The Road to Roadburn: Under The Influence with Rachel Davies from Esben and the Witch

“Everything’s changed and nothing’s changed,” says vocalist Rachel Davies of new album, Hold Sacred. “This kernel is the purest essence of Esben and the Witch since our inception.” Celebrating their return after a four-year hiatus, Esben and the Witch reveal all they hold sacred in their mesmerising sixth LP, and a performance at Roadburn Festival in just two days time. . .

Esben and the Witch – comprising Rachel Davies, Thomas Fisher and Daniel Copeman – began in Brighton in 2008, later decamped to Berlin, and is now split three ways across the UK, Germany and the US. In the summer of 2019, the band retreated to a villa outside of Rome, with no expectations or pressures but simply the intention to enjoy each other’s company and see what musical inspiration may arise from that. This is where the rough sketches of the songs that would form Hold Sacred came to be.

The songs that were emerging were different than any previous. They’re brooding, gentle, almost ambient; there are no live drums, and the instrumentals comprise simple, sparse guitar and keys. The band used no outside producers or engineers, keeping the process limited to the three of them from start to finish — harkening back to the spirit of their earliest days when Copeman would record them in his bedroom and bathroom.

“I feel proud of us for staying strong as a trio, as a weird little family that has managed to create something out of the darkness that hopefully shimmers, like a crystal in the mud,” says Davies. “I am proud of not giving up, of maintaining our integrity throughout. This is the sound of three people who love and support each other, navigating the ever present figure of the black dog; and if we can provide help or solace for anyone else, also haunted, then that is value enough.”

We wondered what outside music might have inspired the band while they were cocooned in the Italian countryside, so we asked Rachel to choose three records that had influenced both them and their new direction with Hold Sacred.

Jefre Cantu-Ledesma – Tracing Back The Radiance

Just sublime. This record became such a friend the last few years. In so many moments of stress and anxiety, I’ve lost track of how many times I would put this record on as a soothing balm to the chaos of the everyday. Listening to this on busy commutes, eyes closed whilst sun streams through the window or slipping into a warm bath when the dark cold encroaches, escaping for 41 minutes into a realm of pure bliss.

It feels almost spiritual. The brushed snare sounds like cicadas, the enveloping sound panning around like the afternoon sun, hazy and dreamlike, where time has no meaning and summer is eternal. It sounds like light to me, an REM dream where you’re truly relaxed, caught in between worlds. We wanted our record to have moments like this, a depth to the sound that could provide an antidote to the loud brashness of reality. To feel like a blanket, comforting and calming, imbued with a gentleness, profound.

Grouper – Ruins

Liz Harris has always been an inspiration. The fragility, vulnerability and bravery that Ruins has aplenty is as heartbreaking as it is beautiful. There’s an intensity here with things being stripped down so much that we wanted to explore with our own record. The introduction of keys on our own record being a vital component this time around. There’s such a softness here and such a sadness that it can be painful to listen to, but the melodies carry us aloft, melancholic lullabies to help us drift to sleep. I hope Hold Sacred can do the same.

Have a Nice Life – Deathconsciousness

Whilst we’ve moved away from the louder more distorted guitar sound with this record, Have A Nice Life have been a constant reference point for us. This record is a modern classic, an exploration into existentialism via ambient textures, emo sensibilities, earnest vocals and melodic hooks; elements we’ve tried to bring together on Hold Sacred ourselves.

We’d play ‘Hunter’ almost every day in the van whilst we were touring, and the return of the drum machine on the new record definitely nods to this. It has such an emotional weight to it, an atmosphere, a doom, an angst, providing singalong anthems for the depressed. Music is therapy.