KelownaNow wants to get to know the hard-working, up and coming artists who fill our city with music and we’re almost positive most of you do too!
Our Saturday Spotlight series that will feature a new, local act every other weekend, to better strengthen our scene and get to know the people behind the music.
Get to Know: Behemoth Sleeps
Brian Looney has been playing music within the Okanagan for a number of years. Throughout that time, he has lent his talents as a multi-instrumentalist to various groups focused on a wide-variety of genres.
Photo credit: Casi Bowes
Within the last four years, Looney has developed his own solo project, Behemoth Sleeps. Created with nothing more than Looney, his guitar and a few effects pedals, Behemoth Sleeps focuses on ambient instrumental berceues that can lull your every muscle, cast you with a sense of calmness and drift you into meditation.
How did Behemoth Sleeps come to be?
I've always been envious of people who can sing and play the guitar, so I schemed of a way to be able to play open mics by myself.
I took out my effects pedals to the Kettle River open mic, and experimented with making ambient sounds. The crowd ended up being very encouraging afterward, so I decided to keep on making sounds to observe how the music affected people, then continued to hone the sounds creations from there.
Photo credit: Contributed
What is the primary influence on your music?
Behemoth Sleeps is primarily about drawing the listener into a calming and dreamy experience, so I try to put myself in that mind state first, then whatever music bubbles up, I let flow out.
A lot of the pacing of the music is based on a slow meditative breath, so if the listener is relaxed into the composition, ideally their breath with sync up with the ebb and flow of the parts, further assisting the listener into a calm and contemplative state.
There is a fabric of the universe that links all of the conscious experience together, and the music strives to express that oneness through sound and form.
Photo credit: Contributed
In addition to being influenced by the world around him, Looney attributes much of his inspiration for diving into the realm of ambient and experimental music to fellow valley musician, Darren Williams.
How has Williams inspired you?
He has a great music series in town called Skin and Bones, where he brings in the most incredibly unique players to play their instruments in experimental ways that I had never seen before.
Watching someone play, say, solo clarinet using very unique technique, for instance, and realizing I was enthralled the whole time helped me understand that it is okay to dig into the ethereal quality of music.
As long as one is playing music with honesty, emotion, and intention, the listener can be right there on the journey with you, even if the landscape is strange.
What does music mean to you?
Music affects one's brain like nothing else. On the most basic level, music is a great way to forget about the stressors of the days and to cut loose for a bit.
On a deeper level, I believe that music can be a gateway to realizing that the universe holds more mysteries than we can ever understand, and surrendering to music can be a gateway to surrendering to the greater beauty of our existence.
Keeping true to the name of his project, Looney spent a week last winter in hibernation. Doing nothing but sleeping, eating and writing music, Looney mustered up his favourite musical creation to date — an EP titled Seed in Bleak Winter.
The nearly 30-minute record, melts together a medley of songs that really does bring you into a contemplative state.
Without words to fixate on, listeners are able to curate their own unique narratives with the music that surrounds them, giving each their own unique and immersive experience.
Photo credit: contributed
You can follow along with Behemoth Sleeps on Facebook to stay up to date in regards to his upcoming show at the Living Things Festival, Bandcamp to listen to the dreamy lulls any time of day and Instagram for regular content.
If you know of a local band or musician the community needs to hear, nominate them for a Saturday Spotlight by sending an email to savannah@kelownanow.com.
