There are ideas that make so much sense that it’s incredible there’s any freshness to the idea in the first place. The history of cinema is laced with ways that jazz and terror can work together (c.f. David Lynch, the trope “Creepy Jazz Music,” etc.), though few artists have wrung as much out of the idea as Mellowdeath. The German duo lace their songs with the kind of harmonic fright that often only exists in nightmares—where things seem a half-step out of the norm. Their stellar self-titled is packed with guest musicians that add layers to each respective song, letting the dread build into almost unbearable levels by the record’s end. The fact that the songs are also wickedly fun and gleefully playful serve to encourage replays and finding the sneaky ways Mellowdeath can make jazz sound so terrifying. The word I keep coming back to is “eerie,” and that resonates with drummer Sara Neidorf:
“It’s great that a dark, sinister, playful mood/tone/vibe comes to you when listening. It’s difficult to say what we ‘wanted’ to do … Things come out intuitively, yet underpinned with an understanding that there’s a sort of Mellowdeath sensibility, a sneakiness, a disorienting funhouse lure. (Bassist) Isabel (Merten) is bringing ideas, riffs, and structures into the rehearsal space, which morph and change into cohesive, dynamic pieces when we work together. It’s important to me that we never stay in too similar of a rhythmic or harmonic terrain. Groove? Yes. Motifs? Sure. But also surprise is of key importance to me.
Horror is central to the Mellowdeath experience, both because of what the duo have gone through and also the other work they champion:
“The conversations that unfold when we rehearse have a lot of influence on how songs get named,” Neidorf says. “It’s no surprise that body horror comes up, because the body is a site of everyday horror when it’s not working properly. We both have our own chronic health issues, and they affect our lives and our creative output. Also, I’m a programmer at a feminist horror film festival (Final Girls Berlin), so these themes are in my life, work, and daily conversations in various ways. The deaths of my mother and grandmother in the past five years are also ever-present for me when making creative work. Warped time, movement, the body in various degrees of sickness, drunkenness/disorientation, hectic rush, age/defiance thereof, and movement/dance are all relevant here. It’s not a concept album, but when I look through the titles, I can see these themes as common threads.”
Such an intuitive duo might not have existed were it not for the twisting of fates, as imposter syndrome haunted the first interaction, as Merten shares:
“I was truly in awe when I watched videos of Sara online and was totally fascinated by Sara’s drumming. I actually didn’t have the courage to get in touch because I unfortunately tend to belittle myself and thought I was just too bad at playing bass. A year later, I met Sara again by chance at a party in Berlin and after that, we made music together for the first time. I was completely electrified after that rehearsal. After, I drove back to my friend’s in Berlin, and my hair stood on end as if I had stuck it in a socket. Never before had anyone really understood my quirky ideas on the bass like Sara did. Because we live so far apart, we rarely get to rehearse. So eight years really doesn’t seem that long.”
Mellowdeath is out Friday, and you can preorder it from Cruel Nature Records. Follow Mellowdeath on Instagram for future updates.
Photo courtesy of Sebastian Gesch
