motel void

Lake Michigan is a DIY bedroom project started in 2010 by Christopher Marks. Generally late-night folk, occasionally washed out shoegaze, sprinkles of bedroom electronica experimentation.

MOTEL VOID: You began this project in 2010 (although your first album on Bandcamp didn’t come out until 4 years later!). You’ve been affiliated with Z Tapes label, and now you’re collaborating with Start Track blog/label from Slovakia, which is also run by Filip Zemcik. How did this cooperation start?

LAKE MICHIGAN: My first material came out on Bandcamp in 2010 but I have since removed most of it – partially out of embarrassment and partially just to tidy up the page, I had more than 30 releases on there at one point so it was getting a little out of hand. My first 5 releases are here in case you have morbid curiosity: partywoundz.bandcamp.com/music

As for Filip, him and I go way back. He wrote about a single from one of my early releases on Start Track when it was just a Tumblr account, I think it was back in 2011. It was one of the first times anyone had written about my music so it was pretty special. We stayed in touch and I was a big Z Tapes fan since the beginning, too. I worked up the courage to send him my record ‘Gleaming’ from 2015/2016, which luckily he was a fan of, and we have been working together pretty solidly since then. I even had the chance to play the Z Tapes festival he put together in Slovakia a few years ago.

MOTEL VOID: You’ve been residing in Mexico City for some time now, where you even organized the first ‘Start Track’ show. When did you relocate to Mexico City? And do you have a favorite venue there?

LAKE MICHIGAN: I moved to Mexico City around 3 years ago, it’s a strange and beautiful city (and country). The show was wonderful, Juliette (Permanent Vacation singer and my partner) and I were walking around our neighbourhood a couple of months back and stumbled upon Grieta, it’s a cafe, art space and occasionally a venue, hosting intimate shows like the ones I’m putting on there. It has become a residency of sorts, my aim is to showcase local bands and artists as well as any Start-Track & Start-Track adjacent artists who may be passing through the city. Grieta is probably my favourite venue here so far, although I am a little biased…I’m also a fan of some of the late night spots in Centro Histórico, specifically on Calle Donceles.

MOTEL VOID: Your new album ‘La Madrugada’ has just been released. Could you share insights into the writing and recording process behind this record? Also, since you reside in Mexico, are you fluent in Spanish?

LAKE MICHIGAN: ‘La Madrugada’ was a return to the bare-bones approach that had to writing and recording for years. I had really slowed things down with this project for a bit while focusing on Permanent Vacation, and then upon revisiting it, I found myself more inclined to experiment with textures and electronics (hence last year’s record Thin Veil).

Mixing things up like that was fun and therapeutic but then late last year I felt the floodgates open, and most the songs that make up La Madrugada just kind of fell out of me over a period of a month or so. I had been trying to do some deep reflection and found that the lyrics that came out were centred around some pretty heavy issues so the writing process ended up being very cathartic. Guitar and vocal recording took one very hungover and hazy day with overdubs, mixing and mastering happening spottily in the days that followed.

As for my Spanish skills, definitely not fluent yet – conversational though.

MOTEL VOID: You’re a member of the band Permanent Vacation. Do you also contribute as the main songwriter in the band?

LAKE MICHIGAN: Permanent Vacation is Juliette and I, as I mentioned above. Our good friend Emi helps out sometimes, too. The writing responsibilities are very evenly split with the project, it is a freeing and entirely pressure-free little band which is very personal and dear to us.

MOTEL VOID: Who or what is currently your biggest source of inspiration? And what are your other plans for the rest of the year?

LAKE MICHIGAN: I’m really enjoying the new Hovvdy record at the moment, as well as Dean Blunt’s output in general. His patchwork, Frankenstein-esque approach to art is something I think about a lot and something that has had quite an impact on my music over the years.