Evil Adjacent by Cosmorat
Interview + Album Review #2
This review is written by Bonnie Orbison. She is a published author and her latest release is the poetry collection Pretty Tennessee. If you enjoy her writing, more can be found on her online journal Howdy Bonnie! (poetry and personal diary-esque essays) as well as with her fiction novels.
Maybe it was the good-looking pink cake, topped with cherries, or then the lollipop visible in the profile picture (friends know that I’m a sucker for sweets!), I remember specifically the day someone I’d love to be friends with, just alone the fact they’re based in NYC makes it attractive, shared Cosmorat’s single release S.A.D L.U.V. in their Instagram story back in October last year.
Since that day, it almost felt like a static energy spreading from their following music and online media presence - I felt like having my eyes on them. Sensing they might be blowing off pretty soon and I wouldn’t be able to afford concert tickets to their upcoming arena tour; they haven’t played any arenas yet, but you can go to one of their upcoming gigs on May 22 at Paper Dress Vintage.
I allowed myself a little fun and if all of their 6.5K monthly listeners on Spotify would come together and fill the “Cardiff International Arena – 7,500 (standing); 5,000 (seated)” (source: Wikipedia), it’d be possible hehe.
Here is the interview I conducted with Taylor Pollock via email (a few more answers are scattered alongside the entire music review):
Bonnie: Describe “Evil Adjacent” in 3 words.
Taylor: Playful, sad, confusing
What was the first idea for this EP that sparked the fire?
It wasn’t one big thing, but it was more of having a period of self-reflection and nostalgia about growing up and life changing. I think it’s a bit of a love letter to my hometown.
How did the process of writing and making this EP look like and how long did it take?
It was a bit all over the place! Olly and I both work in studios, so we recorded some stuff in the studios, some stuff at our producer’s shed, and most of the vocals were recorded in a field recorder or in my bedroom. It took almost a year of working on it to come together. It was a really beautiful period of experimentation and changing things meticulously until it was all just right.
When starting to write this review, my headphones are plugged into Zoom and give off an underwater static noise - I almost don’t recognize it because it fits the vibe of the opening track of Evil Adjacent, Cosmorat’s debut EP, called St. Villain. It is the perfect definition of what a first track should sound and make the listener feel like.
The devil's not inside me,
he just lives across my street
We go to church on every Sunday,
and afterwards we go out for drinks
The Visualizer and the lyrics in general are screaming majorly David Lynch! and my wish is for one of those aesthetic video editors to come around with a Blue Velvet or Mulholland Drive edit alongside St. Villain.
Backseat Baby listens like an older sister song. A musical direction towards the 1990s No Doubt! or Kat Stratford (10 Things I Hate About You) - she definitely would’ve blasted this in her 1964 Dodge Dart while shrugging her shoulders going “Whoops!”.
Following this comes my favorite track of the EP: moon-shaped valleys.
You might have already realised I have a cinema playing little movies in my mind while listening to music. The psychedelic harmony (this word doesn’t articulate the fusion-infused sound) in the beginning put my next daydream scenario drastically into an action scene from either Magnum, P.I. or The X-Files; a song where you wanna glance back over your shoulders here and there just in case. Also is the fusion start a synth, a flute or a guitar even? My ears can’t get around identifying the whereabouts of the addictive intro. (I literally always go back to start the song again and again and again)
“moon-shaped valleys is about living through a bad relationship. It’s about being caught up in abuse and telling yourself it’s not as bad as it seems. Sort of justifying your choice to stay but physically becoming more and more drained as time goes on. I had a really bad relationship awhile back, and it has really affected how I interact and start new relationships now. I was trying to dig into it and understand why I felt that way and why I stayed so long.”
- Taylor Pollock, during our interview
S.A.D L.U.V led me to Cosmorat. Shall I say more about it?
It definitely led me to believe this was their most streamed song. Only during the EP release I found Backseat Baby and was shocked how I been so absorbed with
I nеver wanna die
So why do I only cry
to not notice a song they released even before this one which seems to be their most known track.
There’s always one day of the month where one is standing in the snack aisle of a supermarket, overwhelmed with all the feelings and emotions pouring out of one’s heart, headphones on without music playing because of oversensory, wishing all one could one do is scream.
I would scream if I were able
but I know it's unacceptable
something in the rain undeniably is the soundtrack for when the feeling of homesickness and home-abroad child is filling one’s already bleeding heart and there’s nothing in the fridge, so the house needs to be left in order to feed oneself.
Hmmm I think my personal favorite song on the EP is “No Sleep”. It is the most personal for me.
The cinematic peak I get from this EP with every single listen has been their closing double track: No Sleep // born to rot.
We would work until 4am a lot of the time, lose the plot, then listen the next day and be absolutely buzzing.
- Taylor Pollock during our interview
Losing the plot, the David Lynch-esque daydreaming quality of this work of music and the dramatic mythical storytelling of Taylor’s lyrics are taking the listener on a journey of pure eargasm and Kopfkino.
What is your favourite track of Evil Adjacent?
Here’s a podcast episode with an indie artist you will love when you’re a Cosmorat fan: