The Alchemical Sisters album has landed: Eris Drew and Octo Octa (Maya Bouldry-Morrison) have released their self-titled debut double LP as a duo on Interdimensional Transmissions, and it’s a full-on dive into breaks, acid and big beat.
Fans who’ve chased the pair’s all-vinyl back-to-backs around the world know how they can move a floor together. Now that chemistry has been bottled in the studio, and according to a new cover interview with the couple, the band itself grew out of a four-day psychedelic trip. That origin still shows in the title of their first release under the name, the 2021 remix “Disco III (Alchemical Sisters 4 Day Trip Mix)” for punk band Special Interest.
Inside the Alchemical Sisters album
The record came together over a year in the New Hampshire forest. During the winter months, the duo cleared out the master bedroom of their cabin and turned it into a sealed studio, which they call an “alchemical retort”. Dulcimers and other ancestral instruments sit alongside turntables and vintage machines. They sum the sound up as “psychedelic chaos, acid rollers and big beat.”
The tapes then headed to Detroit, where BMG spent two weeks mixing them through hardware at the Interdimensional Laboratory. Track titles such as “Double Acid”, “Anytime Sisters Slide” and “Song For New Hampshire” give a good idea of the mood.
From T4T LUV NRG to the stage
The pair met in 2017 and two years later launched T4T LUV NRG, which works as a label, a touring party series and a soundsystem. They spend most of the year on the road, both solo and as a duo, playing across North America and in places like Portugal, Croatia, Denmark and Australia. Since 2022 they’ve also curated a “Forest Rave” at the Dutch festival Draaimolen.
The album also tops off a busy run of solo releases: Eris Drew’s DJ-Kicks mix came out last year, and Octo Octa released her album Sigils For Survival earlier this year.
Next up is the band’s live debut. Alchemical Sisters will play the ballroom at Interdimensional Transmissions’ Samhain XXVI, held on 31 October at Tangent Gallery in Detroit. Lakuti x Tama Sumo, Forcefield (Afra x Serge), Tammy Lakkis and Mike Servito are also on the bill. The label calls the whole thing a “full circle moment”.
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