Rhythmically intriguing and poetically profound, Raven King has a sound that is striking to the ear. The eccentric musical duo defies any certain genre-type, pulling different styles of rock, grunge, indie, and groove into their music. In the lead up to their March 25th album release, Veni Vedi Verti, the band has released a brand new art-rock single called “The Great Divide.”
In this interview spotlight, I chat with Raven King about the new single, adapting during a pandemic, technology and more.
Full Q&A along with links and music below.
Where are you from and how do You describe your style of music?
We’re from Providence, RI. We like to think of ourselves as “art-grunge.”
How did you get here? As in, what inspired or motivated you to take on this journey through music and the music biz?
Music has always been a significant part of our lives, and though therapeutic playing it on its own, connecting with listeners is really what it’s all about.
How does “The Great Divide” and more specifically, your upcoming album, Veni Vedi Verti, compare with your previous release?
We’ve matured a bit more as song writers, trying to write more from the perspective of what we’d like to hear from a song, both stylistically and structure-wise. Our first album was a bit more focused on the act of writing for the sake of itself. And lyrically–while we’re still no stranger to the strange–we’ve become a bit more earnest in how we relate to the struggles that make us all human.
Were you setting out to accomplish anything specific, follow a specific theme, or explore different styles of creation?
The big theme that has always run through our compositions is presenting our frequently unorthodox rhythmic and harmonic tendencies in the most accessible manner. We wanted everything to groove.
Name the biggest challenge you faced as a creative during these unprecedented times? How did you adapt? How have you kept the creative fires burning during all this?
There was a long period at the beginning where everything was paused, of course. That’s always tough, and it was very touch-and-go.We’re extremely fortunate in that we’re self-recording, so after the initial 6-9ish months (time’s been weird to account for during all of this), the work on the album started trickling back to somewhat steady flow as we acclimated to each individual’s comfort levels. As for maintaining creative fires, a large portion of that is just showing up to the work.
What was the last song you listened to?
“Fratres” by Arvo Pӓrt
Which do you prefer? Vinyl? 8-tracks? Cassettes? CDs? MP3s? Streaming platforms?
I do and always will love vinyl; though we’re living in a world super digitally connected, which I think is fantastic, since you get to plumb unexplored musical depths with such ease (more or less, anyways).
Where is the best place to connect with you and follow your journey?
You can check us out on ravenkingmusic.com where we’ll be keeping the most up to date information on what’s going on with us. You can follow us on instagram @ravenkingband for more informal updates on our world (as well as for infrequent musical-musings).
I really appreciate your time. Anything else before we sign off?
I hope you all enjoy our new songs. Thank you!
