Austin psych-goth trio The Schisms have announced their new EP, Tejas, out October 2. Today, the band offers its first preview with “I Learn To Love,” accompanied by a video created in collaboration with Austin film crew Three-Eyed Cat Collective.
Recorded with Grammy-winning producer Stuart Sikes (The White Stripes, Cat Power, Loretta Lynn), “I Learn To Love” began as a mantra before taking shape spontaneously in the studio. Its raw collision of punk urgency, psychedelic atmosphere, and unruly rhythm introduces the punchier, more uplifting direction of Tejas.
For the video, frontman Carson Barker and the band sought to capture a side of their hometown rarely reflected in polished portrayals of the city: “For the video, we wanted to do something really trashy—like an old Captain Beefheart video mixed with VHS-style
visual effects. We also wanted something that represents Austin from a born-and-raised Texan’s point of view.
There’s definitely a grittier, more maniacal side of Austin subculture that often gets overlooked in the media, and we wanted to pair that with clichéd Texas themes. There are also some throwbacks to filmmakers we love, like Jodorowsky.
“The song was half-written on the fly in the studio with Stuart Sikes. It felt like a chaotic Bo Diddley song with a dash of punk and psych, so we went with it.”
⇒ Read our review for the EP here.
Written partly during a winter Barker spent isolated in a one-bedroom cabin in the Colorado mountains and partly in the studio with Sikes, Tejas trades some of the darkness of The Schisms’ previous album, Moon, for music intended to lift its creator—and its listeners—up. The EP also marks a creative departure for Barker, who wrote and recorded each instrumental part himself before sharing the songs with bandmates Goose McCollum and Michael Stockton for their input.
The title Tejas reflects the friendship at the heart of the record as well as its deep Texas roots. Barker, McCollum, Stockton, Sikes, and Barker’s brother, who created the artwork, are all native Texans. The three members of The Schisms grew up in the same town and knew one another for years, but never played together until the band’s current incarnation brought them into the same orbit.
Partially funded by the City of Austin Live Music Fund, Tejas arrives October 2.
