"Making this album was a pretty painful process," admits Forms frontman Alex Tween when asked about the band's follow-up to their incredibly well-received, Pitchfork-approved debut Icarus — and, to be honest, his comment is a bit of an understatement. Recorded consecutively over a 50-day period in Illinois with Steve Albini (Nirvana, the Pixies) at Electrical Audio and assisted by Greg Norman (Built To Spill, Pelican), the process tested the Brooklyn New York act's limits of the band's sonics and sanity in ways that most of us couldn't even imagine. "We couldn't afford to take one day off; all for 30 minutes of music, which works out to 35 seconds a day," Tween explains, "but we're really proud of how it came out." Indeed, despite all the physical and financial struggles the band endured during the recording, the disc takes the band's unique brand of post-rock to indescribable new levels. Fading in and out of each other like a series of dream sequences, The Forms evokes the classic Dischord roster such as Shudder To Think and Fugazi as much as it does '90s acts like Slowdive and the Dismemberment Plan, but puts things in a more accessible pop context that will appeal to record store nerds and NPR listeners alike. "We've always felt like we've never fit in anywhere," Tween explains. "But things seem to be changing; people seem to be open to something different," he continues, adding the band feels a kinship with peers like Battles, Deerhoof and Dirty Projectors. To date, The Forms have sold over 4,000 copies of their debut, and shared the stage with disparate acts such as The National, The Hold Steady, Minus The Bear, Death From Above 1979 and OK Go. With the release of The Forms there's no limit to what the band could achieve, all without compromising their integrity. "It's good not having a boss coercing us to appear at T.G.I.F.," Tween explains when asked why the band decided to finance the album on their own. "With this album we wanted to create this sense that you're visiting a place that exists after you leave." Trust us, listen to The Forms on headphones and you'll never want that visit to end — and the best part is that it doesn't have to.
http://2008.sxsw.com/music/showcases/band/61096.html
