motel void

Silver Awning Merchants is the 2nd track from your new album Between the Tall Buildings and Dead Air. I love the psychedelic/lo-fi vibe of the record. What was the process behind writing and recording the album?

YIN WASTER: Prior to the pandemic, just a couple of weeks before everything shut down, Griffin went to New York City for the last ever Allman Brothers concert. He was going through a period of really heavy introspection and wanted to create a record that reflected that – a vacation without the mental break that vacations provide. He had most of the lyrics down when the pandemic started and had a lot of extra time to think about melodies, more complex harmonies, as well as more layered production. Gabe has gotten really into Neo-Soul over the pandemic, doing a lot of listening to artists like Hiatus Kaiyote and Jordan Rakei. When it came time to record drums, he tried to incorporate chiller and more relaxing rhythms while still sticking to the band’s Gas Station Folk sound. The goal was to create one long trippy weekend that you could listen to.

You call your own genre ‘gast station folk’ and I really like that name! Is there a ‘gas station folk’ music scene in Chicago right now?)

YIN WASTER: Thanks! Even though it’s a term that we came up with to identify our weird sound, there’s a lot of “weird” folk music and music in general that comes out of the Midwest. So, there sort of is a scene here. Griffin plays bass in a math rock band called Violet Meridian and tries to bring “Gas Station Folk” vibes to that band as much as he can without sounding out of place.

What are your next music plans for 2022 and 2023 with Yin Waster?

YIN WASTER: We’re wrapping up a new EP to come out later this year! We’re also recording a second LP and a handful of other songs for next year. So there will be plenty of music to come! We’re also setting our sites on a possible tour for later this year, so that will be a lot of fun. Thanks!