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•artistsonline’
FEBRUARY 18.2011
WWW.JUSTOUT.COM
At Risk of Change
ALICIA J
Holcombe Waller’s journey
Into the Dark Unknown persists
BY RYAN J. PRADO
It depends on when—exactly where, why, with this album,”says Waller, 35, between sips
how—you’re visiting Holcombe Waller’s new of coffee in a bustling North Portland coffee-
album Into the Dark Unknown that will deter shop. “I think in some ways th at’s a step back
mine its sentimentality for you. That the album ward from the kind o f idea when I was putting
will trigger an eruption o f inimitably potent out the Winter Songs."
Winter Songs was what Waller created to es
nostalgia is a foregone conclusion the second
you hit “play”—hut in what ways exactly re tablish “iterative, song-by-song” releases for all
main, obviously, subjective. I.est you feel iffy future recordings—a plan hatched at the height
about such a nebulous aural proposition, rest of his Kickstarter campaign, which successfully
assured: You won’t be alone. Waller himself is raised funds for the final production costs of
still reevaluating the album; after all, he wrote a Dark Unknown last year. Waller released songs
majority of the songs five years ago.
as they were recorded, or as demos were being
“Into the Dark Unknown:
considered for recording, to
“I
feel
like
the
late
twenties
The Hope C hest” was
his website, where listeners
Waller’s grand 2009-10 and early thirties are rife
would then have the chance
touring production, pitting
to help choose which tracks
with
offensive
awakening
his most cerebral composi
would end up on the album.
tions to date against his af and great connections, and
At the time, Waller was
finity for visual arts and
bristling with excitement at
it
actually
kind
of
goes
away
multidisciplinary
expres
the effect this would have
sion. dhe theatrical folk and you're left there with
not only on his new album,
show reached cities across
hut his future songwriting.
the United States, Canada these memories of great
More importantly, the pe
and even as far as Croatia.
rennial independent was fi
inspiration and epiphany.
Though the songs per
nally seeking help.
I’m
not
so
able
to
recreate
formed on the tour had al
“If there’s one title I
ready reached a wide audi those anymore.”
think you should put for
ence—with help from his
this article, it’s ‘Holcombe
— HOLCOMBE WALLER
musical
ensemble
The
Waller Needs an Intern,”’
Healers—Waller’s decision to actually release says Waller, not entirely disingenuously.
the songs on an album did not come without “That’s the only thing I’m really trying to fig
its share of self-reflection. In fact, this may be ure out, is how to find people who might like
the last proper album released by Waller, to work with me. I don’t know who those
whose previous efforts have been hailed by the people are.”
likes o f Revolver and SPIN.
D uring the recording o f Dark Unknown,
“I don’t think I’m necessarily going to make Waller was still crisscrossing the country for
another record and push a release like I have “The Hope C hest,” raising funds for the al
bum, writing a film score for David Weiss-
man’s documentary We Were Here, and in all
likelihood conjuring the cosmic molecules
that will later this year become his latest cre
ation, tentatively called “Surfacing”— a m ulti
disciplinary dance and music piece for which
he recently received a sizable grant from the
Regional Arts &, Culture Council.
“I get spread thin between these projects,
which I really do put my all into,” relates Waller,
who moved to Portland in 2005 from San
Francisco. “It’s harder for me to maintain basic
things like friendships, personal health, good
sleeping patterns,” he laughs. “More and more,
I’m trying to prioritize those things.”
One of the ways Waller’s done that is by
working with Portland photographer and film
maker Alicia J. Rose. Through this partnership,
Waller has been able to realize more folly a
relatively new aspect o f his creative impulses—
the music video. Rose co-directed and shot the
clip for “Bored of Memory,” which premiered
on Out.com in January.
“In collaborating on that video, she just
became privy to everything I was working on,”
explains Waller. “I t’s the first time anyone has
ever really been there helping me. I’ve tried
working with others, and in the end I’m very
particular about how everything gets done. I t’s
an interesting experiment.”
But Waller’s work with Rose on “Bored of
M em ory” is just the tip o f the video iceberg.
In fact, it’s W aller’s intention to include video
content for almost everything he produces for
the foreseeable future, including several videos
or other visual stimuli for tracks off o f Dark
Unknown.
“I’ve been fantasizing that when I finish
this album— in a sense because o f how old
some o f the songwriting is— [that in the fu-
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