Cult gig of the month - October: Glisten Trick, Gullivers, Manchester.
Formed by musician and songwriter Glasán Ghost, Glisten Trick are a six-piece band of musicians from across multiple genres, such as neo-psyche, cult drone and garage; their lineup spreads across continents as well. In fact, it’s pretty hard to pinpoint exactly where Glisten Trick exist in the musical landscape, but maybe that's the whole point. Cult Manchester's Jools Taylor (editor of @the_setlist24) talked with the band’s mastermind Glasán - top left in the gallery below - in the lead up to Glisten Tricks' headline gig at Gullivers in the Northern Quarter.
Cult Manchester: You've said that one of your favourite albums currently is Townes Van Zandt's live album Rear View Mirror. As a lover of live albums myself, I'm curious what you prefer to listen to, live or studio recordings? And why?
Glasán Ghost: Rear View Mirror is just great. It’s raw, and beautiful and on the edge of breaking down. I just love that about it. The strings are so beautiful as well, so on point with the broken heartedness of Townes’ performance. In general, that’s why I listen to more live recordings than anything else. You find that real stuff in them.
CM: I love the cover artwork for your singles as well as the one for your ‘SCUM’ Spotify playlist - do you make these yourself?
Glasán: Yeah, I’ve done most of it. The ‘Worn Thin’ [single] cover is a photo I took of our bass player Shay. I’m keen to keep away from all the traditional psych type feel in terms of artwork. But, I mean, we’re really not a psych band in the sense that that genre has been defined of late. I’m interested in writing great songs, not fencing myself in artistically, be that with the songs themselves or with the artwork.
CM: Were the songs tou’ve released so far recorded before you put a live band together? And if so, how was the process of translating these songs from a recording to a live performance with a newly formed band?
Glasán: Yeah, most of the songs we’ve released so far were done before I got the other band members involved. We’re trying to collaborate more now, though. I’m still writing the songs, but bringing the others in when I can. We’re all spread out across the country so it’s not straight forward, but we’re all playing on ‘Worn Thin’, and there’s a ton more music on the way that the whole band are on. Bringing those songs to life with the band was special. The live setting is where they live and breathe and take on new meaning.
Getting those early songs done was rough - recording them was a real labour. I almost had to learn to play again and write again after being so close to dying for a couple of years. Then I had a whole big drama with the stems [pre-mix recordings], and it rocked me for a minute there. But in the end, it pushed me on, because fuck them trying kill my art.
As I say, I nearly died a few times in the couple years prior to getting them down. At the time I recorded the first bunch of songs, I was intent on getting them down and putting something out into the world that I felt was beautiful before I shuffled off this mortal coil. All during the recording process I wasn’t sure I was going be here to get a band together. Turned out music saves, at least for now.
CM: You mentioned twice about these terrible experiences, do you mind me asking what they were?
Glasán: Ah, that’s something I’m not gunna go too deep into. I’ll just say, that at least for now I’m in a better place. It was serious enough to shape my artistic output, though. It’s difficult to describe, but I feel like I can now put myself into the place, and though I’m a stranger there, I’m able to bring something back.
CM: As you said earlier, there's a ton of new music on the way. So far on Spotify, you've got six singles - are some of these all part of what may be a much bigger, full-length project? Or do you believe they belong as their own individual entities?
Glasán: We have an EP on the way called ‘CRUISE’ which was due to be released right around now. But we’ve put the release on hold for now - there’s some cool behind-the-scenes stuff going on. Hopefully it’ll be out soon. We do have some pre-release kinda under-the table-copies though that we’re selling on this tour. We’ll probably get shit for doing so, but gotta pay the bills, right?
Glisten Trick will be playing to Gulliver's, 109 Oldham Street, Manchester on the 8 October this month as a stop on their UK tour. They’ll also be joined by support acts Rosenberg, I Kill Video and Marvin’s Revenge. Tickets available here.
While you wait for the show, check out the music video for their track ‘NO COMEDOWN’.
