Orchid Eaton, the duo project of Matt Leavitt and Brian Moen, has a new EP out called Recreational Music. It’s like an afternoon nap where you’re lulled into a comfort that punctuated with surprising notes and imagery. It sounds like floating. I loved hearing more about the making of the EP.
We last spoke to Orchid Eaton in March of 2021, one year into the COVID pandemic, about their then-new album Where All Ends Meet. Can you catch us up on you and your music in the last four years.
When I pause and think about that time period too long I can’t quite focus on any particular detail. Those two years were a hazy time warp, with periods of deep familial togetherness and potent anxiety; both Brian and I had pretty young babies at that time as well which likely amplified both of those feelings. My home studio was up & running prior to shutdown so I was able to keep working and chipping away; which I always am in a way. But to what end? In total, that situation really made me fundamentally question my role and relationship to music making, live performance, goals, and intentionality to its most plain state. The process of writing songs has tremendous instrinic value to me, like a mindfulness practice, that I truly believe in. Live performance did not end up being as motivating; we’re currently working through ways of presenting this material in a way we feel happy with. Recreational Music is a series of three EPs where longer-form songs, wordless ambient pieces and experiments could be fleshed out, where the potential pathways for this band could be expanded. We released two of them last year and the final one in October of this year!
Where All Ends Meet was comforting and quirky. Your new EP now, Recreational Music still has that lulling, soothing sound but the lyrics are less comforting. It feels like an EP of loss, can you tell us more?
That’s interesting to hear that; lyrics are always the longest part of the process for me. I find it hard to be too analytical about them when I’m working or they don’t pass the veracity test. They have to feel inately true without passing through too many conscious brain filters so I’m not often seeing the whole of the project until well after everything is finished. ‘Recreational Music ep1 & ep3’ definitely feels adjacent to ‘Where All Ends Meet’ in subject matter but in a more direct and honest reflection. The moon to the sun in some ways. Whereas the sun generates heat and light, the moon reflects. The instrumentation was more spare and I consiously chose to keep space as an invited guest. Loss resonates with me not in a dour or morbid sense but I feel a profound sense of loss and time slippage as a parent of young(er) kids and a human in the changing natural world. As a person with a fairly poor memory, songwriting is also a way for me to interact with my mental story of myself and maybe add more notes in the margins of those stories; in a way they’re always in the process of being lost and relearned. Instead of the songwriting process offering centeredness and comfort it more held up a fairly unfiltered mirror with this batch of songs.
Please tell us about the musicians who have joined you on these songs.
The core of the band is still Brian Moen and I. We’ve never once talked about conscious musical direction and it’s part of the reasons I find working with Brian so inspiring. Our instincts and sound palette are innately simpatico. We mainly still work in isolation; I guess our working method trends towards hermitage (and lots and lots of takes). I’ve came to a point where I ran aground with ideas working solo and I’m so blessed to have so many amazing artists and musicians in my orbit that opening up the process felt necessary and inevitable. There’s probably also a healthy sense of having less of a DIY chip on my shoulder as well of not setting out to do everything myself and ourselves. Pat Keen (Humbird, etc. etc.) played bass and keyboards on ep1 & ep3; I’ve learned so much from Pat, he’s such a monster musician with incredible feel. We have a shared love for the Dead. For the two song-focused eps (ep1 & ep3) Shane Leonard (Anna Tivel, Field Report, Humbird, etc.) mixed them; we both have an embarassing early musical formation courtesy of DMB. Shane is a musician’s musician, producer, songwriter and engineer. He has a studio in Eau Claire, WI and he brings so much clarity, depth and vibe with all of his projects. Holly Hansen is someone I’ve admired greatly in the MPLS scene from Zoo Animal days all the way through her Salon Sonics ownership (which sadly closed earlier this year). In addition to her recording & production work which was repeatly honest & excellent, Holly and I share a love for ambient music and micro textures. I had a slew of ambient pieces that never felt like they fit in the Orchid world but after sending some of them to Holly and working collaboratively on the songs that became ep2 I’m so grateful to have her hand in opening that door for this project.
The artwork for the EP is gorgeous, can you tell us more about it?
Wholeheartedly agree! The art for the Orchid Eaton material is all by Luisa Rivera (https://luisarivera.cl/) a London-based, Chilean artist and illustrator who does the most amazing hand drawn and painted works for installations, books, etc. Luisa and I met when she was in MPLS as an MCAD student by way of another band I was in at the time (Moon & Pollution). Luisa did the artwork for the first Orchid release and it evoked such a world unto itself that all future releases have been collaborations as well. I love the idea of a unified thematic feel for a project and Luisa’s work is now such an integral part of the records and identity of Orchid Eaton. Luisa and I talk some about inspiration, ideas and color palettes but mainly it’s just her artistry through & through. Check out her website and/or instagram
Where can folks find you? Are you playing live shows? What’s the best way to follow the music?
TBD on live shows; we’re workshopping ways to potentially play this out in 2026 if it feels right. I still have conflicted feelings about live performance. In the meantime all the records are on bandcamp, itunes, etc. or check out our website at orchideaton.com
Mostly Minnesota 