Alexis Marshall - House of Lull . House of When

Alexis Marshall is best known as the frontman for Rhode Island’s notorious provocateurs Daughters, whose eight-year hiatus between their posthumous self-titled album and the critically acclaimed comeback album You Won’t Get What You Want found the ever-evolving band explode from down-and-out cult heroes to one of the biggest bands in the nebulous territory where abrasive noise rock fuses with high-art aspirations. For his debut album House of Lull . House of When, Marshall wanted to push that sense of chaos even further, by crafting an album around moments of spontaneity and sonic detritus, where a mistake could become a hook or the whip of a chain could become a beat. “I wanted this record to be a living, breathing entity, flaws and all” Marshall explains of the writing and recording process for the album. Soliciting help from his childhood compatriot Jon Syverson (Daughters), musical colleague Kristin Hayter (Lingua Ignota), and former tour-mate Evan Patterson (Jaye Jayle, Young Widows), Marshall and the band convened at Machines with Magnets studio in Pawtucket, Rhode Island with producer/engineer Seth Manchester. The strategy was to embrace new sounds, employ the element of chance, and capture the creative process in a song format. A marching drum became the kick. Scrap metal served as the cymbals. It was as if the team was attempting to make music from literal scratch, assembling their collages of scrapyard percussion, no-wave guitar abrasion, and piano dirges while Marshall threaded together his poetic diatribes and acidic litanies from stream of consciousness exercises. The experience gave him free rein to paint his picture as he pleases, producing the most bold and exciting work of his career.