Brightest Young Things

all original photos: Alyssa Lesser

When True Womanhood bounded onto the DC music stage/scene/whathaveyou with their art school self-awareness and their trippy shoegaze songs and weird instruments and more references than most bands could handle, people stopped and took notice. Whether you enjoyed that particular reverby sound when it first came around back in the MBV days, or you were just catching on, there was no mistaking it: the kids were alright and cooler than the other side of your pillow.
Now, they're back with "Basement Membrane" their 2nd EP (but first properly recorded one, and produced as creatively as you'd expect it to be), which comes out today (on Environmental Aesthetics) and we sat down with them to talk about ladies' bands, skills and upcoming non-CD-release shows they're playing.
Buckle up.

BYT: We interviewed you guys first in September 2008, if you could look at yourself then and wish you knew one thing you know now, what would it be?
TW: My goodness, starting things off with a tough one. Ultimately we wish we knew then how much potential we have as a three piece band. Last spring we lost a member of the band and it threw us into turmoil as we were in the process of recording our EP. Right now we are in a great place and the creative track of the band is far better off than last year. Losing a member mid stride forced us to get creative and find new ways of playing our music.

BYT: It definitely seems like you succeeded in that. In the last year and a half, you've seemingly played a million shows, what were some of your favorite bands you played with/moments?
TW: Our show with Women at DC9 was a definite highlight. It was our second show (first in DC) after losing a member of the band and I feel like we really proved to ourselves, and our fans that continuing as a three piece was the right way to go. This show was also when we first dreamed of setting up a festival tour with True Womanhood, Women, Girls, Little Girls, Girl Talk, Girl School, Sun City Girls, Ladytron, Ladyhawke, Vivian Girls, Dum Dum Girls, and Boyz II Men.

BYT:  Nice, you should have called it "Ladies Night" (or maybe not). Anyay, lets talk about "Basement Membrane" - were there any attempts to get on a label for this one? And if so, what happened?
TW: We have been approached by a number of labels of various different sizes, all run by sincere, talented and hardworking people. In the end we decided to go with Environmental Aesthetics from Baltimore. The label is home to a number of hot, young bands from Baltimore and beyond- very exciting stuff. www.easounds.com

BYT: Tell us how this record may differ from your first EP?
TW: Our first recording was very much a demo. It was recorded with the cheapest microphones of all time and thrown together in a week. Basement Membranes was recorded using cutting edge technology such as "click tracks" and something called "mixing." Musically, Basement Membranes is far more diverse, exploring many different moods, tempos and textures. It's a pretty good representation of our first year together as a band.

BYT: Cool. So, lets listen to some tracks off of it now
TW: Gladly. Here are the 1 through 4 of the 6 songs on the EP

The Monk
This song appeared on the demo but we liked it so much that we decided to give it a second go with better production.

Dignitas
This is our homage to the DC go-go beat. The sample sounds were taken from an anime tv show and blasted through a vintage plate reverb.

Magic Child
The droning sounds at the beginning and end of this track were made by slowing down a recording of tiny tinkly bells. We then blasted this sound through a 100+ foot hallway, effective using the building as giant reverb tank.

A Diviner
This song used to be impossible for us to play and it turned out to be nearly impossible to mix. Note to self: timpani and bass always need to hard panned away from one another.

BYT: Where does True Womanhood see itself in 3 years (i'd say 5 but 5 seems so long)
TW:Hopefully big enough to be used as a shreds video on youtube. As always, we look to Slipknot for career advice.

BYT:In the DC music world, who are you most excited about right now and why? What are some of the best things happening & what stuff are we missing?
TW:We are really excited with the DMV's growing profile in hip-hop. Obviously Wale is getting huge but the DC native that is really blowing us away is Tabi Bonney. His new album, Dope, is out now. Mandatory listening.

BYT: In general, what music are you all listening to now, and yes, give specific examples?
TW: Recently we have all been listening to a lot of The XX, Antony and the Johnsons, Bjork, Beach House, Fever Ray, Pictureplane, and Joy Orbison. Four-Tet's new album is a winner and will probably be played a lot in the coming months. Whenever we are in the van we listen almost exclusively to WPGC 95.5 FM.

BYT: We learned that Melissa used to play basketball this past Friday (hanging out at the Cat is always helpful (for collecting artist info)-ed), any skills the rest of the band has that we don't know about?
TW:Noam is currently developing into a nearly competent water color artiste while Thomas is a closet Xbox 360 fiend. Also, all members of True Womanhood can read at an sevanth grade levvel.

BYT: Classy. And finally-You're playing a CD release show @ Strathmore this Friday with Exit Clov (who are also releasing a CD), how did you decide on that location? Any plans on doing another show more downtown?
TW: The show at Strathmore this Friday is Exit Clov's cd release party. Our release party details are still TBD and will coincide with the physical release of Basement Membranes. We were contacted by Exit Clov and Strathmore about the show and we jumped at the opportunity. When else would we have the chance to play our music while surrounded by such lavish splendor? For everybody who is coming to the show- the theme is Eyes Wide Shut.

Want more:

Socialize with them online here: http://www.myspace.com/truewomanhood , get their EP here starting today (clickclick) and stop by Strathmore on Friday for their non-CD release show