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Dec 07, 2021 By Caleb Campbell

Early next year, Baltimore duo The Furniture (Michael Kuhl and Matthew Pierce) are set to share their self-titled debut, releasing January 28th via Spanish Prayers. Recorded entirely during a live performance at Baltimore’s Reverb club, the record is a free-form live experimental odyssey, taking inspiration from ‘70s German experimentalists like Cluster, minimalist composers, and fractured psychedelia.

Today, The Furniture are back with “Kontrail,” the latest single off of the record, premiering with Under the Radar.

Just like previous singles “The Sloth” and “Strom,” “Kontrail” is another impressionistic instrumental piece from the duo. Though it was recorded in a small live space, “Kontrail” feels vast and otherworldly, as if you are drawn along into a free-floating celestial journey. Gently pulsating percussion, analog synths, and ambient drones envelop you, pulling you gently into the track’s expansive push and pull dynamic. The result is at once intimate and cinematic, retaining the free-form experimental elements of their influences while adding their own rich textures.

The band says of the song, “As so often is the case with this band, we’ve left certain aspects to chance which is the case with the opening thread that runs throughout the piece. We’ve both interpreted and reacted to it in our own way, as you might an inconspicuous or veiled figure, ultimately taking the song somewhere unexpected.”

Check out the song and the accompanying video here, created by Phillpe Leonard. You can also read below for a brief Q&A with the band where they discuss their inspirations and process.

1. What is the inspiration behind “Kontrail”, What do you want your fans to take away from this single? What does it mean to you personally? Tell us about the video, elaborate on the process of the making of the video?

It’s tough to say where our inspiration comes from directly. Most of our music comes from improvising in the moment and “Kontrail” came out of this process. You could easily say that the inspiration for “Kontrail” came from the energy that we were experiencing as we were playing but it most likely came from a deeper source. It’s a truly rewarding process for us and we hope the listener can participate in the same process of adventure and discovery each time they listen. As for our process in making the video we leave that all up to Phillpe Leonard. He’s the master behind that. We love everything he does.

2. Can you share a bit about your songwriting process? And what you think makes a good song?

As mentioned before most of our material comes out of improvisation. We rely on our history of playing together as well as our experience of just being in the music life to come up with our material. To be honest we barely talk about what we are going to play before we play. But we constantly talk about music and share music with each other so when it’s time to play it seems like the music is already written. That trust and honesty for us are two of the main ingredients that go into writing/improvising a good song.

3. How has Baltimore influenced the music you make?

Baltimore is an interesting city. It’s a city that can allow you to be who you really want to be artistically. It has a little bit of everything but it’s not too cliquey. You can hear musicians crossing genres here all the time coming up with some fresh stuff. That openness and freeness has definitely had an influence on how we make our music.

4. Can you elaborate on the influence of the German 70’s experimental era? How does it translate to your own music?

I think we share an aesthetic that maybe eschews traditional song structure in favor of a more linear approach. There’s a propulsion and forward movement both rhythmically but also in that we touch upon ideas almost like we’re passing through them, steadily moving forward. Also, there’s the mixing of the analog and the synthesized, using found objects and an ambient component as well. Perhaps in the tradition of bands like Cluster or Harmonia.

5. How have you been spending your pandemic time?

We’re just trying to ride this out the best we can just like everybody else. But there have been some silver linings. We’ve had more time to rehearse and dig into and develop some new ideas. Mike has been compulsively adding new percussion instruments and sounds to his arsenal and has been itching to give them a test run. So, we are trying to put our best foot forward into whatever happens in the new musical frontier.