Colourmusic looks to make splash with ‘Swimsuit’
Strange things started happening while indie rockers Colourmusic were recording their latest album in their Stillwater studio space, and singersongwriter Ryan Hendrix has the video to prove it.
Doors opened and shut of their own accord, lights randomly flashed on and off and a snow globe suddenly flew across the room.
“Everything in that video is real. … It’s part of the old part of Stillwater . ... It’s always had this kind of eerie quality to it,” he said.
Hendrix used the experiences to create the equally eerie new song “Haunt Me.”
A lot of life has happened for Hendrix and his bandmates since they released their last album, 2014’s “May You Marry Rich,” via Memphis Industries.
“Band members got married and had kids . ... The Flaming Lips started working with Nick Ley, our drummer, so we just didn’t have the tour drive,” said Hendrix during a phone interview during his commute from his home in Stillwater to Oklahoma City, where he is on the faculty at the Academy of Contemporary Music at the University of Central Oklahoma.
The now fully independent band is diving back in with its fourth full-length studio album, “Swimsuit,” due out Feb. 4.
The first ripples of Colourmusic date back to 1998 at Oklahoma State University, where Hendrix met Nick Turner, a British exchange student who has since moved back to London. Joined by Ley and bassist Colin Fleishacker, they created music based on color, but these days, Hendrix is more influenced by another natural force.
“I’m just hypnotized by water. I think it’s beautiful and mysterious. I think it’s erotic ... a quality of music that I’m really interested in,” he said.
Colourmusic will make a splash with an early album release show Friday night at the ACM@UCO Performance Lab in Bricktown, where Hendrix and Ley will be joined on bass by Chad Petree of the Grammy-nominated band Shiny Toy Guns.
“‘Swimsuit’s’ just the beginning of a lot of music that we’re about to put out,” Hendrix said. “There’s no desire in any way to stop. We’re just going to do this and do it better, and I actually think we’re better now on some many different levels than we ever were. I’m just excited about what we’re doing.”