Mood Rings ready to drop debut album

Two years have passed since Atlanta five-piece Mood Rings began assembling its debut album, VPI Harmony, out June 25 via Brooklyn indie label Mexican Summer. From the spectral resonance of “Charles Mansion” to the ethereal guitar and vocal textures of “Exorcised Painting” and “Minor Slaloms,” the album is an 11-song odyssey through lush, sentimental highs and lows. Softly descending pop melodies eschew the simplistic noise of modern trance-pop/shoegaze with haunting elegance. Singer/guitarist Will Fussell, bass player Christopher Alley, guitarist Tymb Gratz, drummer Peter Cauthorn, and synth player/guitarist Seth Bolton have fine-tuned a sound that fits right in with labelmates such as Best Coast, Washed Out, the Fresh & Onlys, Kurt Vile, and dozens of others. With the album’s release date drawing near, Fussell took a moment to talk about signing with Mexican Summer, and what VPI Harmony means to him.

Now that you’ve signed on with the label that helped launch Best Coast and Washed Out, do you feel pressure on the band?

Yeah, but it’s a good feeling. When talking with some of those bands you mentioned, I believe “stepping stone” is the term that was used. They have a great studio (Gary’s Electric) that we used to record VPI Harmony, which is one of the greatest aspects of signing with them.

What did you hope to accomplish with your first record?

We spent two years writing the album, making demos, and hoping that someone would eventually put it out. Our ideas changed over time because we were at different places in our lives, personally and artistically. The record is about us figuring out what we want to do, and the idea is to keep changing. Every song has a new perspective. There can be a similar tone, but the album jumps from soft and dreamy full chords to a taut and faster punk aesthetic to synth pop. Recording the album helped us decide that we weren’t going to settle on one sound, even if we found something we’re good at. We want to keep experimenting.

Who did the cover art?

It’s a relatively unknown Russian artist named Vladislav Yarushin. Allen Taylor (Feast of Violet) showed me that picture, and I knew immediately that I wanted it on the cover. But there’s really nothing else about him on the Internet. It took Mexican Summer a few months to find him, and they paid him a sum of money for the painting. Now it’s on the cover.

Did you intentionally leave Mood Rings’ name off of the cover?

It’s more intriguing that way — you pick it up and think, “What the hell is this? Where’s it from, and what the hell is going on in this crazy bedroom scene?” I think it’s the perfect visual representation of the music: a surrealist dreamscape for all of the sad boys and girls lying in their beds, wondering what they’re going to do tomorrow.

Do you think the songs on VPI Harmony are sad?

The material and emotions behind most of the songs usually have to do with longing, anxiety, depression, or things that people go through. Not to sound like a sad bastard artist, but the lyrics are very personal. I’ve used a lot of effects on my vocals live because I’ve felt uncomfortable about people understanding what I’m singing, mostly because the songs were about people in the room. A song like “The Line” is upbeat, but the lyrics are about realizing that you’re losing something — a relationship or a feeling that you’ve wanted, or a fantasy you’ve dreamt of for a long time. The emotion that I normally feel when singing is — I don’t know if sad is the right word — definitely melancholy. But I’ve always preferred sad songs. They speak to me more.