Liz Hysen Discusses New Picastro EP
Double On Time out now via We Are Busy Bodies
Toronto-based indie-rock greats Picastro are back with their first set of new music since 2019’s Exit.
And just as the group’s primary voice — singer, composer and multi-instrumentalist Liz Hysen — has done since forming Picastro in 1998, this new five-song EP — entitled Double On Time — continues to mesmerize with the dynamic dissonance of her distinctively esoteric sound.
Having studied and taken up boxing since the pandemic, Hysen has rerouted some of the principles and philosophies she’s learned in the ring to the recording studio, where she intertwines her deep interest in the career of boxing legend Sonny Liston with samples of music from American composer Charles Ives to create one of her most unique works to date.
“I used to let influences seep in, but this time I was controlling them,” remarks Hysen, commenting that “the EP is about origins, examining them, celebrating them, re-defining them.”
Hysen was kind enough to offer Rock & Roll Globe a track-by-track account of her label debut for We Are Busy Bodies, sharing with us the stories of what made each of these five songs come alive.
Double On Time is out now.
1. “Fell the Family Tree” — This one is modeled after the story about Liston’s family tree with all the children’s birth dates cut down and the progression into moving away and carrying your origins around with you. There is also the reference to his father, who caused a lot of his pain in the early part of his life. The main sample is from a Charles Ives piece that was a study he wrote himself! I adjusted the pitch slightly and made a loop out of it.
2. “Chance Striker” — This song is almost sort of that adolescent type naivety one has about believing that things will happen and then getting it taken away. Sort of the confusion around that and maybe just trying to get on with things, there is a kind of resiliency to it. It’s a bit messy and dense and chaotic, just like being a teenager I suppose. I tried to mimic Wendy Carlos’ synth stuff from The Shining with that bass line.
3. “Ring Description” — This would be like adult, prime-era Liston. You’re kind of learning the lessons you have to and getting a bit meaner because of them. The line “we’re born to lose, and we lose good” was based on the boxer Don Jordan who said something along the lines of every boxer knows they just lose in the end. Liston gets kind of aware that he will never be recognized or be given a chance to do or be someone else.
4. “Move, fast, break” — This would be like end-of-career Liston. He’s sort of in existence only by terms other people have dictated to him. He’s aware of the cruelty and token-ism he’s been subjected to. He is defined by others projections of fear that may or may not be founded. This song is more about him accepting this as his path, no matter how hurtful it was.
5. “Believer End” — This is a song about redemption, my version of giving Liston some grace. It is meant to be more comforting overall. It was based on some continuous music I was learning at the time on piano, I had sort of been reading a lot on Charles Ives at this point and his ethos of quoting other styles within a piece so this was sort of my way of creating this almost shoegazey piano based on continuous music. It’s mostly to sort of lay Sonny Liston to some sort of peace.
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