Cork alt folk band BOA MORTE to release new album ‘The Total Space’ on 3rd March

The Total Space sees Boa Morte edge deeper into the woods of ambient, drone and synthesised sound with little to guide them but their innate melodic compass and instinct for the unorthodox song.

Deeper, but not too deep. Daniel Presley, the perma-nomadic Texan producer, flew in to safeguard the Boa Morte fundamentals: emotive yet unsentimental vocals; a disquieting ease with space and silence; percussive interventions on drum-shell, tom-rim and cymbal-cup; an abhorrence of rhythm guitar; harmonies that add rather than dilute personality, and a bloody-minded patience when it comes to pacing.

To disrupt the fundamentals, Boa Morte employed several strategies. A more open-ended recording process allowed home studio, band-room and attic recordings to complement the core Black Mountain tapes. Often unable to meet in-person the band bounced ideas around on laptop platforms; outros and intros took shape, evolving over time, and whole song segments were overhauled or even deleted. The results: a collection of the best Boa Morte songs to date; songs that gently envelop drones, melodic interludes and found sounds, often within the same track.

Also, the band worked closely with composer Justin Grounds to include elements of modern composition. Repetition, a minimalist mindset, structural fluidity and a keener appreciation of sound for its own sake – these, the band discovered, are features that the Boa Morte style absorbs naturally.

The process demanded more expressive gear, but the tweaking was surprisingly fun. By the final mix, this once lo-fi band had succumbed completely and Juno 106, Deepmind 12 and something called the TC Plethora X5 infiltrated every single track, vying for attention with electric instruments, felt piano and smatterings of trumpet and strings.

So this record does sound different. From their early beginnings on a small record label run by Teenage Fanclub’s Francis MacDonald, Boa Morte have found their voice on an album that might be a cosmic distress signal, or a remote aural beacon or might, just might encapsulate The Total Space.

The Total Space is out on the 3rd of March 2023 on all formats on Gare du Nord records and is available to pre-order now via bandcamp.