Brooklyn-born band Effi Briest bring together loud psychedelic sharpness with gothic undertones. Ever wondered what was the sound of six persons forcing you into trance-state? Wonder no more.

I think it’s mandatory that every article about Effi Briest mentions that their name comes from Theodor Fontane’s novel. I wish I could add a quick remark about it, but having read Anna Karenina, Madame Bovary and La Regenta, I thought I had my quota of nineteenth-century adulterous novels completely covered and, thus, never touched Fontane’s book. Anyways, the intellectual references don’t end with the name-dropping of German literature classics but also cross over to French philosophy and the use of palindromes. They aren’t gratuitous either, as they compliment the music with their evocative power. Corinne Jones (drummer) explains it better: “There is intention behind my choice of words, but the titles and lyrics go hand in hand with the sound, in an evocative sense - in the way that the music is layered and points in different directions so do the words. The naming of things is not meant to explain the sound or give it a context outside of the music.”

Speaking about the music, by now you should be familiar with their heavy bass, psychedelic structure and howling vocals. Even though their album premiered last year, they’ve been around for a while. The legend goes that there used to be twelve people on the band, but now they are just half as much. And even though you would expect the numbers to add up to the accumulating noise, this rarely happens, allowing the sounds to turn and change, instead. It all ends up sounding like a ritual gone feral, giving you goose bumps as they plunge you into their fiery waves.

Right now, they are looking forwards to their next album and to do some touring. I leave you to the interview wih Corinne, who speaks about a little bit more about literature and a lot more about the band.

Speaking about that, why Effi Briest? Was it something that had to do with adultery tragedies, female point of view or gothic themes?

I like the idea of giving Effi, the character, an alternate ending to her demise just by re-appropriating the name. Our lives are an obvious contrast to the life of the fictional character. I think there are residual societal conflicts from past history that are still with us today, so yes, the name comes from my feminist point of view - but not from a desire to align with any literary conventions. Also, I thought it sounded cool.

I read in an interview, recently, that you had some, let's say, trouble (probably not the word, but you get the idea) with the clichés from male-dominated music industry. Like people refering to you as witches or a girl-band. How do you feel this has affected the band? (Would be cool if you were witches, though)

It's kind of funny because it happens more often that people ask us if we encounter sexism in the industry than we actually do encounter sexism in the industry. It's a safe assumption so I understand why interviewers want to draw it out, but we've had a lot more support than we've had "trouble". (And I won't disclose who if any of us is in fact a witch, ha.)

What most of you seem to have in common, though, is an artistic background. How do you feel have the different disciplines enhanced the band?

Something dynamic happens when people who are really independently motivated come together and work on something outside of their singular vision. The collaboration takes on a multifaceted shape that is reinforced by our individual beliefs somehow.  Aside from being a motivated bunch, I think the other disciplines just give us more to talk about.

How was it starting and developing this projects with friends?

Yes, we were all friends or friends of friends… it's great, we were already sharing ideas and that just keeps developing.

And now that we're on the subject, how does the writing process usually go with six people on the band?

We generally write our own parts and play them a lot to figure out what works and what doesn't. If someone brings in a song we are open to that too, but that's rare.

It has been a while since your initial debut to the release of the album. How did you live through those changes and especially now, that the album has been out for a while?

Well, we weren't able to tour like we hoped so we turned that energy around and focused on writing a mess of new material.

About live shows, how's the public reaction to the band?

It's curious to me that we've had so much positive interest because I know we're not everyone's cup of tea. But, when you're working hard to put something across and people get into it, of course that's the best. I can't really see a trend though.

EFFI BRIEST - LONG SHADOW (OFFICIAL VIDEO) from HOLY COW COLLECTIVE on Vimeo.

Last couple of questions: I read that Shaw (guitar) is a filmmaker. Did she had anything to do with the videos? Where does their imagery come from?

Sara Shaw is indeed a filmmaker. She and the rest of us worked with directors Brandon LaGanke and Trevor Bittinger to develop the video for Long Shadow. The narrative was conceived by the directors. I think their imagery came from the pace of the song. It's kind of a running in slow motion pace. They were great to let us see the video at different stages and listen to our feedback. I really love the humor in that video. You might miss it if you're looking for something else...

Mak Kern did the video for our first single, Mirror Rim. She is a friend and we knew we could trust her to make something awesome.

And, finally: what are your plans for next year?

Put out a second album and tour!!

Text by Oscar Gomez Poviña @ VNFOLD