Photo courtesy of Sarah O’DriscollGirls in Uniform write music that's equal parts unsettling and fun. The six songs on their new EP, entitled "." (or full stop), combine harsh and chaotic beats with candy-coated, high-pitched vocals to create a sound that's intensely enjoyable. It's like getting caught in a torrential downpour of pop hooks. In a good way.The music comes from Brooklyn-based producer, Nicole Brenny, who has taken on the daunting task of combining industrial music with pop. Her unique brand of "accessible industrial," as she calls it, is complimented by the visuals of Montreal-based artist Danica Olders. The two recently released their EP on VHS with a 36-minute video complimenting the music. The section for the song "Love > Everything Else" features a collage of masks, candles, and silly string at the freakiest birthday party ever. We recently spoke with the duo about their unique approach to music, their interest in industrial, and their bizarrely awesome visual style.Noisey: What got you started in production?
Brenny: When I was young I wanted to be a pop star. As I got older I started to move in that direction since I was in Minnesota there was a real lack of producers to work with. I began teaching myself production so I could make the music I heard in my head. I have found that I actually really enjoy it. Now, my production technique has as much to do with the concepts I am trying to convey as the song itself. My first recordings were done on a hi-8 video camera, then an I-phone and later a Lenovo laptop using the internal mic and free-ware. Don’t worry… I’ve since upgraded.You seem to enjoy mixing pop melodies and vocals with abrasive textures. Why does that contradiction appeal to you?
Brenny: Maybe it’s because my Venus is in Gemini and I like a good contradiction or perhaps it’s because I’m indecisive, but more likely… I like balance whether it be in a perfect meal, painting or a song. There is nothing worse than an over-salted dish and I feel that adding the sweetness of the pop melodies into the mix balances the songs in a way that really appeals to me.Is there something you find appealing about playing with listeners' comfort zones?
Brenny: I haven’t really thought about that while producing any of my tracks, but what I am aware of is how I am reacting to the different sounds and textures while I am creating them. I like to see how far I can take things. There were moments when I pushed my drum machine so hard that it completely quit working. I suppose I never thought of how other people would react to the varying EQs of the drum tracks, the clipping or the general distortion of everything. I just knew that I was into it and excited about it so I shaped those textures into songs and decided to worry about people’s reactions later and only if I felt like it.Olders: With my live visuals, I like to make things move quickly, add strobe effects and make it quite flashy and abrasive. I know that it may be hard for some people to look at. Sometimes, I consider flashing the "if you feel dizzy, look away for a few moments" disclaimer. I think it’s important to push boundaries. Sometimes making people feel uncomfortable is part of the art form. That being said, they are generally nice to look at.What first drew you to industrial music?
Brenny: I was never properly introduced to industrial music until after I started making my album and was trying to figure out what it was that I was creating. Being in Montreal and going to the local shows I think I was subconsciously picking up on some of the area’s industrial influence. It wasn’t really my intention to make an industrial album when I began writing the songs for the project.About halfway through the making of my album my boyfriend at the time introduced me to Throbbing Gristle, which blew my mind. I then learned a bit about Skinny Puppy and Ministry, which I like, but do not worship by any means and embarrassingly… I only consciously started listening to Aphex Twin a couple months after I finished writing the album. I know I had heard it a million times, but I wasn’t aware and now half of the music in my iTunes is Aphex Twin, Claude Debussy and house music, haha.Olders: I still dislike house music, but industrial music is cool.What made you decide to add accessibility to industrial?
Olders: The word itself is accessible. It's like giving a rating to a video game. "Warning, this music can be enjoyed by more than one person. You might like this music. It can be understood." Especially with a word like industrial in reference to pop music, accessible helps illustrate that the core of the project is essentially pop music.Brenny: Before Girls in Uniform I had a pop project called Vague-à-bonde. I really love pop music and pop melodies come very naturally to me so they organically found their way into the mix. I also think there is value in creating something that people can easily resonate with, which I feel I am still mastering. I think I enjoy being understood and my pop sensibility might be a symptom of that.How did you two go about pairing the music with visuals?
Olders: I make what I make, and sometimes I make stuff to go with the music but I find that it just goes together naturally. The first images I used with Nicole’s music were animated evolutions from paintings I made to express life in a confusing and sometimes claustrophobic social scene. I only began learning animation last fall. With some super simple loops that I mixed with live footage I shot. I threw them into modul8 for the live shows and BAM. My animation has come a long way since then, but I still have so much more to learn. Over the next few shows my live visuals set will be changing drastically as I gather the perfect combination of tools to play the intricate compositions I've designed.Brenny: Danica and I became really good friends when I was living in Mile End. She first designed my cassette tape cover for “The Fortune Tapes”- a limited edition tape we made to promote the single “Like a Star.” She also made a t-shirt for the release that I really loved. During that time we casually talked about maybe using her artwork live, because Danica wanted to get into VJ-ing. But then Danica just sort of showed up to my show with her projections and I was eternally grateful that she did. She’s been working on visual elements for the music ever since. It’s really fun to work with my best friend on the project and we never run out of ideas or things to talk about and rarely do we ever get bored.Why did you pick the VHS medium - was it inspired by the music in any way?
Brenny: It was actually Danica’s idea. She suggested making a VHS as a joke one night when we were watching rom-com tapes, but I took her seriously and then started rattling off a million ideas about the logistics of the tape release- how it would look and how we could put it together. I don’t know if Danica was just trying to humor me or if she was actually that excited about the project, but we ended up spending the next 6 months working on it and now it exists IRL.The VHS tape wasn’t necessarily inspired by the music, but we both agreed that the warmth of the medium would enhance the music. We were also interested in the variations amongst different VHS tapes. We recorded over existing tapes- some were older and some newer. Having the tape warble a bit was actually something we were going for- so we are hoping some of the tapes have captured that sound!Olders: I remember saying "why don't you just do your album on VHS," sort of as a joke and maybe to get her to stop talking about the album. LITTLE DID I KNOW… it would be one of the most condensed and stressful work periods I've undergone since University. I lived in my studio for almost two months finishing this project. It really tested the limits of our friendship and I think made us strangely closer. I think it makes sense to put it on VHS. Both of our processes for this project are so heavily tied to the contrast between analogue and digital forms. For the videos, we made them by hand, recorded them digitally, rendered them on the computer and then transferred them to DVD and then back to analog.How would you compare the Brooklyn and Montreal music worlds - at least as far as your scene is concerned?
Brenny: In Montreal there is a lot of acceptance and love from the music community- people are collaborative as opposed to competitive and people have more time to go and see shows. The music is really experimental and fresh, because people aren’t chasing money as much as they are in NYC.Just to preface, I am still figuring out the BK scene. So far I feel that everyone here is really sweet, but I don’t feel a strong sense of community like I felt in Montreal. People need to plan well in advance if they are want to make it to shows and a lot of my musician friends (aside from the successful ones) are really struggling to pay their basic living expenses which makes them sort of resent music. It’s just a whole different thing. And then there is the strong industry presence, which I find really interesting. Musicians and industry people commingle a lot in Brooklyn.Olders: Personally, I think the art scene is stronger in NYC than it is in Montreal. It's sort of the grass is greener with us in this situation. Nicole wants to be here where she can work as a musician and I want to be there where the fine art scene is bigger and there is more money to be spent on purchasing art.What's next? Any new projects on the horizon? Touring plans?
Olders: We're thinking about a mini tour. I really would love to travel anywhere the project takes us. Eat pizza and tacos in all the different places. Collect more footage, become inspired and build upon pre existing concepts.Brenny: I am currently writing new songs and working to make my live show a bit more involved. We’re planning a couple of music videos that I am quite excited about as well. In the interim we have some GIU remixes about to be released and a handful of upcoming shows in NYC and MTL.Greg Bouchard is a writer living in Toronto. He's on Twitter.---Motel Raphael is all about Montreal.We got animated with Le Trouble's new video.Vilify is the most important DJ in Montreal.
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Brenny: When I was young I wanted to be a pop star. As I got older I started to move in that direction since I was in Minnesota there was a real lack of producers to work with. I began teaching myself production so I could make the music I heard in my head. I have found that I actually really enjoy it. Now, my production technique has as much to do with the concepts I am trying to convey as the song itself. My first recordings were done on a hi-8 video camera, then an I-phone and later a Lenovo laptop using the internal mic and free-ware. Don’t worry… I’ve since upgraded.You seem to enjoy mixing pop melodies and vocals with abrasive textures. Why does that contradiction appeal to you?
Brenny: Maybe it’s because my Venus is in Gemini and I like a good contradiction or perhaps it’s because I’m indecisive, but more likely… I like balance whether it be in a perfect meal, painting or a song. There is nothing worse than an over-salted dish and I feel that adding the sweetness of the pop melodies into the mix balances the songs in a way that really appeals to me.Is there something you find appealing about playing with listeners' comfort zones?
Brenny: I haven’t really thought about that while producing any of my tracks, but what I am aware of is how I am reacting to the different sounds and textures while I am creating them. I like to see how far I can take things. There were moments when I pushed my drum machine so hard that it completely quit working. I suppose I never thought of how other people would react to the varying EQs of the drum tracks, the clipping or the general distortion of everything. I just knew that I was into it and excited about it so I shaped those textures into songs and decided to worry about people’s reactions later and only if I felt like it.
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Brenny: I was never properly introduced to industrial music until after I started making my album and was trying to figure out what it was that I was creating. Being in Montreal and going to the local shows I think I was subconsciously picking up on some of the area’s industrial influence. It wasn’t really my intention to make an industrial album when I began writing the songs for the project.About halfway through the making of my album my boyfriend at the time introduced me to Throbbing Gristle, which blew my mind. I then learned a bit about Skinny Puppy and Ministry, which I like, but do not worship by any means and embarrassingly… I only consciously started listening to Aphex Twin a couple months after I finished writing the album. I know I had heard it a million times, but I wasn’t aware and now half of the music in my iTunes is Aphex Twin, Claude Debussy and house music, haha.Olders: I still dislike house music, but industrial music is cool.
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Olders: The word itself is accessible. It's like giving a rating to a video game. "Warning, this music can be enjoyed by more than one person. You might like this music. It can be understood." Especially with a word like industrial in reference to pop music, accessible helps illustrate that the core of the project is essentially pop music.Brenny: Before Girls in Uniform I had a pop project called Vague-à-bonde. I really love pop music and pop melodies come very naturally to me so they organically found their way into the mix. I also think there is value in creating something that people can easily resonate with, which I feel I am still mastering. I think I enjoy being understood and my pop sensibility might be a symptom of that.How did you two go about pairing the music with visuals?
Olders: I make what I make, and sometimes I make stuff to go with the music but I find that it just goes together naturally. The first images I used with Nicole’s music were animated evolutions from paintings I made to express life in a confusing and sometimes claustrophobic social scene. I only began learning animation last fall. With some super simple loops that I mixed with live footage I shot. I threw them into modul8 for the live shows and BAM. My animation has come a long way since then, but I still have so much more to learn. Over the next few shows my live visuals set will be changing drastically as I gather the perfect combination of tools to play the intricate compositions I've designed.
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Brenny: It was actually Danica’s idea. She suggested making a VHS as a joke one night when we were watching rom-com tapes, but I took her seriously and then started rattling off a million ideas about the logistics of the tape release- how it would look and how we could put it together. I don’t know if Danica was just trying to humor me or if she was actually that excited about the project, but we ended up spending the next 6 months working on it and now it exists IRL.The VHS tape wasn’t necessarily inspired by the music, but we both agreed that the warmth of the medium would enhance the music. We were also interested in the variations amongst different VHS tapes. We recorded over existing tapes- some were older and some newer. Having the tape warble a bit was actually something we were going for- so we are hoping some of the tapes have captured that sound!
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Brenny: In Montreal there is a lot of acceptance and love from the music community- people are collaborative as opposed to competitive and people have more time to go and see shows. The music is really experimental and fresh, because people aren’t chasing money as much as they are in NYC.Just to preface, I am still figuring out the BK scene. So far I feel that everyone here is really sweet, but I don’t feel a strong sense of community like I felt in Montreal. People need to plan well in advance if they are want to make it to shows and a lot of my musician friends (aside from the successful ones) are really struggling to pay their basic living expenses which makes them sort of resent music. It’s just a whole different thing. And then there is the strong industry presence, which I find really interesting. Musicians and industry people commingle a lot in Brooklyn.
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Olders: We're thinking about a mini tour. I really would love to travel anywhere the project takes us. Eat pizza and tacos in all the different places. Collect more footage, become inspired and build upon pre existing concepts.Brenny: I am currently writing new songs and working to make my live show a bit more involved. We’re planning a couple of music videos that I am quite excited about as well. In the interim we have some GIU remixes about to be released and a handful of upcoming shows in NYC and MTL.Greg Bouchard is a writer living in Toronto. He's on Twitter.---Motel Raphael is all about Montreal.We got animated with Le Trouble's new video.Vilify is the most important DJ in Montreal.