Nonconnah Interview: “We’re heart-on-sleeve emotionalists”

While it could be considered difficult for instrumental-based artists to carve out a sound world that is truly their own, Memphis-based Nonconnah successfully navigate through these untrodden recesses.

The duo, consisting of Magpie and Denny Wilkerson Corsa, have spent years tapping into the deep wells of exploration, firstly as Lost Trail then under various other aliases including, but not limited to, American Apathy Towards Space, Pale Horse Equestrian Centre and The Evening Star.

In 2016, the pair called time on Lost Trail, recalibrating under the Nonconnah moniker. The ensuing years have seen the pair spawn over a dozen releases, with Magpie’s elliptical guitar drones and buzzsaw energy underpinned by Denny’s field recordings inspired by politics, religion, paranormal activity, general humour and everything else in between. It all makes for a unique, atmospheric wall of sound likened to those “white light” moments we often hear of.

When artists of this ilk are in constant flow of releasing new music, for new ears it’s hard to know where to start. Last year saw Nonconnah release two albums, firstly Unicorn Family (Mutual Skies) and Shadows from the Walls of Death (Cruel Nature Records), and in the case of the latter, it isn’t the worst place to begin the journey. An album that captures the band’s best moments from both past and present, here Nonconnah open up a vital sound portal for new comers and long-time listeners alike.

Pitting fierce, metallic sonics that are like being swallowed up by outer forces against tender passages that act as soft light through a church’s stained-glass windows, each Nonconnah album is like trip that juxtaposes new and old worlds, but on Shadows from the Walls of Death, it sees the duo at their frightening best.

At the beginning of the year, Magpie Corsa answered some of our questions about the band’s history, their influences and creative process, and more.

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Sun 13: Do you remember the moment when you wanted to pursue music?

Magpie Corsa: “I don’t, actually. I’ve played guitar most of my life but never really considered pursuing music professionally until I was in my mid-twenties, which is a bit late for this field. It was a process of elimination. One day I looked around and realised it was the only thing I really enjoyed doing with my time, at least as an actual career. It took quite a bit of trial and error in other sorts of bands and projects before I realised that experimental/weird music was where I’d prefer to focus my efforts.”

S13: Given that you release a substantial amount of material over a year, is your approach always to work on one album at a time, or have you accumulated recordings over the years and dig from the archives so to speak?

MC: “Definitely the latter. We tend to record in big batches over the course of a couple of years, then set about collaging what we like most into whatever gets released. I’m one of those folks who only likes maybe one out of every ten or twenty things they create, so it’s a bit of an agonising process. I’m blessed to have Denny as an editor with a second opinion. She has a good ear for what ‘works’ best.”

S13: Do you work on music every day?

MC: “I go through spells of recording everyday but it’s important to take breaks when you get a bit overwhelmed by the routine. Of course, pursuing music full-time, like anything else, means a lot of tedious legwork that has nothing to do with actually creating music. There [are] folks out there who legitimately believe that being a full-time musician means hookers and blow on a tour bus and nothing more, but there’s a lot of daily stuff to see to when you’re running any small business. I probably don’t record as much as I’d like to, but we still record much more often than most musicians, especially since we’re doing so at home. Recording is exhausting and frustrating and I love it very, very deeply.”

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S13: Listening to Nonconnah, and there feels like a big emphasis on vast spaces. Was rural psychedelia and bands like Hood and Flying Saucer Attack big influences of yours?

MC: “We get Flying Saucer Attack comparisons fairly often, but I have to admit I’ve never much listened to that project until that beautiful instrumental album that came out a few years ago. Hood, on the other hand, are an obsession of mine. To me they’re one of the most criminally underrated bands of the past thirty-forty years. They’re a beautifully evocative band in terms of conjuring a real sense of place, and a sense of place in music is a rare and magical thing. They certainly tread similar ground to Nonconnah in terms of an obsession with memory and the past, and old technological ephemera.”

S13: I imagine film and TV have also played a big role. For instance, some of the voice overs infuse supernatural themes, which got me wondering… are you big fans of The X Files?

MC: “I watched The X-Files a great deal growing up, as well as its underrated sister show, Millennium. We came about our fixation with the supernatural personally, though. I had a profoundly-affecting supernatural experience when I was sixteen that sort of shaped the course of my life, and naturally a lot of it has found its way into our work. My entire perception of consensus ‘reality’ was altered, and I never really saw things the same way again. Those experiences can change you deeply as a person.”

S13: Onto your latest release, Shadows from the Walls of Death, and I think it’s the record that best represents your whole body of work. Did it feel that way after you’d recorded it?

MC: “We pour over our work so obsessively that once it’s released I usually can’t bring myself to listen to it again. Since we record in these massive batches, it’s hard for me to see certain pieces as detached from others that may have ended up elsewhere. That being said, I did like how that one turned out quite a bit, as it was arranged specifically as a special UK release. That one and Unicorn Family came from the same huge pile of recordings. I like to think we’re improving our approach as we go. Any band should be continuously striving to do what they do better. I don’t see a point otherwise.”

S13: The release came out on Cruel Nature. How important are labels like this for the present and future of both DIY culture and experimental music?

MC: “Cruel Nature is fantastic. They have a reputation for consistency and quality that’s well-deserved. I grow very weary of all these experienced musicians telling kids just starting out that ‘you don’t need a label, man’. I’ve noticed it’s often musicians who’ve had great success with labels turning around and dispensing such profound ‘wisdom’. Labels are still important and always will be, especially from a curation standpoint. A label known for quality is trusted by its listeners. That’s something you can’t get by just posting your music on Bandcamp and leaving it there, lost among millions doing the same.”

S13: Back to your field recordings and voice overs, and I guess they could be construed in different ways. Some may see them as humorous, others more emotional, with a mixture of both. Do you leave it open to interpretation for the listener, and secondly, do you see these passages as important facets of Nonconnah?

MC: “The samples and field recordings are crucial to Nonconnah. I started out making tape loops and sound collages on an old Fostex four-track when I was thirteen, as a hobby. I’m from a small town and I had no idea what I was doing could be considered music or even art. That collage element has stayed with me all these years. Since we usually don’t include traditional vocals, I think juxtaposing the samples and field recordings against the music fills the space where lyrics might be.

“I’m not big on humour in music so if there’s humour there it’s definitely dark and satirical. But we’re not fans of hipster irony, or cynicism or sarcasm. We’re heart-on-sleeve emotionalists. The world’s collapsing, there’s no time to try to look cool and witty. We’re serious about what we’re creating. Godspeed and Set Fire To Flames and the like were formative for me in underlining the power a sample could have when placed against a certain piece of music. There’s an element of Greek chorus to all of it, as melodramatic as that sounds, since we’re so preoccupied with the crumbling of the American empire. All these lost souls, whether we agree with their perspective or not, comprise the fabric of western life in 2024. It’s a matter of trying to stay true to the climate of this strange epoch we find ourselves in.”

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S13: Do you believe that Nonconnah is reflective of your personalities outside of the project, or do you separate the two?

MC: “Yes and no. Nonconnah pretty well reflects my internal life, I think, the things I think about and the things that haunt me. But we’re probably a lot less dour than our music might imply if you don’t know us personally. We’re pretty ridiculous individuals, both of us. Denny approaches field recording and found sound in a very playful manner. Nonconnah’s a perfect outlet for some of the more contemplative sides of ourselves, for sure, but I like to think we’re fairly fun human beings in real life.”

S13: Although sparse, recent tracks like It’s Eschatology! The Musical and Alamo is Pitch Fucking Black contain more conventional-based lo-fi songs that remind me of David Pajo’s solo work: would you consider ever releasing a Nonconnah record steeped in this aesthetic?

MC: “I’ve written more traditional songs with lyrics my entire life, but I generally don’t record and release such things. I think the lyrics are passable enough, but I’m not a fan of my singing voice. I have one friend in New Zealand who won’t rest until I let him release an album along those lines on his label, so maybe someday? It’s Eschatology! was a big risk in my mind. Putting myself out there like that is a bit scary. I have little problem performing instrumental music to crowds, but if I had to sing? Yikes.”

S13: You’ve been in Memphis for a while now. How much do your surroundings influence Nonconnah’s work?

MC: “Memphis is an incredibly special city. Only a certain kind of person would fall in love with this town and want to live here. A lot of folks who’ve never even visited seem to fancy themselves experts about what it’s like here, but they have no idea. There’s a real underdog spirit here that binds us together as a community. The music scene is incredibly supportive, there’s little to no competition or back-biting like I’ve seen in other cities. We look out for each other. Granted, I’m also a person who finds urban decay and post-industrial wastelands really beautiful and inspiring, and Memphis offers plenty of such landscapes. But it’s also a really meaningful, nurturing, unique town. Moving here saved my career 110 percent. I owe Memphis and its support system a great deal for our recent successes.”

S13: You recently signed to Absolutely Kosher Records. How did that come about, and on the back of the announcement, I’m assuming there will be more new music soon?

MC: “Absolutely Kosher was a huge favourite label of mine when I was in college during the mid-’00s indie-rock gold rush. Much of what they’ve released remains some of my very favourite music (Frog Eyes, Sunset Rubdown, The Wrens, Pinback, Xiu Xiu, etc). I was fairly heartbroken when they shut down, and when I heard the label was being resurrected last year I didn’t hesitate to email and ask if we could be a part of the relaunch. Brownbutter already being a fan of our work and being so enthusiastic and supportive of us was and is a career highlight. I trust his taste and instincts implicitly. Our next albums maybe 95 percent done and the following one is 70-80 percent of the way there, so there’s definitely lots of music coming out via AK soon enough. Denny and I are two incredibly lucky people.”

Shadows from the Walls of Death is out now via Cruel Nature Records. Purchase from Bandcamp.