Losing a band member could’ve easily prompted Slothrust to simplify. Instead, guitarist/vocalist Leah Wellbaum and drummer/multi-instrumentalist Will Gorin saw their new stripped-back configuration as permission to get considerably more adventurous. What They Grow In The Garden (Equal Vision) is Slothrust’s sixth album in 14 years and its first as a duo. It’s also the Los Angeles-based outfit’s most stylistically restless.
Produced by the band with Jordan Witzigreuter (Ready Set), the 12-song collection is dubbed “dystopian theatre rock” for good reason. A lifelong musical-theater enthusiast, Wellbaum drew inspiration from Sweeney Todd and even The Little Mermaid, while longtime collaborator and pianist Willy Beaman helped steer some of the LP’s earliest material toward more flamboyant terrain. But Slothrust’s heavy grunge foundation remains. Although 2021’s Parallel Timeline saw the group headed in a hookier, synth-heavy direction, What They Grow’s grand arrangements, stacked harmonies and stylistic detours mostly serve to steer the music in more aggressive directions.
While on the road touring behind the new LP, Wellbaum found some time between shows to knock out some nifty answers to questions from MAGNET’s Hobart Rowland.
This is the first album you’ve officially made as a duo, and it really is your biggest, most ambitious release so far. How did the two-piece format offer more freedom to challenge assumptions about what Slothrust is supposed to sound like?
Will and I are both multi-instrumentalists who love a lot of different genres. He played all the bass you hear on this album, and it’s been really fun to see him step into that creative role. We’re both people who desire variety, expansion and collaboration, so it’s been delightful to really push into different creative corners and see what shows up.
Was “dystopian theatre rock” something you arrived at after hearing the finished album, or did it guide the recording process?
It guided the process. We wrote some of the earliest cuts from the album with our friend Willy Beaman. He’s a virtuosic pianist and plays for a lot of Broadway folks. It felt natural for us to go there with him.
The album contends (rightly so) that it’s impossible to completely escape complicity while still arguing for personal agency. Where do you think meaningful self-liberation begins when opting out of these larger systems isn’t realistically possible?
The first step to self-liberation is a desire to see yourself clearly, even when it’s uncomfortable and even when we don’t like what we see. Once we can be completely honest and dedicate ourselves to leaving states of self-deception, there are opportunities to identify core truths and desires. In integrating our true nature and shadow, we can lean into what really lights us up and sets us free.
“00101001” reduces its title to binary code, while “Ring The Bell” comes from an older, more physical vocabulary. How does that collision between the technological and the elemental drive the larger themes running through the album?
I like that you use the word “elemental” here because I, and all humans, are obsessed with the elements. They contain all the secrets of the universe, and if we can balance them accordingly, that’s where we can find our authentic peace. Historically, I’ve leaned toward writing lyrics that felt personally psychological and timeless. On this album, I tried to write from the perspective of the collective to the collective and challenged myself to be more specific and less abstract.
Musically, you move from the grunge-inspired “The Lake” directly into something as grand-scale as the harmony-heavy waltz “Dystopian Cemetery.” At this point, are these abrupt shifts a necessary part of what propels Slothrust forward?
Absolutely. Our goal has always been to create diverse work that tells a story, even though we know certain songs will split the room. We’ve heard that one of the challenging things about marketing this project is that the songs within the same album can sound really different. I think it takes a unique type of listener to be able to embrace all the material at once, but the diversity is intrinsic to the type of art we feel passionate about creating and performing with this project. We’d both grow weary of writing and performing the same type of song over and over. The range is crucial to our growth and passion retention.
What did Jordan Witzigreuter contribute that helped make those different worlds feel like parts of the same album?
Jordan has such a unique and precise ear. He takes a very different approach to production than anyone else we have ever worked with. There are lots of sonic Easter eggs buried in this music that are felt more than heard. He’s clever and incredibly intentional in all things he does musically. We’re super grateful for the creative and playful ways he ornamented, elevated and expanded this collection.
Now that you’re on the road with this thing, how literally should we take the “theater” part?
You’ll have to come to a show to find out. I will say this: We love to delight and surprise our audiences and are so grateful to have such a curious and open-minded fanbase.
See Slothrust live.
