Q&A: Miserable chillers
☆ By Astrid Ortega ☆
WARM, COMFORTING AND SMOOTH - this is what comes to mind when describing Miserable chillers. The Brooklyn based artist, Miguel Gallego, builds his music from indie-rock and shifts it to the uniqueness of his own sound of pop, giving you what is Miserable chillers. Inspired by the small things, Gallego finds comfort and motivation for his music through readings and his friends. With his new single, “The Glass,” Gallego gives us what he’s been cooking up for a while now, a fun yet dream-like song that will remind you of living inside a 90s childrens cartoon, in the best way possible, of course. With a new album, Audience of Summer, out August 7th, the project touches on life and the depths of our emotions. In addition to a new single "Saga's Sword", Baby Blue and Miserable Chillers will be donating fifty percent of proceeds from Bandcamp digital purchases of the singles + record to Bed-Stuy Strong. Pre-order available for the limited edition cassette via Bandcamp.
We’re excited, and getting to know the personality behind the art makes it even more exciting, so read below to get to know Miserable chillers!
LUNA: How are you doing lately? How are you taking care of yourself these days?
GALLEGO: I'm doing OK. Trying my best to keep afloat, but definitely feel like I'm in a real haze this deep into social distancing. My routine feels contrived and like it takes a lot of energy to maintain. I'm trying to take care by baking, cooking, reading, and working on music when I can.
LUNA: For those unfamiliar with your music, what are some of the key sonic elements shaping your sound?
GALLEGO: I'm really keen on texture, I like making music that feels like it has a lot of tactile elements. A lot of my most vivid childhood memories are very tactile or sound oriented. I think the two go hand in hand. I want to try to make pop songs that are evocative in that sense.
LUNA: You’re currently in New York but grew up in Jersey and were raised by parents from Mexicali - how has your upbringing impacted you as an artist?
GALLEGO: I got to go back to Mexicali and other parts of Baja California pretty often as a kid and I think the contrast in environments has made me really interested in how a place feels. Mexicali is a city in Mexico across the border from the Imperial Valley and has that similar almost uncanny atmosphere, an agricultural hub in the middle of the desert, below sea level. New Jersey has its fair share of strange and improbable seeming places too.
LUNA: Audience of Summer has an almost dream like tone to it as a whole and really takes the listener on a journey. Can you share a favorite moment or memory from the making of the album?
GALLEGO: A lot of it feels like a blur because it was made over a long period of time and went through a lot of revisions. I think having friends like Lele Dai (Straw Pipes and The Doilies), Kabir Kumar (Sun Kin) and Megan Braaten (You're Sister) add their voices to these songs was a highlight for me. Felt like a milestone to get to that point and the addition of these other voices added so much more texture to the songs.
LUNA: Outside of musical influences, what were some key influences for this project?
GALLEGO: A lot of the thematic and lyrical ideas came from things I was reading at the time — Annie Dillard, Elizabeth Hardwick, Italo Calvino were big. And also just reading articles that I think resonated with thoughts and feelings I was having about the climate crisis at the time. There's that article in the Guardian about a young Swedish girl finding a very old sword in a lake that really captured my imagination.
Audience of Summer Artwork
LUNA: Which track means the most to you and why?
GALLEGO: "The Glass" captures for me a pretty personal feeling I've had about how I relate to the world around me, how mediated it feels, how often times it seems like I need art to help me access my feelings.
LUNA: How about which track was the most difficult to finalize? Why did you decide to stick with it?
GALLEGO: "Saga's Sword" I probably spent the most time on. It's just very dense and was difficult to mix. It was also a turning point in the creative process for me. Writing and recording that song helped me figure out the direction I wanted to go with the record. I think getting past that hump opened a lot up.
LUNA: What’s been inspiring you lately?
GALLEGO: I've been reading Proust lately, hahah, and it's been a slow but very revelatory process for me. I'm getting a lot of out it and it's helping shape a lot of the reflection I've been doing
LUNA: On the writing end of things, do you find yourself drawn to any common themes/narratives or is it always changing?
GALLEGO: I think my interests and concerns shift as the context around me does. I think on this particular record I was very concerned with not only the climate crisis but also with growing up and the ways I make sense of myself and the world around me. The last feels like a very perennial theme for me, although the shape it takes shifts with where I find myself.
LUNA: I know a lot is up in the air, but do you have any upcoming goals or plans you’d like to share?
GALLEGO: Reach more ears and continue to make music. Making things is one of the few things that's always seemed to make sense to me.
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From Pavietra 🕊️ https://t.co/BXVgWlZud8 -
slowthai by Rosie Matheson 🤩 https://t.co/z7SDfFQ5iF
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RT @i_D: Ian Kenneth Bird photographs young punks on Polaroid: https://t.co/MKT0tMUqO9 https://t.co/a0tTl12ML5
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RT @AnOtherMagazine: #DreamHome – this isolated idyll in the mountains of Lanzarote 🌵 📸 via Nowness, photography by Clemence Blr 🔁 https://t.co/GUusdxD0cg
