and understanding new horizons of life and ways of being. Far into the spiritual realm.”

Consisting of nine sprawling songs, each track off the Unknown Beyond is incredibly immersive and textural. The slow-moving pace of tracks such as ‘Cool Star’, ‘You Are The Dreamer’, and ‘Cloud of Mirrors’ allows for the mesmerising and intoxicating sonics of Tan Cologne’s luscious soundscapes to deeply soak into one’s consciousness. If the question as to whether it was an intentional desire for the record to be something of a conduit that transports the listener to the space the pair occupied when making the album was something the duo took into consideration upon the inception of the Unknown Beyond, is answered with assuredness. “Yes, definitely. We live a fairly solo and remote life in a remote space, and we write and record ourselves in that space. We take long drives to listen to our demos and mixes, so we’ve sort of created an insular bubble, and in a way, we could see our music being part of someone’s personal entryway to ours. With Unknown Beyond we focused on greater existence – the infinite and unexplainable. We would like people to feel that as they listen.” The connectivity the pair strove toward in designing an album that both speaks to the listener as much as it does to the cosmos was a highwire tightrope balancing act they managed to succeed in through innovation and reflection.

Integrating new techniques and methodologies into their existing repertoire proved to be a key factor in canvassing new material and successfully broaching new topics to explore. In order to achieve their depth-defying sonics that were harnessed throughout Unknown Beyond, a technical shift in the way they approached the record compared to their previous works was required. Chiefly, that took the form of reinvention, as the pair elaborates on by saying, “We found ourselves bending the concepts and familiar instrumentation of previous albums. Unknown Beyond utilizes hints of drum machine, fuzzy textures, abstract live drums, and sounds of searching for signals of comfort and communication from the invisible web. For example, ‘Cloud of Mirrors’ and ‘Spiral Path’ both lean on a drum machine as the percussive foundation for the songs. We have never incorporated a drum machine before and thought it would be an interesting shift in our sound. We decided to move away from any intentional or unintentional “western” styles and let what sounds present themselves happen. Our song ‘Angels’ has a lot of feeling about the angels that protect and guide us through life, and includes fuzzy guitars to elevate the emotion coming through. ‘Open to Communication’ was written lyrically about a mound on fire while simultaneously being communicated with through a radio receiver. We decided to put a heavy warble effect on the vocals to convey this feeling. We wrote, performed, and recorded everything at our home in Northern New Mexico by ourselves. It wasn’t a thought to record anywhere else. We feel this is an integral part of our writing process as well as “sound” and find solitude in recording ourselves.” And when processing such fundamental and philosophical questions about life and other dimensions, solitude is an integral element to process them adequately and weave the resulting thoughts into music.

In discussing some of the subject matter and existential concepts the pair approached in those quiet moments and ultimately throughout the album, they go on to say that the direction this record took was about “Focusing on greater existence, this album is about the infinite and unexplainable. We would like people to feel that as they listen. The album was very present-oriented, dealing with new versions of ourselves and our current world. It became a way to work out our past concepts of reality. Comfort in the infinite and unexplainable. The feeling of trust and surrender. Healing and escape. Coolness.” A point echoed when questioning those moments where there is a complete absence of lyricism and vocals, and the ways they attempted to commune between the ethereal sonic states they were exploring and the tangible outcomes they captured. “I guess we believed there is something subliminal happening. We had a lot of intention as we wrote these songs, but powerfully it’s up to what is perceived by the listener.” Such epic notions and deeply personal feelings towards life and the great unknown will forever remain in the eye of the beholder, but it is always commendable when artists try to address such powerful and existential thoughts through their art. 

Reiterating the outward concept to the album – having explored many other topics on previous records – the vastness, grandeur and unimaginable complexity of life and the universe, are notions that until now the pair hadn’t felt right in tackling but explain by saying, “Together we’re connected through a living conversation exploring origin stories, UFO’s, and ideas of existence – before us, after us, the beyond. We have touched on all of these topics in both macro and micro ways…the moon, the earth, water, ancient and modern building materials, and now, the intangible.”

It has been an underlying principle of Green and Macias’ relationship that has remained most consistent throughout their careers. A force that has continually illuminated their creative paths. “I think we both have to say our personal relationship, our dialogue, what we feel deeply, and what comes through that – as well as producing and recording ourselves and the freedom that allows.” And without that, the possibility of creating such exquisite music would be as elusive as the existential concepts they explore.