Band Profile: Morte Point

Fresh from a brooding debut performance at London's 229 the Venue, we're psyched to present Morte Point. Expect tumbling rhythms, spacious, menacing guitar work over delicate vocal melodies and throbbing bass lines:

 'Morte Point are the kind of band you'd see in the bar of a Lynch film: noirish, dreamy and unsettling. They take their cues from rock's minimalist past, but the shadowy world they create is entirely their own. Plaintive vocals are underscored by hushed music ranging from dolorous minor key melodies to droning build-ups, but in all of which: Every. Note. Counts.

http://mortepoint.bandcamp.com/ ' 

We asked Morte Point for some literary reference points, and quickly learned that this is possibly the most literary band we've ever worked with - a perfect storm of Bands & Books:

Richard (Guitar):

At the moment I'm just about to finish Philip Roth's Everyman, and my next books will be Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian and Scarlett Thomas' Our Tragic Universe, both of which I'm taking on holiday. I also recently re-read The Sheltering Sky by Paul Bowles and Simon Reynolds' Retromania - a brilliant analysis of our nostalgic music scene.

A recent discovery is Edward Thomas' poetry, and I rediscovered Raymond Carver's short story collections. I'm looking forward to reading Cathedral, which I just bought. I also loved the film of The Hunger Games, which is a great adaptation of a fantastic children's novel.

I was recently inspired by the triumvirate of novels from American heavyweight authors Jonathan Franzen, Jennifer Egan and Jeffrey Eugenides: Freedom, A Visit From The Goon Squad and The Marriage Plot are three of the best novels I have ever read and proof that the American novel is as healthy as ever.
Writers I am intending to read soon: 
James M Cain
Elizabeth Bishop
Elizabeth Bowen 

Saphia (vocals):

Where to start!

I think it would be fair to say that our music is inspired by a number of books and their characters. With particular songs we've been influenced by 'Infinite Jest', Cormac McCarthy, Anne Sexton, 'The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn', Ted Hughes, Annie Proulx, Virginia Woolf. All of the good depressing ones!

I'm currently reading ‘The Growth of the Soil’ by Knut Hamsun. I’m quite fond of epic novels from other eras that sprawl through the dramatics of a family history, love, war, sodomy and all. So 2 of my favourite authors are Steinbeck and Gabriel García Márquez.

I just finished re-reading ‘The Sound and the Fury‘, it’s wonderful and always bizarre,  I love it when he Faulkner writes about the smell of the night and the sound of death. I’d have to echo Richard about Jennifer Egans ‘ A Visit from the Good Squad’ and Franzens ‘Freedom’ which I recently read too, both amazing, as well as 'The Road' by Cormac McCarthy, which was beautiful.

On a more upbeat level, the graphic novel 'Kiki De Montparnasse' it’s wonderful too.

We are the book band.

Catch Morte Point playing with God’s Mama, alongside performances from writers Molly Naylor and Abigail Tarttelin at Bands Books Spring, Powerlunches Arts Café on Sunday 29^th April from 7:30, pre-order cheaper tickets here