Upon hearing Freak Heat Waves’ new album Bonnie’s State of Mind, it’s hard not to assume that they spend most of their time lurking in Berlin disco dive-bars, circa 1982.
In reality, the trio reside in Victoria, a city known for its beauty, nature and relaxed anglo charm, making the kraut-rock Freaks one of the most ambiguous bands the West Coast has seen.
We chatted with Stephen Lind of the band to find out who Bonnie is, and, you know, what is her state of mind?
“That title came from a Contortions tape I bought at Value Village here, and someone had scribbled inside the tape ‘Bonnie’s state of mind,’” says Lind. “Who is this person? So we started using ‘Bonnie’s state of mind’ as a slang, like an in-joke [between] us.”
Bonnie is the trio’s sophomore record, following their 2012 self-titled debut (produced by the late, great Christopher Reimer of Calgary art-rock band Women). It explores their signature kraut-rock beats, icy synthesizers and post-punk guitars, compliments of Scott “Monty” Monroe of Viet Cong, their occasional tour mates.
Widely influenced by the band’s strengthened musicality after years of extensive touring, they spent the better part of eight months recording the album on Pender Island, as well as a couple days in Medicine Hat. While production credit is shared with Monroe and Calgary’s Arran Fisher, the Freaks found themselves taking on a more experimental, hands-on approach.
“The biggest change for this record is that we had more of our own studio to work with. We spent more time writing songs in the studio, which we didn’t really do on the first record that much.”
The isolation of being sequestered on their Gulf Island compound allowed the band complete creative freedom to explore their own sound, which may explain why their music is completely free of geographical labelling. Each experimental noise they’d make was a direct channel to Bonnie’s state of mind, “creating a weird soundtrack to this mystery person.”
The instrumental songs have a smokey sway, à la Vangelis’ soundtrack to Bladerunner (“Sinking in a Pale Cloud”) while others take a more John Foxx-like monotonous approach to abstract lyricism (“Design of Success”).
“Lyrically each song is kind of taking on a different subject matter but it’s all part of the same scope, creating one kind of world,” says Lind. “There’s definitely a theme to it, but nothing too concrete. It’s like a window into the reality that we are trying to comment on or create. It’s more involved for the listener to not be getting told just one thing, [but questioning it]. It’s interactive.”
This listener-first attitude translates into their live shows, which are surprisingly synthesizer-free.
“When we tour we just perform as a three piece- guitar, bass and drums, and reinterpret our songs into that format,” says Lind. “We’ve played around with live loops and synths before so we could end up doing it again, but we generally prefer to play as a rock band. That’s the most fun thing for us to do.”
Freak Heat Waves create their own reality, so while we are busy trying to figure out why they sound European, or how they don’t perform with synthesizers live (I had to ask Lind three times in disbelief), they are already a step ahead of us, building their next masterpiece and leaving us in a state of over-analytical wonder.
“We are already back in the studio right now working on new stuff,” Lind explains. “We’re doing the same thing where anything goes, and throwing a lot of ideas out there, recording as much as we can, and we’ll get to a point where we know what its gonna be.”
Bonnie’s State of Mind, where everything goes and whatever happens, happens. West Coast influence: identified.
• Hockey Dad Records presents Freak Heat Waves release party at Fox Cabaret, Saturday Feb. 7, 8pm with Dada Plan, Woolworm, Wet Face and DJs.
