An indie rock duo hailing from Brooklyn, The Forms, is returning to the Southgate House in Newport to get Northern Kentucky ready for a new beginning and to promote the release of their newest project, the Derealization EP.

Matt Walsh, the guitarist and everything else player of The Forms is excited to get back to the Southgate House for the show. The Forms have taken some great memories from previous shows there, Walsh told The Northerner in an interview.

The Derealization EP, set to release Feb. 12, feels like a “new beginning” for The Forms, who have played around with the structure of their band. The band has had as many as four members in the past, but has now moved back to the duo of Matt Walsh and Alex Tween (vocals and keyboard).

This “record is like an epitaph” of an old band, Walsh said about the EP being a new beginning for The Forms.

The EP a very experimental project compiled of remixed tracks from the band’s previous albums (“Icarus” and “The Forms”). For Walsh, the initial remix idea evolved into so much more as the process progressed.

The idea sparked by accident. After unintentionally listening to a vinyl of a previous album at different speeds, Tween and Walsh started to experiment. They noticed that by just adjusting the speed, their songs became much different from the originals. They decided if they were going to do different, then they’d go all the way and “not do anything the way we’ve done before.”

So the pair invited artists from other bands including The National, Shudder to Think, Pattern is Movement and the Dirty Projectors, to sing and even rework the The Forms’ lyrics. Walsh referred to it as a deconstruction of their work. He said it was cool for him to see “how someone responds to your own stuff” as each guest artist added something unique to their tracks.

The album’s title, Derealization, means “to feel that the outside world is unreal,” Walsh said. He added that he and Tween treated the process of recreating their music as if nothing but the music mattered.

In fact, all of The Forms’ music is designed to be about the way it makes you feel. Walsh can’t classify their genre because, for him, their music has “never fit square into a genre.” He thinks of his music as a “pure energy” and abstract. When creating music, Walsh wants to tune into the energy the music exerts.

Unlike many bands, The Forms’ don’t focus on lyrics — it’s all about the music. They’re not about life and don’t tell a story, Walsh explained. Tween, who writes the lyrics, just listens to the melody and words come out, according to Walsh. “Certain words pop out of his subconscious,” he said.

The experimental and promotional tour hits the Southgate House on Feb. 19. Walsh reminisced on a show there when a fan repeatedly lined the stage with shots of whiskey (“the good stuff”), which made for a crazy night. The Southgate House will always be in Walsh’s memory, so he is excited to return.

When the EP releases, Walsh wants listeners to “let it sink in” and enjoy it; to just listen and “get something good out of it.”

To get more information and purchase tickets, visit http://www.southgatehouse.com. For more information on The Forms or to pre-order a copy of Derealization, visit http://www.myspace.com/theforms.


Editorial Note: Find out how to win tickets to see The Forms on the back cover of The Northerner’s print edition this week!

Story by Claire Higgins