“There’s something about ambient, ghostly vocals that’s just mesmerizing” – interview with Riversend

We had the opportunity to chat with Riversend, exploring the inspirations behind their music, their journey as artists, and the profound impact they aim to make in the realm of contemporary music. Join us as we uncover the essence of Riversend, a band poised to leave an indelible mark on the music scene.

Hello Olivia and Zack, how are you doing at the moment?

Olivia Horovitz: Hello! We are doing well. How are you?

I’m quite alright, thank you! You have just released your debut album, and I think it’s wonderful. How do you feel when your work is available for everyone to enjoy?

Olivia Horovitz: Thank you so much. It’s pretty surreal to be able to see our name, our album, and our music on any streaming platform. It’s also extremely vulnerable to know that people are listening to your art.

Zack Miranowic: I am relieved because the hard part is over. A lot of time went into these songs, and I’m just glad to finally have it out there for everyone to listen.

Are there any hidden details or symbolism in the fantastic cover art that fans might not immediately notice?

Zack Miranowic: I like to think of it as bookends. If you notice in our first release, “Dreaming“, that single art depicts an earth’s view of the moon. And then with the album art, it’s the moon view of the earth. That was not planned, but it was a happy accident that I happened to notice.

Olivia Horovitz: I had not noticed that detail, but that’s very serendipitous! The cover art for the album, “Riversend”, was supposed to be the artwork for our very first single, “Dreaming“. Since we didn’t go with that, we kept it in our pocket, just waiting. Listeners have described our music as moving them to “another world” or as being “transcending.” Since we have a very atmospheric sound, we felt that this artwork should be our album cover.

As an artist, how do you approach the selection of singles or lead tracks from the album?

Olivia Horovitz: In all honesty, there was no plan at all. We were just releasing singles as we were finishing each song, one by one. We just figured out the next steps as each song was released. When we started “Riversend”, Zack was up for anything with this project; for me, it was kind of touch-and-go because it was my first experience releasing original music, and that really uncomfortable for me. Now that we know what we want out of Riversend, we will have an actual plan of action to release music in the future.

Zack Miranowic: As Olivia said, we were writing them as we were going. We had nothing beyond what we were putting out.

Here at Chaoszine we’re very interested in the inspiration behind the vocals – can you share with us who or what inspires them?

Zack Miranowic: My approach to vocals is to support Olivia’s lead vocal and to provide a layer of depth that creates richness.

Olivia Horovitz: There’s something about ambient, ghostly vocals that’s just mesmerizing. It’s a beautifully haunting vibe that you just want to sink into. As far as inspiration, the song Lucidity by Soen always comes to mind. I hear that song, and I just melt into a dream. It delivers a whole experience, not just a casual listen. So I try to emulate that in my vocal melodies and lyrical themes.

Since our website is based in Finland, are there any Finnish artists that you admire or that you would love to collaborate with?

Olivia Horovitz: This question prompted some research on our part. I really love Nightwish‘s gothic sound and aesthetic. The women that fronted Nightwish, WOW! Now that I have given them a good listen, they have been permanently added to my metal rotation.

I am very pleased with this answer! Your songs would be perfect in a live show setting: do you have any shows planned for this year?

Olivia Horovitz: Not yet. In fact, we are actively trying to put a band together to start playing gigs. We tried just the duet setup with guitar and vocals, but it sounded too empty. The magic is missing. We don’t want to use backing tracks, so we are trying to find some folks to play out with us.

Zack Miranowic: At the moment we have nothing specific lined up, but we’re actively looking to build a live band to perform our music.

Do you think that the AI is good or bad for music?

Olivia Horovitz: I think it’s very situation-dependent. Overall, my answer is it’s not good for music. There’s something sleazy about expression and artwork coming from a robot or computer, especially if a human is taking credit for that work.

Zack Miranowic: I don’t particularly see the appeal beyond comedic purposes. I love listening to James Hetfield sing ’80s one-hit wonders!

I wanted to play a little game with you, if that’s alright. If both of you had a musical superpower, like turning any object into an instrument or summoning a crowd with a single note, what would they be?

Olivia Horovitz: When I sing, my cat tracks me down and attacks me. It would be cool if my singing could summon all the cats, but not to attack me.

Zack Miranowic: I’d like to be the male equivalent of a siren and make people weep with my solos.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview with me! Is there anything else you’d like to add to our readers?

Olivia Horovitz: Thanks so much for the interview. To both your magazine and your readers, thank you for supporting independent artists. Please kindly give us a follow on Facebook, Insta, Spotify, whatever platforms you’re on!