Episode 005: Seal Skin

    I’ve promoted Aux Send as being a show that features unique, diverse, and brilliant musicians since it’s launched. No episode thus far has embodied these characteristics more than this episode, featuring Seal Skin. This episode also marks the first “Aux Return”, as Seal Skin was recommended by Nelly Kate in episode 003.
    The music of Seal Skin is hard to describe, I find myself going to terms like minimal, organic, haunting, and most of all primal. The band, comprised of Ryan Stiteler, Colby Pegg-Joplin, and Sam Stallings, hailed from Staunton, and divides their time between playing with Nelly Kate and writing and performing their original songs. Though the two projects share a lot of elements, their music is very different from what they play with Nelly. First and foremost, I have listened to their Aux Send EP countless times, and I absolutely love it. They tackle big themes in the fewest words possible, many of their songs having only a handful of lines repeated in nearly chant form, complimented by Ryan’s unique and deliberate guitar melodies, Colby’s perfect drumming, and Sam’s unique and driving bass lines. I really like how lyrically their words, as sparse as they are at times, are cutting and instantly memorable. While sometimes vague, they evoke strong emotions and visceral feelings in the little vignettes they describe.
    In the interview they talk about a few things I found really interesting. In the project, no one is playing the instrument they seem to most identify with, making this band work creatively to explore uncharted territory both as a musical whole and individually in their writing and performing technique. They discuss a bit about what their songs mean, from selfishness to metaphysics; which in print looks pretentious but when experienced in their work is absolutely true, and feels completely honest and genuine. Originally they tossed around the idea of calling the band “Cave Songs”, which, as much as I love the name Seal Skin, feels so very appropriate. This music would best be experienced laying in the heart of a deep cave, as it reverberates around you.
    No matter how much I try to explain what Seal Skin is and sounds like, and how great they are, typed words doesn’t do a band this alive justice, and it really must be heard to even begin to understand it. So watch the episode, and download the Aux Send EP through their bandcamp site, sealskin.bandcamp.com.