Pop Music Fever Dream gets serious

Photo Credit: Sydney Tate

Post-punk/no wave band Pop Music Fever Dream are dropping their new EP Songs For Emotion tomorrow. Though it started as a solo project led by T. Seeberger, it quickly became a four-piece rounded out by Carmen Castillo (bass/vocals), Nicole Harwayne (guitar/vocals), and Domenico Bancroft (drums).

Seeberger delivers lyrics in a way that fuses impulse and interior monologue over jagged guitars and feedback. The instrumentation accentuates Seeberger’s narration, adding a layer of anxiety, and pushing us toward the edge. Their 2022 debut EP Songs for Promoters, is described by Seeberger as “the sound of scatter-brained chaos and mixed experiences over the last five years of my life.” Songs For Emotion, on the other hand, Seeberger calls “more serious and scary in tone.” The opening track “Another Screen” explores getting sucked into a technology black hole. On “Split,” Seeberger calls out “You don’t know what you’re running from/But it scares you anyway,” begging the question, can we hide from ourselves?

We connected with T. Seeberger to discuss Songs for Emotion, pay phones, tapping into visceral energy, and more.

soundvsystem: Hey T.! It’s soundvsystem!

T. Seeberger: Hi there!

soundvsystem: How are you doing?

T. Seeberger: Pretty good, just walking home from work. Yourself?

SVS: I’m good! Waiting for dinner to arrive hah. Hey so congrats on Songs for Emotion! How would you say this EP fits into the band’s story?

T. Seeberger: Haha love that.

Thx! It was a labor of love. While the first EP was more sardonic and tongue-in-cheek, Songs for Emotion took a more serious and scary tone where I actually explored my personal experiences and emotions. Every song on the record represents some part of my life over the last two years, so it’s definitely a departure from writing about what’s going on around me and giving my opinions on it. As for the music, it was the first time I had a band behind me recording. It was a new experience being able to bounce ideas off people and being able to write more parts for songs. We recorded it over 16 hours in a studio and it was a whirlwind of a time.

soundvsystem: That’s awesome! As a listener, it feels very cohesive and almost like a continuation of the earlier work. When did you start writing the material?

T. Seeberger: Totally makes sense. I didn’t consciously write it as a continuation, but it probably was subconsciously lol. I wrote “Another Screen” in early Oct. 2022 when I was still playing solo with just me, a guitar, and some backing tracks. What really excited me then (and still does now) is that it was a direct extension of my brain. I didn’t set out to write that song, it just came out of me one day and felt really organic. I remember playing it for the first time near the end of that month on a mixed genre bill that I totally didn’t fit in, and it was just so fucking loud live. It was like two times louder back then lol. I was really hyped on it and I knew it could be something special.

Wait, actually! I wrote part of the instrumental that became “Split” in March ‘22. I came up with that earsplitting guitar during the intro and verses and some fucked up blast beat to go behind it. But I don’t count it as the first song written because that’s all I could really figure out. There weren’t lyrics or different sections like the song [has] now until about July ‘23. The lyrics for that song were the last thing I wrote for the record.

I remember writing them on the train ride over to our producer/engineer/mixer/friend Violette Grim’s apartment to record the vocals. I was so scared to be that vulnerable and have it be out there permanently, but I’m glad it’s there. A lot of people who have listened to the EP already say it’s their favorite which is touching.

soundvsystem: Extension of the Brain is a great band name! What I really like about PMFD is that there’s this really interesting struggle between what feels like a reaction and a stream of consciousness. Does tapping into that visceral energy come easy for you?

T. Seeberger: Anyone can steal that name, it’s up for grabs lol. 

My best writing comes from both of those things. I think a lot in my day-to-day for better or for worse. I tend to write a lot of it down in my phone if it’s something I wanna remember. If it’s good enough, I’ll chew on it for a while until it becomes something I can put in a demo. When I’ve tried to write too stream of conscious or too intentionally about something, it usually doesn’t turn out good. Everything kind of has to feel like an extension of me. That’s where that reaction, that stream of conscious, and that visceral energy comes from.

soundvsystem: On “another screen” you explore this inability to look away from our phones. Do you consider yourself a techno-pessimist?

T. Seeberger: Yes and no? Is that allowed? No because technology has vastly improved our quality of living in ways we don’t even notice, but yes because we are also vastly fucked by modern technology in ways that we can’t even begin to comprehend. I really just hope that one day, we can all really revert to some world of techo-essentialism (I don’t know if that’s a phrase, I swear I’m not trying to sound smart!) meaning that we essentially ditch our phones and a lot of the harmful, unnecessary tech that puts capitalism into overdrive and keep, like, modern advancements in medical technology and stuff like that. Let’s get back to pay phones!

soundvsystem: Haha! So down for that! You just announced a tour! What can people expect?

T. Seeberger: People should expect a disturbing yet accessible onslaught of sound, me climbing on stuff, and walking away from our show with a renewed outlook on life lol. Essentially they should bring earplugs and an openness to light chaos. It’s also our first tour ever!

soundvsystem: Sounds legit! Any parting words?

T. Seeberger: Free Palestine and all oppressed nations and Let’s Go Mets.

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Pop Music Fever Dream’s EP Songs for Emotion is out tomorrow on Bandcamp and other streaming platforms. Follow Pop Music Fever Dream on Instagram. Go see Pop Music Fever Dream play live:

10/25 - Philadelphia, PA @ Haus
10/26 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Government Center
10/27 - Louisville, KY @ Cave Valley Kava
10/30 - Austin, TX @ Coral Snake
11/2 - Phoenix, AZ @ Valley Bar
11/3 - Los Angeles, CA @ Teragram Ballroom
11/4 - San Francisco, CA @ Psyched Fest at Great American Music Hall
11/7 - Portland, OR @ Mississippi Studios

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