Howlin Rain’s Paste Interview – Looking for New Peak at CMJ

Mansion Songs by Howlin Rain is a snapshot of the artist, found in a position he had not seen himself in before. After 14 years between his old band Comets on Fire (Sub Pop) and Howlin Rain –  Ethan Miller, “All of a sudden, didn’t have any band.” Without a core group of musicians around him, he spiraled into a existential questioning of his career path and value of creative work. Out of this comes the songs found on Mansion Songs. As Paste Magazine points out in their interview, Miller embraced this state of uncertainty by allowing the recording process to be spontaneous and improvisational. He called in members of Portland-based Houndstooth and others from Comets on Fire – all of whom had never played in Howlin Rain, to back his compositions in which they cut in just one or two takes. The album is a loose, soulful, bluesy analysis of solipsism. Read the full feature interview from Paste here. Stations are still getting started with Howlin Rain this week. The album is at #104 and needs your help to break the Top 100 – give it a push!