Issue 34: Bambara
Welcome to The Band Bible! I’m truly glad to have you here. If you’re a new reader, purpose of this newsletter is to address, break down, and shine a light on the business of being in a band. Each issue, we do this by interviewing (and celebrating!) someone who is making waves through their incredible work with or for artists, or is an artist themselves. Learning the business of being in a band is something that is often inaccessible or shrouded in mystery, and it shouldn’t be, so I hope The Band Bible is able to play even a small role in helping to change that.
Most of the time, pieces like this come out near the end of an album’s release cycle: The lead singles have all been dropped, the reviews have been written, and artist interviews are conducted through a retrospective lens.
Today, though, we look forward.
Among the many reasons it’s a delight to announce Bambara as the latest interviewees is because they’re currently in the midst of a beginning. The trio (composed of Reid Bateh, Blaze Bateh, and William Brookshire) are on the verge of releasing Birthmarks, their fifth album. It’s early in the process — lead single “Pray to Me” was only released on November 25th. The album itself, which is being released via Wharf Cat and Bella Union, won’t be out until March 14th. That said, the interview you’re about to read captures Bambara in the prologue of the Birthmarks story, one that is certain to become an epic tale once the world is able to hear the album.
Beguiling and blistering, Birthmarks is a fantastic achievement in storytelling. An auditory noir, it contains a riveting narrative arc with characters whom we get to know and follow over the course of its ten tracks. We see them through longing, love, loss, envy, fear, and — in some cases — death. The stories of these characters are accompanied by a diverse score that always excels in curating atmosphere. Each track on Birthmarks is sonically distinct, enforcing the feeling that you’re experiencing different chapters within one larger story. That story, by the way, will keep you on your toes. Without spoiling anything, the structure of Mulholland Drive was cited as an influence.
Though Birthmarks unfolds a fictional story, its narrative is underpinned by one of the most raw and painful universals of human life: haunting. Ghosts present themselves in our lives when a sense of connection sustains itself after a chapter has been closed. People and events from months, years, or decades in our past still live among us, sometimes even unbeknownst to us, so long as that sense of connection endures — whether it be formed of joy, pain, confusion, mystery, or utter darkness. These ghosts tie invisible strings between who we are today and the people and things that compile our past. Those strings — those hauntings — can surprise us, gnaw at us, and thrust us into a madness.
This makes “Pray to Me” the strong first glimpse into Birthmarks that it is. Here, we meet two key characters – the one-eyed man and Elena – and witness how the former’s obsession with the latter comes to a deadly head. Against the kind of slick and searing score that Bambara made their mark with, we hear how the one-eyed man has been haunted by his longing and sense of fantasy to the point where infatuation segues into action. Each track on Birthmarks is the kind of song you can see, and “Pray to Me” is of no exception. The level of detail in these character’s stories and their sheer aliveness gives Birthmarks an inherently cinematic quality. You can so clearly imagine the bar the one-eyed man comes to find Elena in, how the characters would move, their facial expressions. “Pray to Me” is not the first chapter in the Birthmarks story – in reality, it falls in the middle of the album, but it shows the listener exactly what they can expect from the rest of Birthmarks: a danger-drenched spectral tale that explores how what we lost, or what we’ll never have, live within us.
Birthmarks is sure to be a watershed moment for Bambara. The album offers a rich and layered listening experience, but it also offers an invitation to lose ourselves in a gritty and glittering world of Bambara’s creation — one that gives us the opportunity to reflect on our own hauntings as we learn those of their characters. A good album is wonderful, but a good album that also encourages the listener investigate within themselves is a lasting gift.
Now, though, it’s time to lose yourself in an interview. Here, Blaze and Reid discuss how the story and characters of Birthmarks were built, what the release day of “Pray to Me” was like, who they’d choose to direct a Birthmarks screen adaptation, and, of course, the commandment they’re leaving in The Band Bible. Enjoy the interview.
How did you come to land on "Pray to Me" as the first taste of Birthmarks to share with the world?
Blaze: We usually leave the single picks up to the labels to decide. It’s kind of impossible for us to step far enough outside of the songs to make a clear-headed decision on something like that. This album is especially tricky bc there is a pretty vast range of songs/moods etc. so boiling it down to a handful would have probably driven us crazy.
At the time of writing, "Pray to Me" dropped a few days ago. What was release day like for you?
Blaze: Honestly I was going on about 6 hours of sleep across the 3 days leading up to release. There was a lot of shit we had to get done beforehand and no matter how prepared we feel before a release, it always ends up being down to the wire. So I was pretty much out cold on release day. But it was nice to wake up to the response that we got from the song. Like coming back from the bathroom at a restaurant and your food is on the table. I might start doing that approach every time now.
You've spoken about taking inspiration from films in the past. So, if the events of Birthmarks were to get a screen adaptation, who would you choose to be the director and cinematographer and why?
Blaze: I’d honestly be stoked to see anyone take a crack at it, but I saw this French movie Titane not too long ago that was incredible. So powerful in many different ways. I haven’t seen her other work yet but my vote would be for Julia Ducournau based off of that movie alone.
How did you go about building the story and characters of Birthmarks? Was there anything that drew you to telling this story now?
Reid: For me, the stories of each record always come from some sort of persistent feeling that I need to express. And for this record, that process manifested as an exploration of the idea of reincarnation in a literal observable sense, and the idea of love lasting beyond life. The characters were (for the most part) amalgamations of the elements of people close to me that I found most cathartic and thematically important to the story of the record. From there I mostly think in images, things that appear along the way and demand detailed depiction. Ideally, the “feeling” should bloom into a world that is visceral and richly populated with characters and images that feel both real and otherworldly, with a narrative that allows the themes to shine through with a subtle but meaningful resonance.
Lastly, which "commandment" would you like to leave behind in The Band Bible?
Blaze: Not sure anyone should be taking advice from me, but one undeniable truth is to make the music you want to make. Not what you think people want you to make. That way, if things don't work out, then you didn’t also lie to yourself. And if they do “work out,” then what could be better? Essentially, don’t think about finding your audience, let your audience find you.
Thank you to Blaze and Reid for taking the time to share such thoughtful answers, and to Tom at Terrorbird Media for orchestrating everything.
To keep up with Bambara, check out their tour dates, and pre-order Birthmarks, click here to visit their website.