We got to visit with Sigcell back in 2019, when their last EP came out so very fun to catch up with them again with the upcoming album, Transhuman, which is coming out November 11. It’s a interesting departure from the last album; I really liked it. You can check out the live version in Fargo at Dempsey’s on November 10 or at the album release show is at Acadia in Minneapolis on November 17.
Last time we spoke, I remember talking about how you manifest atmosphere in a song on Pile of Ghosts, the songs on the newest album (Transhuman) feel more like an event. Especially Like there’s more punctuation. Do you feel that too?
Yes, definitely. Transhuman feels like all punctuation. It’s a noisy, aggressive, emotional event. There’s a subtle chaos to it that was somewhat intentional but also just a result of the writing and recording process feeding back on itself. We were fine tuning things all the way through the mixing process, in some cases changing the feel of a song significantly.
There’s also a definite movement away from Americana to rock. Was that intentional? Did you say, let’s do something different? Or did something different just happen?
The Americana style of Pile of Ghosts was really fun to do but has never been the core sound of the band. Each album has been quite a bit different, in part, due to having different band members, but also because the band has never tried to have a specific style. We like to explore but for the most part we’re an alt-rock band. Going into it I think we sort of intended to write some big aggressive songs but at the same time not trying to force anything. In a way, Transhuman is our first album as it’s the first time the four of us have written most of the songs together. It’s very rewarding to see how a new song idea brought by one of us evolves into a Sigcell song.
You have played with a number of other musicians but it seems the core members are set for a while Peter Wannemacher (Vocals, Guitar), Sam Keenan (Bass, Vocal), Andrew Munsch (Guitar) and Ben Stein (Drums). How does that impact the music? Does that help go into new directions? Does it mean more or fewer arguments, finish each other’s sentences?
It’s been great to have a consistent band. We’ve also known each other for much longer than we’ve played together and Peter and Ben are cousins so we’re really just a group of friends and family playing music together. Playing together for such a long time now creates an ease in how we approach both old and new songs. It’s also been great for pushing each other out of comfort zones and writing styles. We’ve gotten really comfortable helping to direct and inspire each other with ideas and creative choices as well as being more intentional about the song arrangements.
I love Gorgeous for the pure ethos of it. What can you tell me about the backstory of the song?
Thanks! Gorgeous is definitely a standout song on the album and came together better than we imagined. It’s a really old song that we’ve played live many times and has a feel much closer to the songs on the first album. It was written probably around 2008 and we just unearthed an old demo from 2013 with a different bassist and drummer. There’s an even earlier demo of it somewhere that used electronic drums much like the first album. The song has come a long way and it’s nice to finally have a home for it.
Please tell us about the upcoming release and where folks can see you live.
We’ll be in Fargo at Dempsey’s on Friday, November 10th. The album release show is at Acadia in Minneapolis on Friday, November 17th.
The first single, Brains on Fire, is available now on Bandcamp with a pre-order of the full album or by itself. The whole album comes out everywhere on November 17th. For those coming out to the show in Fargo there will be physical copies available ahead of the official release.
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