New Album OF(F) COURSE out 1 Dec.
After one year of constant work on their debut album OF(F) COURSE, it appears that SINEDRIFTER has just announced its release. Inspiration for the music and album art came from many directions, which partly influenced the 9-track collection’s title. OF(F) COURSE takes the listener in many directions, and its best to allow oneself to drift from track to track.
“I remember listening to David Bowie’s Low LP for the first time and thinking, ‘As if I needed another reason to love him and his work… he just combined rock with ambient on one album,’ says Cam Arjent, founding member of SINEDRIFTER. With their new album OF(F) COURSE, Arjent combines different musical styles for a multidimensional listening experience. From 80’s-inspired synth sounds and indie-esque vocals, to distorted ambient passages and moody pieces that could form the soundtrack of a modern film noir experiment, OF(F) COURSE takes a post-punk and indie pop/rock sound towards the ambient and avant-garde.
“During the opening – to borrow a chess term – when I was choosing my synths and instruments, and trying out a few lyrical ideas and programming different synth patches, I had a vision of how the album would feel; yet, at one point, I felt like I was going completely off course. The album started going its own way,” explains Arjent. “That’s when the title occurred to me, and considering where I am in my life – I feel like I just turned off the main road and there’s all this dust going up as I drive towards a vast, distant, sandy expanse – and how ‘off course’ 2020 has been, in a sense, and it was an apt monicker. It was the perfect title. Of course I’d do something like this!” To Arjent, the creative process is organic, and seeing the project take on a life of its own is essential. “It’s the album’s quickening. That’s when art becomes animated… that’s when it is born. One can channel it and direct it, and we must know when to get out of its way.”
As for the album art, inspiration also came from various directions. Some of Arjent’s favorite abstract artists from the 20th century were on his mind as he worked on the album cover on Adobe Illustrator. “The primary colors are where it all begins. OF(F) COURSE is where it all begins for SINEDRIFTER. In Mondrian’s case, his closed geometrical figures always seemed to be perfectly contained in the frame, and only so often intruded on each other. When I thought of how so much of life right now in the COVID-era has broken containment, and how my own creativity and outlook on life has also broken the frame, the lines started appearing on my screen. They went in all directions, in varying depths, cutting through the most basic elements of my own reality. Then, those lines became roads… runways… airfields. It’s a positive experiment, and like Rothko, I see both the front and back panels of the album cover as living beings, and I want the viewer to feel a mood when they see both pieces. To hear both images is to listen to all 9 tracks of the album.”
SINEDRIFTER is excited about the upcoming release, and they are preparing now for performing live in 2021. “A few intimate venues would be a great way to share OF(F) COURSE with an audience. Along with the actual performance, having a conversation with someone who listened and cared to talk at the end of the show is the best part, for me. It’s an opportunity to meet someone new, and I have always loved interacting with people and getting to know them. After a show, to me, is a perfect time to hear a new name.”
OF(F) COURSE by SINEDRIFTER will be available on sinedrifter.com starting 1 December 2020, with streaming services following shortly thereafter.