Azure Ray gets witchy

The duo draws down the moon for their first album in seven years

By Erin Lyndal Martin
Published: September 17th, 2010 | 1:01pm

"Drawing down the moon" is an ancient Pagan rite of channeling energy from the moon goddess into one's body. It is also the title of Azure Ray's latest record, and it's easy to see why. The album, the first in seven years for the duo, is a sonic happening where Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor's haunting vocals and soundscapes function as portals into another world, a space where power can always be harnessed.

"The title just spoke to me, and there's something about the idea, or the thought of being in control or reclaiming control, that personal power. That phrase is almost like a solitary person taking a stand and drawing in the energy that they need. It's something that everyone should be able to do. Visually, it's very arresting to me, too," says Fink.

In the seven years since their latest Saddle Creek Records release, both Fink and bandmate Maria Taylor have been busy working with side projects and, in Taylor's case, a solo career. Though those seven years have fostered much change for Fink and Taylor, Fink finds the return to Azure Ray quite natural.

"We've obviously both been busy and also challenging ourselves in the interim, so we've grown as individuals and songwriters. When we came back together, it just seemed so natural and so intuitive. Obviously, we did grow and change, but all the different paths we took led us back to this one in a natural way." For both women, it wasn't important to display a new or reinvented version of the band. "Because we had been away from it for so long, it wasn't necessarily important to try to do something new because it was kind of new to come back to it. Being apart has changed the sound a little bit. We're trying to leave it as it is," Fink asserts.

One key component to keeping a consistent sound is producer Eric Bachmann (of Crooked Fingers and Archers of Loaf). Bachmann is arguably the band's third member, having been responsible for much of their sound throughout their career—Drawing Down the Moon being no exception. "He contributes so much and he works as a producer in the most intense sense of the word," says Fink. "We write the songs but then he takes them and creates the sonic landscape around them so he's a huge part of the sound. He works his ass off, this mad genius who is behind the controls the whole time."

While Bachmann preserved Azure Ray's trademark sound, Fink and Taylor introduced a new element by co-writing for the first time, on the track "Dancing Ghosts": "The way we write is so personal, it's usually easier to immerse yourself in a world and give it everything as an individual because it can be depersonalized if you break up the writing," says Fink. "When Maria and I set out to write, even though we never discussed it, a theme just seemed to develop naturally. We both write about very personal stuff, we're like-minded like that and so immersed into each other's personal thought, like a shared brain. Usually that ideal inserts itself in the song inadvertently," she adds.

Taken together or apart, the songs on Drawing Down the Moon are united by a powerful message: "The theme ended up being about going through the fire and coming out on the other side. When you've been through a lot and you're able to stand back and take a reflective look, there's all kinds of different ways you can feel in the process.

"Ultimately, Fink and Taylor chose to be empowered, as the album shows. Maria and I are feminists, of course, but we're also feminine, so that space captures both sides of us—how we go through being strong and through being weak and at the end, you're just the one in control of drawing that power back in."

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Azure Ray official site

Azure Ray MySpace page

Saddle Creek Records