We Say…
Based out of Cardiff, Muriel are the lo-fi project of songwriter and tattoo artist Zak Thomas. A native of the small town of Pontardullais, a town of very few Welsh speakers, Zak’s first forays into music was in a covers band, learning to play songs by the likes of AC/DC, Weezer and lots of “guitar hero stuff”. From there his interest in music, and in particular in recording his own music grew, even when he wasn’t releasing it, he’d keep making it, as he puts it, “it’s a part of my life”. After a number of years of not recording his music, Zak formed Muriel gradually, recruiting bandmates and collaborators in a slow organic form to turn those bedroom sketches into both a live setting and their flourishing recorded forms, as evidenced on their brilliant self-titled debut album, recently released via Venn Records.
Zak comments he increasingly sees a tie between his work as a tattoo artist and as a musician, using both as a form of honest expression, which perhaps made his tattoo studio the perfect place to make his record. The beds were removed, rugs hung on the walls to dampen the sound and makeshift booths made with room dividers, and in one vastly creative week the album, drums aside, was constructed, to what Zak modestly describes as, “a relatively good lo-fi standard”. Despite this largely DIY approach, Muriel is not a record lacking in sonic ambition, from the strings that close the luxuriously sombre I Hope It Won’t Hurt Me and the marching drums of Passing Fields, through to the choppy rhythmic drive of the wordy wonder, Body Of Light. I’m particularly fond of Seaside Painter, which starts off like a lost John Martyn track, before swooping into the sweeping chorus as Zak sings, “I’ve got to be see-through, I need to”, and you’re left unsure if he’s just wanting to lay it all on the line or fade from the situation entirely. The lo-fi approach is one that really suits the stories and emotions Zak chooses to share, channelling the likes of Sparklehorse or The Microphones as he explores ideas of grief, spirituality and a heightened awareness of our own mortality following the passing of his father, “I was of course extremely sad and going through the grieving process, but had this heightened sense of being so aware that this is going to happen to me and everyone around me”. Within that loss, he discovered a newfound desire to make the most of his time on earth, “in a surreal post-grief sense I was feeling very joyful…I have a deep curiosity for the world beneath the material”. While the themes are writ large across the album, they’re most openly addressed on the jaw-dropping Relative. It’s a deeply personal song recalling the moment he found out his father had died. Written in a single night it is delivered as a stream-of-consciousness, there’s a touch of Mark Kozelek in the almost emotionless way he sings, “one night, phone call, a relative, I got some bad news, a relative, we found him on the floor and don’t know how, I had to let you know and you know now”. From there the shock melts away into guilt at unreturned phone calls, final interactions and latterly it almost seems to become a wave of overlapping thoughts he doesn’t know what to do with, “one day you’re there and then you’re not, I should have called you back but I forgot”, delivered via Spanish-style guitars and ebbing slide. Although not the opening track, it is almost the jumping-off point for the record as a whole, the raw honesty begins here and permeates throughout. Muriel’s very special music touches not on the wailing caricature of grief, but on the subtle numbness, the myriad ways it strikes you when you least expect it, the way it makes you laugh as well as cry, the clarity and the cloud, the distilled humanity, the life, the death and the everything in between.
They Say…
FTR: For those who don’t know who are Muriel?
Zak: Muriel is a band that takes on some different forms, but in which I creatively lead. The name is after the Scottish novelist Muriel Spark. It began from half a dozen or so demos I made back in 2021 where the ideas for the project were already quite firm in being intricate nylon string guitar driven songs with more rocking drums inspired by the previous years of listening to a lot of the likes of Sun Kil Moon, Mount Eerie, Owen, Bill Callahan and Sparklehorse. Over a years period I found the right friends and musicians to fill the roles to play the songs how they were recorded but naturally they added their own personalities which is when the project started taking a life of its own.
FTR: What can you remember about your first show?
Zak: We played our first show back in February supporting the lovely China Bears at The Moon in Cardiff. I remember feeling very nervous. It had been maybe 4 years since I played a show, and that was in a shouty emo band. So something about this felt more vulnerable and unknown and all our friends were there. The place was sold out which was incredible and I remember being overwhelmed but also starting to feel some excitement seeing one familiar face after another. It was really special that all these people made the effort and took interest in this new project as at times I worry about what place my music has in this world, if one at all! So it was really validating of course. Every show I’ve ever played has felt like a dream, I struggle to remember anything vividly besides how fast the time goes by and before you know it, it’s all over. Though, I do remember the crowd being very responsive and although our music may not be fun it felt very fun to be on stage that night and I look back at it as a huge celebration for something new!
FTR: Why do you make music? Why not another art form?
Zak: So my actual day job is as a tattooist and a tattoo shop owner. My relationship with music has always been very emotional, trying to express feelings I’m going through or to just process them, it feels very therapeutic and explorative of my anxieties, trauma and the things the normal day to day life make hard to face besides having regular therapy. Whereas with my tattooing I’ve always thought of it as being a-lot less deep and more about an interest in aesthetics, as it comes from me originally just being a rebellious teenager to a strict upbringing wanting to make my own rules. Although, now through the course of being tattooed for over 10 years and then becoming an artist 6 years ago my relationship with the craft has become a lot more deep and complex. But back to the music I would like to say that even though Muriel is the first project in some years of me actively releasing music and playing shows I have still always been just recording for the sake of it. It being something I’ve done for so long. It’s a part of my life just like going for a run three times a week or making sure I get enough sleep.
FTR: What can people expect from the Muriel live show?
Zak: I would say almost expect anything! Now the recording is all done and I’m a few months past that there was no way I was going to just play these songs the same way over and over again. Naturally I would just write new ones of-course but the time hasn’t felt right yet and I’ve had a couple other things I’ve been working on. So instead we’ve experimented with and pulled apart these songs and then put them back together and they have taken different forms at shows and certainly feel like they’ve gone from baby songs to matured and worn in songs! For our next show which is a headline show featuring an art exhibition by Molley-May who did all the projects artwork we have 8 of us playing and we have turned 30 minutes of the same songs into an hour set. There is additional instruments such as violin and saxophone and lots of improvised intervals. It has been very fun and continues to be creatively satisfying to approach shows this way.
FTR: What’s next for Muriel?
Zak: As I’m writing this now that show is just two days away and all my energy has gone into that, But I know once it’s over I will be thinking about how we can do things differently next time. And our next show will be playing at Cardiffs SWN festival October 22nd so I don’t have too long! In-between these two shows we will be releasing our debut self titled album with VENN Records on October 13th. This will also be out on vinyl. Then for next year I would love to start playing other cities around the UK. We’ve had a great year of opportunities playing in Cardiff that Im very grateful for but it would be nice to see this project out in the wild. Maybe a tour? Who knows! I will also start writing new music again for this project soon. The first record began during the month of October so maybe il do the same again.
They Listen To…
Tapir! – Broken Ark
Hayden Pedigo – Carthage
Nicholas Krgovich – Front Stoop #2
Fountainsun – Old Pine Tree
Friendship – Workhorse
Muriel is out now via Venn Records. For more information on Muriel visit https://linktr.ee/murielband.
For The Rabbits 