Stormy Weather: Storms Talks with Totally Crushed Out
by Ryan Pangilinan

With one full-length album to their collective credit, NY/Spain-based duo Storms has already put in more legwork for their debut record than most bands do on their fourth release. Of course, Storms is helmed by Eva Puyuelo of Savath and Savalas and Lori Scacco of Seely, so perhaps it’s no surprise that their professionalism, art and songwriting savvy are all equal parts of a greater sum.

Storms’ debut LP, “Lay Your Sea Coat Aside,” (Plancha) is gentle and sparse narrative that is aesthetically pleasing and conceptually tight. Recently, Puyuelo and Scacco talked to Totally Crushed Out about the writing process for Storms and other dream collaborators they would have, provided a time machine and acts of God were possible.

Totally Crushed Out: In short, how did Storms come together?

Eva Puyuelo:  I was in NY recording with Savath y Savalas and Lori asked me to collaborate on a song for the new Scacco solo record. We liked the result and how we worked together and we decided we couldn’t stop there. So finally we planned a way to meet again in NY (I live in Barcelona) and try to make a whole record in a month, as we didn’t have much more time.

It seems that technology does lend itself for collaborations such as yours, given that there’s distance between you two. Though the songs were shaped while you two were together, have ideas been bounced back and forth using email or by sharing files?

Lori Scacco:  There was definitely a lot of that towards the end. Except for the first song we ever did together, Eva didn’t actually hear any of the instrumental sketches until she got to NY to make the record. I wanted the songs to evolve mutually and organically, so I didn’t want to present or lead anything beforehand. But yes we nailed down the structures and the vocal layers while we were together, and then most of the production and the treatments were done long distance. I’m grateful for the ability to do that, but nothing beats the energy of collaborating in person.

EP:  Yes, we tried to work as much as we can together when we both were in NY but the process always takes longer and the songs were evolving when we were apart, so we were emailing with the production changes back and forth until the songs were finally mixed.

The overall aesthetic of Storms is different from Seely and Savath and Salavas, particularly in a way where it’s a lot gentler. Did you ever think that people who are fans of your previous endeavors will find this latest output surprising?

EP: Well, it’s pretty difficult to know what people expect from oneself when one is so many different things at the same time. Particularly I don’t see so much difference between Savath and Storms. Maybe the biggest are that Storms sings in English and that it’s more naked sounding, but I don’t think that could be defined as really surprising.

LS:  This is something that Eva and I were just talking about the other day- the concept of identity and whether there needs to be a perceivable continuum from one work to the next, the multiple moniker thing as a way to work in different “genres”… Ultimately anything we do is an exploration of where we are at that moment and what we ourselves want to hear. But to answer your question, Seely was the collective result of four minds — we were a fully democratic outfit — so it makes sense that whatever I do outside of that might be different. I experienced this for the first time when my solo record “Circles” came out a few years ago. It was all instrumental, very quiet and sparse, and after its release I read a couple of blog posts to the effect of “We love Seely but this is boring as hell.” So I don’t know; I guess Storms might be surprising to people who know me only as a member of Seely.

Your bio cites that you collaborated with Ann Stephenson for “Lay Your Sea Coat Aside.” What was that experience like?

EP:  It was definitely a very easy and comfortable one. Ann was open to whatever we proposed to her and so were we. It’s the easiest experience I had in terms of flow and openness. I couldn’t like it more.

LS:  Yeah, our working together very much reflected the overall process of the entire project. Ann had listened to our rough sketches early on and began writing as we simultaneously developed the songs. After a while, she presented us with a collection of poems, and it was exciting because we were weirdly in sync at times, where her words would fit perfectly into the music and Eva’s melodic phrasing without any need for manipulation.  

At other times we would collage multiple pieces of hers to create one song, or we would call her and say “this is what we’ve got so far - we need two 6-word lines to complete this verse.”  So it was amazing to have this lyrical contribution that was fully-realized, yet, just as fluid as any other element.

And if there was another figure who you two could collaborate on to flesh out a concept for a future project, who would be the dream person?

EP: If we are dreaming I would say, Ennio Morricone, Dick Annergarn, Brigitte Fontaine, Enric Casasses, Rubinho and Mario Assumpçao, Steve Reich, The Books, Delia Derbyshire, Diamanda Galas and Antonio Machin.

LS:  Nice list, Señorita Puyuelo! I’d add Kate Bush, Arthur Verocai, Kevin Shields, Bridget St. John.

We kind of touched on “Sea Coat” being a concept; was it ever stifling during the writing process, or did you find that you had a lot more room to breathe than if you were working on standalone singles or pop-type songs?

LS:  I usually think in terms of the album as a whole, so the process wasn’t stifling at all. I get into formalism and method as a directive. It begins with process-as-concept vs. any over-arching thematic approach, though the latter is definitely there in the lyrical narrative. The main idea going in was that each element would remain malleable and subject to change as another was introduced- it was never a case of “this is the structure- sing on top of it.” So that, to me, was really freeing.

What are some of the future plans you have for Storms?

EP:  We would love to tour the record but it seems an impossible thing to do now as we can’t practice together, and I have a baby so I can’t travel as I used to. But something we can do for sure is another record. That we’ll do.

LS:  Amen, sister. More records, more Sea Coat videos, and I’m hoping that there will be vinyl in our future.

Storms :: Sweet Cup from S T O R M S on Vimeo.

You can listen to samples of “Lay Your Sea Coat Aside” and check out additional info on Storms’ official website. Their album and remix EP are available now.