[light music] - [Announcer] "Shaped by Sound" is a co-production of PBS North Carolina and the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The series is presented by Come Hear North Carolina.

[soft music] [light music] - I'm James Mieezkowski, and this is "Shaped by Sound."

[light rock music] For Justin, Avery, Oliver, and Libby, our deeply complex relationship with nature, [people chattering] like controlling the way a river flows, form the foundations of their band's identity.

Today on "Shaped by Sound," performing within a set inspired by our natural surroundings and in conversation with me, Sluice.

[soft folk music] ♪ What's that ♪ ♪ Is that a bald eagle ♪ ♪ No, that's a crow ♪ ♪ Who stole an egg ♪ ♪ On the Fourth of July ♪ ♪ Lets go swimming in the river ♪ ♪ It's hot as hell ♪ ♪ But I hear thunder ♪ ♪ I am nine years old in line for breaststroke ♪ ♪ I'm running to Dad's car ♪ ♪ No ♪ ♪ I am here ♪ ♪ I am 25 ♪ ♪ I don't have 20 minutes for your ♪ ♪ Phone and keys are in my sneaker ♪ ♪ Behind a pine I am a streaker ♪ ♪ My friends are smiling underwater ♪ ♪ I jump the bank a lanky otter ♪ ♪ I am looking at water hitting water ♪ [soft folk music continues] ♪ And I am the rock ♪ ♪ I am the eddy ♪ ♪ I am my roommates in love ♪ ♪ I am blackberry jelly ♪ ♪ I am the weir ♪ ♪ I am the spillway ♪ ♪ We are singing drinking at the dam ♪ ♪ I am a cartoon Callahan ♪ ♪ I am the man ♪ ♪ Getting struck by lighting ♪ [soft folk music continues] ♪ Huddled under the tire sculptor's tarp ♪ ♪ We are laughing and breathing hard ♪ ♪ My knee is bloody from scrambling out ♪ ♪ The rain finally quit and we all split an elephant ear ♪ ♪ And I went and talked to you for the first time ♪ ♪ In at least a year ♪ [soft folk music continues] ♪ You were surprised and I felt bad ♪ ♪ Your mom said I was a ghost back from the dead ♪ ♪ And I didn't quite know how to respond to that ♪ ♪ Looking at your art on a table ♪ ♪ 'Cause I'm not a ghost ♪ ♪ And I ain't dead ♪ ♪ I am a crow who ♪ ♪ That stole an egg ♪ ♪ On the 4th of July ♪ Can you kinda speak to the name Sluice?

- In trying to come up with a name for this project, that name just kept coming back, and I really like it as an image for the concept of like, washing something with water, and like, purifying, and cleansing, but also sort of a futile attempt to like, control the behemoth of nature with industrial things.

I guess, yeah, I like the name.

[chuckling] There are a lot of pieces of it.

But it being like a pressure release also kinda felt like how I felt about my creative output.

Like, if I was opening the sluice gate of my emotions to write music, it lowered the internal pressure of my ailing mental health [chuckling] if I was able to do that.

I remember a conversation that I had with Missy Thangs, who's a great producer and musician here.

We were working on a, I assistant engineered on a Heather McEntire record, and we were playing music in the control room getting set up, and I put on an Elliot Smith record.

And she loves Elliot Smith, and made some comment of like, "Man, this music's so good.

I wish he just held on a little longer, like, he could see that stuff would get better."

And I remember her saying that and being like, "You're full of crap.

Yeah, that's maybe for you, but no."

Like, this is the real state of being is suffering, and if you're correctly paying attention to the world, you will suffer.

And then I reached a point through a lot of hard work and beautiful relationships of feeling that relief and some of that, yeah, the like, beauty of living, and that was pretty flabbergasting to me, of like, oh, she's right, yeah, like, you can reach that point.

And yeah, I think the record has both of those halves existing, of really intense suffering, and this realization of, oh, no, okay, there's some relief to be had, and that, those sort of competing against each other I think is what I was writing about.

[soft rock music] ♪ Watching the beautiful girlfriends ♪ ♪ Get ready for the party ♪ ♪ In the only bathroom of your small house ♪ ♪ Is a precious thing ♪ ♪ I accept the tequila as guest ♪ ♪ And flip through your bookshelf ♪ [soft rock music continues] ♪ Tonight our friends will be married ♪ ♪ Tonight they will be ♪ ♪ And Patton Avenue is congested ♪ ♪ With red lights from here to New Leicester ♪ ♪ I drink too much ♪ ♪ I sing too loud at the moth light ♪ ♪ And I feel alone again ♪ ♪ As I watch maid and officiant ♪ ♪ Dance so sweet ♪ ♪ Gotta get out, gotta talk to my old friends ♪ ♪ I may not see them tomorrow and I love them ♪ ♪ Gonna get out of this hostel ♪ ♪ Gonna go back home ♪ ♪ Gonna go back to the rat's nest ♪ ♪ Like Emmy said ♪ [soft rock music continues] ♪ She said ♪ ♪ You gotta do is go to sleep ♪ ♪ Go to sleep ♪ ♪ On an inner tub5 ♪ ♪ Giving myself to it ♪ ♪ Giving myself to all that is beautiful ♪ ♪ And it'll do the rest ♪ ♪ And with hindsight ♪ ♪ She said ♪ ♪ Existential ♪ ♪ Confusion ♪ ♪ Reads as joy ♪ ♪ So I'm floating ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm floating ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm floating ♪ ♪ Oh, I'm floating ♪ ♪ Could you pass me a beer ♪ ♪ Oh, no, it fell in the river ♪ ♪ Hey, man, that's all right ♪ ♪ Good night ♪ - So a question I wanted to ask you both is kind of tying back into our show here.

We're, you know, we're thinking about like, how music influences who we are as people and communities, in what ways do you feel like you're shaped by sound?

- I think it's the most important thing in my life, listening to music.

I love listening to recorded music.

I love the community aspect of going to see shows, but I feel like music's most impactful to me when I'm alone and listening on a good pair of headphones and hear a record that, yeah, just speaks to emotions that I don't necessarily pull up voluntarily.

And music for me is a way to get in touch with myself more, and it's the most efficient and powerful way to feel through other people that I know.

- Yeah, I don't know.

I grew up just listen, like, I would never listen to lyrics at all.

Like, I was really just concerned with melody, and like, bands, and it was fine and fun, and like ,I wanted to play music.

But over the last few years, it's just gotten so much more, I mean, serious isn't the right word,, it's just like, severe.

Like, it is, it's just become so important.

And getting, especially I think knowing people like Justin and being closer to songwriting process, I think I had just listened to a lot of music where there was a lot of defenses up, or it was like people were trying to be cool when I was in high school or whatever, and that I was just seeing concerts that seemed flashy.

But what has just overwhelmed me lately is just the importance of song and how it makes space for your emotions, and for you to feel things, to connect to people you've never even met.

[mellow rock music] ♪ The path is covered in glass ♪ ♪ Where the mill workers buried all their trash ♪ ♪ But the river bends to a pool ♪ ♪ It is deep, you can jump, it is cool ♪ ♪ The paramedics and ranger were blase ♪ ♪ The guy who fell, he could walk, he seemed okay ♪ [mellow rock music continues] ♪ But everything got so dark and we are dying ♪ ♪ Somewhere out of sight ♪ ♪ That damn chainsaw's still trying ♪ ♪ To rip us out ♪ [mellow rock music continues] ♪ I'm gonna do you dirty, I'm falling hard ♪ ♪ I'm gonna do you dirty ♪ ♪ The government ♪ ♪ You should punish it ♪ ♪ Count the rings in there ♪ ♪ Watch me sinking there ♪ ♪ What's the problem then ♪ ♪ That you feel so bad ♪ ♪ That you started it ♪ ♪ Or was it your dad ♪ ♪ What's the problem, man ♪ ♪ What's the problem, man ♪ ♪ What's the problem, man ♪ [mellow rock music continues] - Do you find that your storytelling kind of resonates with like, specific locations?

- I love making specific references, and I love music and art that makes really specific references, and it's been really relieving to me that I can make very specific references that people that have no connection to those references will still feel emotionally impacted by, which feels really good.

So yeah, I think so.

- And why do you think that's important, I think?

You said that you like that it makes people feel good, but you know, for what reason?

- Yeah, I wonder if there's something unconscious about like, if I'm trying to write about something and the emotion I'm trying to convey is a sense of connection, or like, deep embarrassment or guilt about something, you can kind of bypass maybe defense mechanisms if instead of saying, "Oh, I'm feeling guilty about this," or "Oh, I'm so in love with this person," you can just be very descriptive and allow the listener to kinda fill that in for themselves.

And at least in my experience of consuming poetry or music, it's more impactful when I can bring that emotional reaction to the thing without the person needing to tell me what I need to feel.

- Yeah, and that drew me into your songwriting like, early on I think is just, it's, yeah, because it's often like, specific and literal, it's like, very raw or so, like, I don't know, it feels like there's no mediation or barrier between like, your lived experience and what I am getting, yeah, and from what you're telling me.

And I think that's just very powerful.

[soft rock music] ♪ Cabinet man said this house will flood ♪ ♪ The river got up to West Margaret Lane ♪ ♪ In '96 ♪ ♪ And there's water in the basement ♪ ♪ Hey, that's a pretty heron though ♪ ♪ Will you move to Efland ♪ ♪ When you lose your GC license ♪ ♪ Build that house in Cedar Grove ♪ ♪ For the kids who like the prices ♪ [soft rock music continues] ♪ And where will you live ♪ ♪ And where will you live ♪ ♪ In the bungalow ♪ ♪ The craftsman ♪ ♪ In the old Victorian ♪ ♪ The Pleasant Green ♪ ♪ The Marriott ♪ ♪ Murphy School ♪ ♪ Mom and dad's ♪ ♪ Ragtown, bike to Clarion Dunn ♪ ♪ Mevins not bad to Burlington ♪ ♪ They're closing Village Lanes ♪ ♪ And this pool houses costs ♪ ♪ 500,000 ♪ ♪ And where will you live ♪ ♪ And where will you live ♪ ♪ There's water coming up the basement ♪ [light rock music] ♪ In the bungalow ♪ ♪ The craftsman ♪ ♪ In the old Victorian ♪ ♪ The Pleasant Green ♪ ♪ The Marriott ♪ ♪ Murphy School ♪ ♪ Mom and dad's ♪ ♪ There's water coming up the basement ♪ [light rock music continues] [soft music] - [James] Thanks for joining us on "Shaped by Sound."

If you'd like to hear the songs we discussed today, you can find them over on our website at pbsc.org/shapedbysound, or you can find 'em on YouTube.

[people chattering] [people chattering] - [Announcer] "Shaped By Sound" is a co-production of PBS North Carolina and the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.

The series is presented by Come Hear North Carolina.

[soft music]