“And there’s always a prejudgment based on your appearance,” adds Hindman without skipping a beat. “When we first started we wanted to get rid of all of that so you had to just visualize the music in the purest form we could think of.”
Their website does a good job of keeping the mystery infused in their music alive, with background scenes that look as though they could’ve been harvested from the cutting room floor of Led Zeppelin’s classic, “The Song Remains the Same,” and perhaps most fitting, the lack of any kind of bio on either artist.
But with the release of their self-produced debut album (out on Dummy Records in North America and on Brille Records in the U.K.) the pair has dropped their media filter and become much more open when it comes to speaking about their personal lives.
Trappes talks about her love of searching out vintage clothing: “When I was a kid, when I would see ten people wearing what I was, I’d change … I’m still like that. It’s always been a relatively important form of self expression for me … another avenue of creativity.”
Hindman is happy to relay stories about the record runs to Pittsburg he and his older brother used to make: “We didn’t have much money so we had to buy 7-inches, which is cool now, and I still have them.”
The more you speak with the band that promoted the self-produced Voluspa album by giving away 20 stars – actual celestial spheres of burning gas – the more you understand that there’s no great secrecy behind the mystery-loving band, just an invitation to view the world from an altered perspective.
Within that framework, you can either view the union of an Australian from Lismore, New South Wales, who had been working out of Bahrain as a flight attendant, and an American from Ohio who studied photography, taught himself to play guitar upside-down (à la Jimmy Hendrix) and was trying to make multi-track recordings on his older brother’s double cassette deck at 11-years-old, simply as a chance event, or something else.
What’s certain is both knew they’d eventually be doing exactly what they’re doing now.
“I always wanted to be on stage, ever since I was a little girl,” says Trappes. And now that she is: “It’s like stepping out onto another platform of reality.”
The duo will be touring North America throughout June before heading across the pond.
“After our time on the road in North America we head over to Europe and the U.K., we’re hoping to tour Australia this year as well, and throughout we’ll be writing our second album when we can, and putting together a photo book. Hopefully next year we’ll have a new album and it can start all over again,” says Hindman, his voice a mixture of excitement and nervousness.
And in spite of the album’s mixed reviews – or perhaps because of them – the pair has no plans on climbing out of their rabbit hole for the sake of the industry.
“There’s something that happens to bands, which is all of a sudden, if you make a song that the world gravitates to, the industry comes to you and then it’s like they let you know of their presence, one way or another,” says Hindman. “And then you’re very aware of how the industry is listening to you and how the labels want to sign you, managers want to manage you, and everyone wants something … There’s definitely a pull to make music for the industry itself and we tried to resist it.”
Fashion Editor: Gabrielle Swan
Stylist: Nikki Fontanella
Makeup: Eryn Lefkowitz
Hair: Jamie Meiers
