EST: Communes with the other worldly Frequencies. ListenSD catches up with Chris Braciszewski and teams up with Half Way Home Sessions, to see what this “Electronic Social Transformation” is all about.
ListenSD: This band is made up people who’ve all had their individualistic projects in the San Diego music scene — tell me how and why this band formed?
Chris Braciszewski: The band formed by chance when all the members coincidentally were at a Soda Bar show last year. Mystery Cave was opening and premiered a live remix of a Shamanest and Keith Sweaty collaboration “Shug Knight and Good Luck”. At this show Charlotte was introduced to us in conversation. This twist of fate lead to us sharing an understanding that music, nature, and philosophy were the major influences in the journey were were all sharing. John and Chris had played shows alongside each other’s projects for years, John’s being Mystery Cave, Trip Advisor, and Language of Flowers, and Chris’ more recent solo moniker Shamanest after putting his main music project Snuffaluffagus on hiatus, while playing in the band lowlands alongside legends of the Swami school and SD killwave crew that he connected with in while living in New York.
LSD: What has been the writing process, how did your composition styles change since you’re working as a trio and not alone anymore?
CB: The first EST demos were songs started with a dear friend who has since left this earth. “Crystalized/Acropolis” are a sonic memorial to that companionship. From there Charlotte has introduced her songwriting debut for our follow-up EP The Everies, due out by end of 2019. These were produced as a team and we are now transitioning into more collaborative work for a full-length album.
LSD: I notice on the EPK that you listed your roles as the following: Charlotte Noelle Miller – Heart, Christopher Ryan Braciszewski – Head, John Christopher Harris – Hands, why?
CB: Charlotte is whole-heartedly and unabashedly radiant with compassion for the natural world: A true diamond in the rough with edges sharp enough to cut a nail. This is why she represents the heart.
Im pragmatic yet adventurous, willing and able to weigh risk and reward to find the best possible outcome while being able to multitask through the complex maze that today’s perceptive requires. He represents the head.
John is carpenter of sound and a talent like not many we see these days. He plays from his heart and his head but uses his hands to express himself. This project proves his ability to do just that. He represents the hands.
LSD: Where are your influences coming from — you mentioned botany? How would you describe your sound?
CB: All things frequency-related have a source. Our source lies in the theory that plants and humans have evolved side by side and inhibit similar responses to environment and genetics. This mirror into the natural word creates an allegory for our specific expressed sequence tags or markers in DNA that cause differentiation which can be accentuated or suppressed by environmental factors. In a world of electronic social transformation, we are unique in how we adapt. Using our own philosophy on sonic color, palettes based on emotive and thematic content we are staying true to a songwriting paradigm that utilizes genre specific expressions to further generate a full idea. We can truly say that EST represents the micro and macro influences life and the natural world have on us all.
LSD: What is the meaning and purpose of EST?
CB: EST is a vector for communication through the existential bindings of our shared human experience. With its allusion to Erhard Seminar Training as an extension of the human potential movement. We are here to aid in the expression that as humans we have so much untapped knowledge that can aid in the access to bettering ourselves and this understanding can help us all adapt to the externality of the ever changing world through creativity as expression and art as experience.
Interview by: Rory Morison
EST Tour Dates:
5/8 San Diego, CA @ Space Bar W/ Leggy, Battery Point (Soda Bar Presents) 5/13 Los Angeles at Zebulon W/ Omni (Sub-Pop) 5/20 San Diego, CA @ Casbah w/Hexa, John Eroll, DJ Jon Blaj 5/24 Portland, OR @ Love Craft W/ Lorna Dune (Lobit Landscapes) 5/25 Seattle, WA @ Victory Lounge W/ Lorna Dune (LoBit Landscapes)