Photo by Jeremy McGuire

Allsalt is the new band from former Cloakroom drummer, Brian Busch, and much like everything in this universe, their formation within the heavy rock cosmos didn’t just happen overnight. Following his departure from the Midwestern post-shoegaze band in 2019, everything that happened in the world between then and now would ultimately reshape his perspective on writing and recording music, with Busch stepping out from behind the kit and up to the front, all while learning guitar and bass alongside manning the drums. Ritual Abstract, Allsalt’s debut album, is the whole of the celestial body of everything that came out from this period in Busch’s life, sonically framed through an alternative view from space of this Earth where his decades of orbiting around cratering doom metal, ’90s indie rock, and stray signals of shoegaze which have resulted in a sound that isn’t quite a mirror of his past, nor — as you’ll soon read from its creator — a mirror of any other creative being beyond Busch’s own design.

+rcmndedlisten received transmission from Brian Busch’s base in Gainesville to discuss this new phase as an artist, shaking off comparisons and derivative influences when working on his music, being in the studio with Hum’s Matt Talbot, the current state of the Cloakroom multiverse, and doing the whole dang thing again as a touring band.

+rl: Welcome back to Earth. You left Cloakroom at the end of the 2019, and spent some time away from music to recalibrate before stepping back into the studio again. From the sounds of your reddit synopsis on what that time was like, you spent the years in-between learning a handful of new instruments and reconfiguring your relationship with expectation. How are you feeling now that you’re officially on the other end of it all with Ritual Abstract being out in the world?

Brian Busch: First off, I’d just like to say this is the first interview I’ve ever done, so thanks for the interest. The short answer is I’m not even sure I know how I feel right now. The songs on this album aside from “Reference Modes” were all written over two years ago, and the process of getting them from my garage onto a record has been work. I’m sure I’ll be relieved or happy or proud, maybe all of those things at some point, but currently I’m a pretty blank slate.  

+rl: Ahead of pressing play, listeners going into the album should realize that Ritual Abstract isn’t a case of a lesser degree of Cloakroom influence whatsoever. They’re going to be hearing far more metallic weight and space rock waves reverberating through its dense atmosphere than the post-shoegaze of your former band. In the best kind of way, it reminds me of the unchartered territory Cave In ventured into with their interstellar voyages to Jupiter and the subsequent Tides of Tomorrow EP. What influences, if any, were you reaching for across the span of time you spent writing the album.

BB: While I certainly don’t hate that comparison, while writing, I’m pretty intentionally avoiding writing from a place that actively pulls from a specific influence. I’m not dogging on people or bands that do. I just don’t want to be beholden to any specific decision-making process while trying to channel a certain band or artist’s energy. In a perfect world, my musical decision-making will be filtered through my entire life as a music lover. So if I have a melody or chord changes that I’m working with and am looking for some direction, that direction hopefully won’t be dictated by a specific band or artist’s approach based on the similarities. God, I read like a pompous ass. I promise I’m not like this in person. I hope I’m not like this in person. Surely someone would have said something by now.

You recorded the album at Earth Analog with original space rock pioneer Matt Talbot of Hum. Previously, you had worked with him on earlier Cloakroom efforts, but how was that process this time around being that it was your own writing being worked on in the studio?

BB: There were quite a few things about the recording of Ritual Abstract that were different than my previous experiences. Firstly, I recorded most of the parts myself. Usually I’d just record drums the first day or two of a session and then sit around eating mandarin oranges while cheerleading everyone else. This time was a lot more work. Secondly, I knew when I booked the time that Matt was going to be unavailable for large portions of the session, so my buddy Jonathan and I ran a lot of it. I also learned how to spool 2” tape on and off a machine so now I feel pretty confident that I could run a session from start to finish at Earth Analog if needed. 

There of course is a bit of a case of cosmically-fated irony with the album’s release — it came out just one week ahead of Cloakroom’s latest, Last Leg of the Human Table. Do you still keep in touch with your former bandmates enough to know that the timing of the two releases might sync up in a yin and yang of creative energy?

BB: I definitely still keep in touch with Bobby. I love Bobby and Doyle both like brothers but continue to bug Bobby on a regular basis. We talk pretty regularly and I hang with him whenever I’m back in the region, however we did not talk about album release dates or specifics. Oddly enough, we had chosen the exact same release day completely independent of one another but when I found that out, I moved mine up a week. Since it’s a self-release with almost no moving parts, it was pretty easy to do.  

+rl: There’s a full force behind you now as a band, with live members in guitarist Jonathan Hamilton, bassist Jon Reinertsen, and drummer Sal Nason. Where plans does Allsalt have from here?

BB: We’re going to tour and just do the dang thing. We just did a tour up the coast with our buddies and Keep that was awesome. I’m pretty locked up this spring and summer with previous musical commitments, but in the fall, Bobby’s project Documa and Allsalt are trying to do a Midwest tour as an excuse to hang out and eat at our favorite places. I’ve also got a new album’s worth of material I’m chipping away at so that Allsalt albums don’t happen in five year intervals. 

Allsalt’s Ritual Abstract is available now.