We got together with Pleiades to talk about the influences behind their latest EP "All at Your Mercy", including art, history, different stories of violence and tragedies in the modern day, as well as albums that helped take their sound into new territories.
Grenfell Tower
I had been reading into the families of the Grenfell tower fire… we’re a year on from when it happened and to still be reading accounts of families who still hadn’t been homed is harrowing. 71 people died in London while they were in their homes, due to the negligence of those in charge of keeping them safe. The value of human life played a big part in the inspiration of the EP and how I felt that, to the government, the value of these peoples lives was not worth the extra care and budget necessary to make sure they were safe. It provoked a lot of anger, frustration and sadness in me when it came to recording and the song ‘ULTRA’ is my representation of those emotions.
Zain Kruyer
Zain has been my biggest supporter ever since I wanted to do music. I lived with his family while I was living in Sydney, and watching him work with photography, music and art, in general, was inspiring and his encouragement kept me singing and kept me reaching for that next level of inspiration. It’s something I’ll never forget. Now he’s branched out with his own brand of photography, and with his representation of bleak and desolate landscapes it made sense for him to be the focal point of the art direction for EP. The way he represented a vast abyss in a completely natural environment was perfect and we hope it’s a partnership that continues.
Religion, Myth and History
A lot of the EP is influenced by stories of human behaviour and human morals throughout history; whether fictional or true, they can relate a lot to humanity in the modern day. The opening track ‘Lotus Tree’ is based around violence towards women, which is very prevalent today, so the story of Lotis who changed into a Lotus Tree to escape the violent advances of Priapus is a story felt applicable. The song also mentions dragons teeth and golden apples, which are classic mythological items that allude to feats of strength and heroism. Songwriters like Aaron Weiss (Mewithoutyou) and Garrett Russell (Silent Planet) take inspiration from similar areas of literature and history… It has always been a huge source of inspiration for me.
Aubrey Beardsley
Aubrey Beardsley was an illustrator in the last years of the 19th century based in London who died very young at 25 and led a pretty bleak existence, but still had the determination to explore all avenues in art to find inspiration. I read a few different autobiographies on his life just before we recorded ‘All at Your Mercy’ and I felt some correlation in our lives, and that our experiences with art and music were similar. We were unproven and raw talents looking for gratification from a world we didn’t know. So some of the vocabulary and attitudes from reading about his life has weaved into the subjects of the EP. Even after his death his work became a turning point in the art world and created the ‘Art Nouveau’ movement, so I gained a huge deal of perspective into the impact art can have.
Saosin – Along the Shadow
Just prior to recording, I felt we had hit a spell where we had become comfortable writing in a post-rock style, and as we had introduced Ryan into the band it felt like the perfect time to explore new influences. ‘Along the Shadow’ had just come out and it became the perfect album for me to take influence from and brought new energy and intensity that was necessary to take the recording to the next level. So as the EP progresses into the final two songs you will be able to sense the urgency heighten in ‘MESA’ and ‘All At Your Mercy’. Anthony Green has always been a crucial part of the blueprint for myself vocally. So ‘Along the Shadow’ was a welcome soundtrack to this recording session for me.