Jammerzine has an exclusive interview with We Contain Multitudes’ Jon Fine as their new album ‘Minako’ drops today via Expert Work Records. ‘Minako’ (mih-NAH-ko) is a name that means ‘beautiful child’ in Japanese.

‘Minako’ is an album that inspires by simply being. Think amazing jam session magically recorded in just the right way. While officially, the album and the band are classified as Math-rock and psychedelic rock, that feels more like labels for online placement. ‘Minako’ feels like a ride. Something you experience while you listen. So much between the lines. Keeping in mind that this is an instrumental album, that leaves everything to interpretation. And that is the point of ‘Minako’. The meaning behind the music is for you, and the music from the mind is the magic. This is what a great album does. It infuses itself into your being and becomes a part of you long after that first listen.

In this interview, we talk with Jon about everything that went into ‘Minako’ within and throughout the creative process and how a band as creative as We Contain Multitudes remains far outside of the box.

About ‘Minako’

Anyway. Simon met Jon and Orestes when smallgang opened for Bitch Magnet in London in 2011. When Jon and Orestes first discussed forming We Contain Multitudes, they immediately thought of recruiting Simon to play bass, largely because he is a much better guitarist than Jon.

‘Minako’ is at least partly named for the city pop vocalist Minako Yoshida. (Simon, whose father is Japanese, came up with it.)

“It took us a long time to finish the songs on this album,” admits Jon. “If I’d had to write lyrics, we wouldn’t have finished this record until 2030, at least, and Expert Work would be even more disappointed with us than they already are.”

He continues, more seriously this time: “It was a great gift to be able to build these songs for years, clandestinely and invisibly. It feels like we’ve been keeping a secret from everyone, and we’re so fucking psyched to share it—finally!—with the world.”

We Contain Multitudes’ music is heavy and intricate. At times, Minako goes far deeper into psychedelic, repetitive, and minimal/maximalist realms than anything these guys’ prior bands have done. Discussing the opening single, ‘Can We Just Not ?’, Jon Fine explains: “You would not believe how many guitar tracks—and how many different guitars—are on “Can We Just Not?”” says Jon about the point of entry for We Contain Multitudes. “Abe Seiferth, who mixed and produced it with us, did an unbelievable job in making it all cohere. The groove that Simon and Orestes came up with kills me—and, God, I love that ending so much.”

The band assembles its songs via a long and painstaking process. Often, though not always, it starts with riffs and parts Jon comes up with. These are shared via the usual long-distance and digital means. Sometimes Jon assembles such riffs into rough drafts of a song, which tend to get substantially reworked (and vastly improved) when the band gathers for intensive stretches of rehearsals. Also, Simon has an annoying knack of casually showing up with excellent bass riffs—or coming up with them on the spot; please, someone, explain to us how this happens—like the one in “We Are All Fucked,” which the band then fashions into songs. And Orestes is always sending Jon and Simon beats to work from.

About We Contain Multitudes

Jon and Orestes first played in a band together in–oh Jesus–1987, when they were both attending Oberlin College. That band was Bitch Magnet, which rapidly became one of the signal underground American bands of its era. Bitch Magnet ultimately released three albums and toured the US and Europe extensively before splitting up in late 1990. Their records were reissued by Temporary Residence in 2011, and Bitch Magnet reunited to tour Europe, Asia, and the US in 2011 and 2012.

After Bitch Magnet, Orestes played in God Rifle, Bored Spies and Walt Mink. Jon formed Vineland and Coptic Light and was a touring guitarist for Don Caballero. At one point, SPIN magazine named Orestes the 50th-best drummer in Alternative Rock, a placement so low that Jon is still pissed off about it.

Jon is also the author of the punk rock memoir Your Band Sucks, which Penguin published in 2015. It won critical acclaim in outlets ranging from The New York Times to Men’s Journal to the Boston Globe to The Atlantic to the Philippine Star. Your Band Sucks concludes with Jon deciding to retire from music after Bitch Magnet’s reunion tours, and to not pursue a new band he’d been discussing with Orestes. (Evidently, Jon changed his mind.)

Simon lives in the UK in London, where he played in smallgang and Splintered Man, and where he continues to play bass in Hurtling. His solo album ‘Infinite Sided Die’ came out in 2020.

LINKS:
https://www.instagram.com/wecontainmultitudesband/
https://expertworkrecords.bandcamp.com/