Interviews About Albums: Souls Of Ambience - A 1000 Tears (2024)

In this new interview, we sat down with the Australian Progressive Rock/Avant-Garde band Souls Of Ambience to ask questions about their album, "A 1000 Tears".

1. What can you say about Souls of Ambience new CD ‘A 1000 Tears’?

Kevin: All songs are deeply personal and come from a perspective of lived experiences. ‘Souls of Ambience’ delves into the dark places where no person would truly choose to go...... hope lingers though and burns ...... from the darkness comes forth that light......perseverance....the spirit to survive and overcome...... to find solace.....rescue.....purpose......meaning........ we lose people sometimes, not all is a tale of happiness...... and parts of us also are lost on the journey. 

2. Where does the album name ‘A 1000 Tears’ come from?

Greg: The album title ‘A 1000 Tears’ comes from a line in the song: “In this war each bully sleeps uneasily as shallow graves appear / Awaiting my instruction the guardians shed a thousand tears”. The concept of the song is to interweave the situation of the domestically oppressed - such as in the tragedy of domestic violence - with the suffering of political and social oppression. The ‘guardians’ watch in despair. Each child that is killed, another tear.

3. You wrote all but one of the songs on the album Greg. How did you and the band approach creating this body of work for the Souls?

Greg: Once the band settled into its current form, the style that developed became quite distinctive. The songs on ‘A 1000 Tears’ all started for me as experiments, not knowing what would work and what would not. The arrangements of the songs on the album are collaborative by the four of us. Each band member adds his own performance strategy and style to the instrument he plays. As Kevin (bass), Marek (guitars), and Chris (drums) all come from metal backgrounds - which I do not - the way songs end up when performance-ready, is more pacey and heavier than how they started life. I love it. The content is darkly evocative and the full-on playing by the band members enhances this.

Kevin: My own song ‘Clarice’ which I share with Greg ...and Sally, is an observation of a mother's deep grief over losing her daughter to suicide......even after 5 plus years, it bites and haunts so deeply. I myself thought I could possibly lose my own daughter the same way....”

Marek: Greg's songwriting also leaves a lot of room for musical expression via guitar solos, which I approach by imagining a melody first, often by humming a tune. After that, I try to come up with interesting combinations of linear and arpeggiated passages to create movement and a feeling of soaring.

4. If you had to pick one song, which one would you pick?

Kevin: If I was to pick two songs?.......they are all strong......I would choose ‘Grey Street’ and ‘Mary of the Morning’ They are evocative...I can imagine them as real of course, I can picture the streetscapes and the stories.

Greg: ‘The Fear Time’ articulates the central story of the album for me. I wanted to show both the victim and perpertator’s view of life in the all-too-familiar family violence play. Nothing comes out of nowhere.

5. Chris, your background thumping kit for metal bands before joining ‘Souls of Ambience’, no doubt influenced your strong drumming work on ‘A 1000 Tears’. What song on the album do you find most interesting to play? Describe the style/styles you use on that song.

Chris: I find all the songs interesting to play because they are so different to what I have done before. I guess ‘Never Drops’ is the most interesting as I have to restrain my playing a lot and keep the air in the song. I listened to a lot of ‘Pink Floyd’ while trying to work out what to play in this song. I knew how much the song meant to Greg so I wanted to treat it with the respect it deserves. In terms of style, not sure what you would call other than laid back but on point as there are lots of parts to anchor down on. It’s been a massive learning curve for me in the way I approach my drumming parts to the songs. So different from anything I have done previously. I feel that a lifetime of loving music has led me here to this point and I feel very lucky to be making music with the Souls. I have always believed that what you play should enhance the music, not your ego! 

6. Marek, The strong layered guitar work is a major feature of ‘A 1000 Tears’ and contributes much to Souls of Ambience distinct sound. What track was most challenging for you to record. Describe what guitar elements went into it and why you are happy with the result.

Marek: Of course, all the tracks presented their own challenges. On the lighter side, ‘Grey Street’ and ‘Clarice’ challenged me to say more with less. On the other hand, the bigger-sounding tracks called for a lot of layering to create a big sound. Of these, ‘The Fear Time’ probably presented the biggest challenge. Starting with the intro, I adopted a particularly intricate approach to recording guitar parts as swells. The chord progression is deconstructed into individual notes, each recorded onto its own track, to harmonize with each other. The swells and delays of each part had to be carefully matched, starting as a 2 part harmony before a 3rd is added, then a 4th just before the vocals come in for verse one. When using an overdriven guitar tone, this method produces a smooth, harmonic sound, as opposed to the harsher sound of playing full chords. Many hours were spent on just the first 35 seconds of the track before the vocals come in. Initially, the intro was much longer and intricate, but alas, it has fallen victim to the production process and ended up on the virtual cutting room floor; a sacrifice to the gods of vinyl. I believe the intro, despite its intricacy, achieves the desired mood; a creepy, spaced-out feeling that underpins its lyrical darkness. The approach I have taken for the rest of ‘The Fear Time’, and indeed many of the other tracks, involves multiple rhythm and melody parts working in tandem, each double-tracked to give a bigger, wider sound.

7. Greg, on your 70’s album ‘Mind Stroll’ the list of keyboards you play is massive, including Mellotron, Hammond B3, Grand Piano, Spinet, Fender Rhodes. What instruments are you using these days?

Greg: These days I prefer a single keyboard with multiple layers with individual compressors, including outboard samplers, as distinct from multiple keyboards each with a different sound. With the Souls I am playing full-on all the time. The left hand provides a synth-organ bass-thickener for Kevin’s bass work and the right hand works on rhythms and melodies. I love the ability to set layers to come in depending on how hard I play. So play light and it’s a piano/organ combo, play hard and there’s a distorted quasi-brass section as well. 

8. What's up next on the Souls of Ambience journey?

Greg: The live music scene in Australia is still suffering from post-covid blues. We are playing at what local venues remain open and enjoying the ride. We are rehearsing new songs and preparing a follow-up album for next year. Record label Wormholedeath is terrific to work with, and Carlo and his team are hugely supportive. A tour of Europe and the USA is in the pipeline.