Aquarian Blood first grew prominent on the Memphis scene in a burst of psychedelic punk with their 2017 debut LP on Goner, Last Nite in Paradise, chock-full of rapid-fire riffs, squalling synths, and shrieking vocals. So their sophomore album, 2019’s A Love that Leads to War, came as a shock to many — an extremely mellow shock. While the band always featured the husband-and-wife duo of J.B. and Laurel Horrell at its core, the second release featured only them, for the most part, with folkish guitar ostinatos and world-weary songs evoking lives haunted by betrayal and exploitation, punctuated with the occasional gonzo synth or drum machine.
That change in direction is bolstered by this year’s equally haunting LP, Bending the Golden Hour, their third full-length on Goner. But as I speak with the couple in their Midtown home, it’s clear that this pursuit of haunted folk sounds was not the sea change it was perceived to be, and that this new record is merely a continuation of musical landscapes they’ve explored for years.
“Even before our debut LP, there were two tapes of 15 songs each, that came out in 2014 and 2015. And those were both just she and I playing and singing everything,” J.B. explains. “There was no band. When we started doing it, we were involved in three different bands. And after we figured out a quick and easy way to record at home, around 2013, we wanted to start doing things that didn’t fit into any of those bands’ formulas. We’d do ridiculous stuff, like rubbing the edge of a crystal wine glass. Or stuff with drum machines or synths, things like that. And a friend of ours had a tape label, called ZAP Cassettes. That’s when we gave it the name Aquarian Blood.
“And on those first two tapes, there are some completely chill, mellow acoustic guitar tracks. So when [drummer] Bill [Curry] broke his arm, after our tour for the first album, we just started playing the acoustic songs again. It was natural.” According to Laurel, “there was no real thought of ‘This is what we’re gonna do now.’ It just kind of happened.”
As they describe it, it’s easy for things to “just happen” when you’re constantly recording at home, and that’s the real secret to their layered sound, be it mellow or noisy. “It’s very easy,” says J.B. “It doesn’t take long to set up. There’s not a lot of pressure. We just keep it to where it’s a friendly, hospitable environment. ‘I feel like singing that part again.’ ‘I feel like laying down a guitar and percussion part.’ Sometimes you can think you have it tonight, and then you’ll wake up and think, ‘I might do that a little better.’”
“Or,” Laurel adds, “there are times where we think we don’t have it, and then the next day, you’re like, ‘Wait a minute!’”
J.B. agrees. “Then you high five! ‘That was it!’”
Both are musical omnivores, having listened across nearly all genres throughout their lives. “My aunts loved music, but they all had different tastes,” says Laurel. “I saw Ratt and Billy Squier when I was 7 or 6. My grandmother loved country music. My dad loved classical.” J.B., for his part, cites country guitarist Merle Travis and folkies like John Fahey or Bert Jansch. But the real secret to the past two albums, they say, has been curation.
“Some of the tracks will be two years old, some of them will be three weeks old, when I give them to Zac [Ives],” J.B. says. “And he’ll put them in this order that, from his perspective, feels right. That’s why we credit him as a producer. Most people like to control their own sequencing, but I like it better when I give it to Zac and he just picks what he likes.”
Aquarian Blood, performing their acoustic songs but with an expanded band, will appear Friday, August 13th, at Bar DKDC.
