A Minor Forest

A Minor Forest hasn't heard a sound they didn't like to abuse. For over four years, the San Francisco-via-San Diego trio has tested the limits of rock's malleability, from stretched, off-kilter guitar figures to pummelling hardcore sprinting to pastoral pop, often within the confines of the same song. Without a trace of pretension or "artsiness," the members (guitarist/ vocalist Erik Hoversten, bassist John Trevor Benson and drummer Andee Connors) have redefined the idea of a "band" into a risky proposition; their live shows are intense and heavily improvisational affairs, with everything hanging on the next beat, chord or shriek.
The fruit of all this labor is the band's first full-length album, Flemish Altruism (Constituent Parts 1993-1996), released on the esteemed Chicago label Thrill Jockey (the Sea and Cake, Tortoise) and produced by famed Chicago engineer Steve Albini (Nirvana, Breeders, Bush) with his Shellac compatriot Bob Weston. Hoversten notes that their difficulty in getting across in the Bay Area had the band searching farther afield in putting a record together. "These days, things are totally good," he says, "but it honestly took us probably three years to make a name for ourselves here. Chicago is a town that welcomed us from pretty much day one; it's kind of like our home away from home. I think we fit better with a lot of the local music, and we've just had an easier time of it there."
It's true that their sound has more in common with Midwestern experimental rock than the pop and punk-oriented Bay Area scene, which has lead to numerous comparisons to the now-defunct, Louisville, Kentucky indie-rock demigods Slint. Hoversten is flattered by the comparison, though he disagrees with it to an extent: "I think the reason people compare us to Slint is because we use dynamics effectively. But dynamics is one of many levels of composition. A lot of the stuff that we do is a lot more aggressive than what they did in their later incarnation. And on the other side of it too, some of our stuff is more straight-ahead and poppy." And just about everything else, if their choice in covers are any indication: should the need arise, the band lays claim to an arsenal of about ten to 15 Metallica covers, as well as takes on both the Little River Band's "Lady" and Meat Loaf's "Paradise By the Dashboard Light."
The experiments with music extend to their stage presence as well: Connors plays drums with his back to the audience, facing Hoverstein and Benson. It's a style that grew out of the way most bands practice, but Hoversen notes that there are more crucial reasons as well. "Most of our songs aren't arranged. We don't have steadfast ways that we do things. It's very loose. We're constantly improvising and reacting off of each other, and in order for that dialogue to happen, you have to have eye contact all the time. I don't think we could do this any other way."
Flemish Altruism has sold about 6,000 copies after about six months in release, impressive given the nature of their music, and especially given such off-putting song titles as "Bill's Mom Likes to Fuck" and "Jacking Off George Lucas." Their next album is set for recording in the fall, with a spring '98 release planned. Meanwhile, Connors has been moonlighting on drums for J Church on the road, and Hoversten also has a chamber music project named the Threnody Ensemble he's preparing to record. The busy schedule makes perfect sense with A Minor Forest; when teasing out the abuse potential of sound is your game, the search is always ongoing.

First appeared in BAM magazine 7/11/97
Courtesy and © BAM magazine, internet © Synthesis Network.

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