Yianna (Vouna)
SPB: How did you choose the guest artists for this record?
Yianna: Everyone was a very natural addition to the record:
Autumn Kassel and Caitlin Fate were both members of the live line-up at the time, before they both moved to New Orleans. Autumn had been playing the synth interlude of What Once Was live and Caitlin had improvised the lap steel part in Highest Mountain while we were practicing it, but on guitar. When I recorded the record I thought it would be nice for both of them to contribute their respective (awesome) parts, and therefore be immortalized as part of Vouna.
I had been helping Asia Kindred Moore record Solace, which is her incredible dark ambient harp project, and I thought harp would be very fitting for Highest Mountain. She had also been using distortion on her harp so there’s a bit of that in Vanish buried at the end. While recording Socale, Asia brought in Entrail who plays violin. Vouna and Entrail had shared the stage prior to that and I always loved their talent of expressing emotion through their instruments, especially the violin. They really delivered on Vanish, effortlessly capturing the essence of what I wanted to express towards the end of that song.
Nathan Weaver from Wolves in the Throne Room has been a big supporter of the project since I was just making GarageBand demos in my bedroom. He helped me record my first album along with his brother Aaron Weaver after hearing my first demos. There’s a good chance that if they hadn’t helped me record that first album I would still just be making bedroom demos and releasing super cult tapes rather than vinyl. As soon as I realized I needed another “character” in Vanish I thought Nathan’s voice would be perfect for the part, and due to his history of support for Vouna I also liked the idea of him stepping out from behind the technical side and contributing musically to the album.
Each musician expanded the sound of the album more than I could have anticipated. While it was important to me for the first album to be 100% performed and written by myself, after my experiences working with guest musicians on Atropos I anticipate more collaborations on future recordings.
