Lavinia Embrace the Darkness to ‘Remember Happiness’

When it was announced that Lavinia had formed, an uplifting record was expected from the stellar lineup of musicians that included some of Massachusetts' brightest and noteworthy post-rock bands. What 'There is Light Between Us' delivers, though, is a gushing wound of emptiness and dislocation.

"The only real concept I had going into the project was to capture the darkness and emotion that I tend to enjoy from other artists as a music listener," guitarist and frontman Nate Shumaker told Noisecreep. "I honestly thought it would turn out to be a more quiet affair than it turned out to be."

Though the occasional hushed and somber moments crush their way in from time to time, gloom remains the focus. Don't let that mislead you into seeing this side project as one about wallowing in the darker regions of emotion. Shumaker said that it's the complete opposite. "Let's face it, they aren't the happiest bunch of songs in the world. But I guess they always made me remember that there is happiness somewhere, too, and there is an upside to the downside."

Shumaker continued to write with drummer Alex Mihm after leaving the prog-leaning Eksi Ekso, basing songs around riffs he'd originally planned for Eksi Ekso. Soon, Caspian axeman Philip Jaimeson joined in on bass and Josh Megyesy brought in the slide guitar and banjo to add some haunting textures.

"It wasn't always easy," Shumaker said of the juggling it took to create the debut EP around everyone's schedules. "Caspian has a very demanding tour schedule, so we had to work with that. As many of us who could get together did get together and practice and write. We would just play once every week when our schedules would allow, and we just let it happen organically. A lot of the finishing touches of the record and songs were finished in the studio. It's just the way it all worked out."

With plans for a South by Southwest appearance and a handful of dates in the works, we should expect to hear and see more from Lavinia. "As far as recording more, we'll see where things take us, but I know we'd all like to make more records in the future. We all get along very well and there's not a lot of pressure on us to do anything but create music we want to create."