UK-based noise rock outfit Schande shared a new single, “We’re Not Twins.” It’s the latest preview of their new album Once Around due for release via Thurston Moore’s The Daydream Library Series label.
Thurston says: “Hits me like an early Creation Records gem with a bit of classic Feelies energy yet altogether new and NOW. Schande is happening.”
Frontwoman Jen Chochinov explains, “The title is from Ron Howard’s 1984 movie ‘Splash,’ which we like to quote when we’re having dufus moments. The song is not about ‘Splash,’ (sadly, I know) yet is about owning and repairing your habits that make you act like a dufus, a dingus, or somewhere dufus/dingus adjacent. Sometimes you have to take a hard look in the mirror and take stock of the ways that insecurity, pride, and stubbornness affect your relationships.”
Inspired by the works of writers such as Hannah Arendt and Adriana Cavarero, Once Around focuses on notions of personal existence and subjectivity. As Chochinov puts it, the record consists of “contemplations on the ways in which we do and do not disclose ourselves to each other, our responsibilities towards ourselves and others, and the ways we do or do not acknowledge the experiences of others.” Mirrored by the band’s collaborative musical process (Chochinov writes the lyrics to instrumentals formed out of jams and group revision), the album aims to explore the ways in which even the most personal journeys depend on others, something the band of expats — Chochinov is from the US, drummer Ryan Grieve hails from Canada, and bassist Gio Villaraut is from Italy — navigate daily as they establish and reinvent themselves in their adoptive home of the UK.
Schande’s current sound was shaped by Chochinov’s stint playing in the Thurston Moore Guitar Ensemble, led by the legendary frontman of Sonic Youth. On the heels of playing with the group, Chochinov started experimenting with alternative tunings, including those she learned from Thurston himself. The freedom offered by new tunings gave the band a chance to approach songs and song writing in a new way. “It was like being given free reign in a science lab where nothing was off limits. At worst you create an awful sound and at best you get the chance to surprise yourself and land on something exciting.”
The Daydream Library Series independent record label just celebrated five years in operation. Thurston & Eva founded the label in 2018 to release the debut album Sistahs by London’s black, feminist, punk band Big Joanie and have since released recordings by Xopher Davidson, Seafoam Walls, Devon Ross, Katherina Bornefeld, Las Nubes and others.
