A Folding Sieve — the debut ep from Marc Ostermeier’s Should, then known as Shift — stands as one of the greatest shoegaze albums of the ’90s. Lo-fi production may have doomed it from becoming the next Loveless (either artistically or in the court of public opinion), but the sublimely hypnotic songwriting and trance-like atmosphere nonetheless solidifies it as a lost classic. The band then changed their name to Should and released Feed Like Fishes, which — though pleasant — did not, in my opinion, scale the same heights. A majority of listeners disagreed: Feed Like Fishes has received more attention than A Folding Sieve (though Should/Shift remain relatively unknown). I spoke with Ostermeier to discuss his career and touch base on recent activities:
1 | You’re from Austin and hence are affiliated — perhaps indirectly — with the glorious Texas psychedelic scene (Pain Teens, Mazinga Phaser, Furry Things, Butthole Surfers). I’ve written extensively about my affinity for these bands elsewhere. Did any of them influence you? Were you friends with anyone from that scene?
I’ve never been into that scene, though I do have the first Furry Things album, which I bought when it came out. I didn’t know anyone in that scene. I kept to myself.
2 | A Folding Sieve has a haunting quality. Why?
Haunting is not the first word that comes to mind for me, not that I shy away from that description. A Folding Sieve was recorded in an unorthodox way for guitar-based songs, at least at the time. Almost all guitar was sampled, looped, and sequenced on a keyboard.I had essentially no ability to play the guitar at that time (I didn’t even own one). Some of the sampled guitar came from Eric’s own music he was working on at the time (hence his credit on the album) and others came from some simple patterns I recorded on a cassette tape. Then those samples were distorted and altered mostly by running through a cheap mixer too hot. It was a very limiting way of making songs. I think limitations can be very useful for creating songs that have a different or unique quality to them. Maybe that’s what leads to the haunting quality you refer to.
3 | Rolling starts off the album somewhat misleadingly in a Hugo Largo-esque vein (the rest of the album closely recalls My Bloody Valentine). All of the songs are excellent, but I’d take Clean and Breathe Salt if forced to pick highlights. Do you agree?
Breathe Salt and Feels Like Morning strike me as the best today. Rolling started off as a piece I composed for a play Eric wrote and directed his senior year of college. For the version on A Folding Sieve, piano and Tanya’s vocals were added. It’s true it is quite different from the the rest of the album, but it sets up Breathe Salt very well. Tanya and I collaborated on a similar, one-off single under our own names a few years ago:
4 | You changed your name to Should following this album and released Feed Like Fishes, which was a solid record but not as sublime as A Folding Sieve. How do you feel about it?
By the time I was working on songs for Feed Like Fishes, I had decided to start learning how to be passable at playing guitar. So except for In Nine, there was no more looping of sampled guitar. That’s part of why it sounds different, but also my interest in music was shifting away from a very strong shoegaze sound. While recognizing that A Folding Sieve has its own sound that is part of its appeal, I feel more affinity for Feed Like Fishes. In the last several years interest in Feed Like Fishes has really taken off and it seems to be the most popular Should album, from what I can tell.
5 | Around this time, your brother left the group and formed Motion Picture. Are you a fan of his work?
Eric didn’t really leave Should as Should was never a band in the traditional sense. That’s why credits say “Should contributions by.” For A Folding Sieve, I wrote and played everything (except for a few guitar phrases of Eric’s that I sampled and mutated) and then Tanya added vocals. For Feed Like Fishes, it was mostly the same, but a few songs started with guitar or bass parts Eric wrote and then we collaborated to finish the song.
6 | You’ve had a distinguished career in the realm of biochemical engineering. Do you see yourself as a scientist first and a musician second? Which do you suppose you ultimately have a better chance of being remembered for?
I am both, but being a scientist/engineer had a much higher potential for a career. To the extent I am remembered it will be different for different communities.
7 | Do you think choosing a generic name like Should may have prevented your music from gaining wider recognition?
We changed the name the same year that Google was founded. How the name would do in a Google search wasn’t on my radar. I purposely wanted a name that meant very little. Marketing potential was not something I cared to consider.
8 | Which musicians from our lifetime do you think deserve to be remembered? Do you hate The Beatles as much as I do?
I really don’t know how to single out a few names for who should be remembered. It would be a very long list. I have enormous respect and affinity for The Beatles.
9 Is there anything you would you change about your early albums in retrospect?
There are aspects of the production, songwriting and mixing that don’t resonate with me now. Today, if I were to remix the songs (or especially if I rerecorded them) they would be different, even quite different. But I don’t know whether that would be a good thing or not. Those albums could only have been made back then. I’m OK with that.
10 | Does anyone ever recognize you on the street as the guy from Should and Shift?
Never.
11 | Is there anything else you’d like to tell whoever might be reading this?
We’ve just signed an agreement with Numero Group regarding Should reissues, which will include previously unreleased material. For those who are into ambient/electroacoustic music, I also have a series of albums in that genre (available HERE). Finally, Eric and I have run the Words On Music label for the last 27 years with over 50 releases by artists in genres from shoegaze to post-punk to chamber pop. Our latest is the debut album by the post-punk band Remnant Three that was recorded over three decades ago and never released. It’s a lost gem.
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Brett Abrahamsen is a lifelong connoisseur of the experimental and obscure. He is also a science fiction writer (and an amateur philosopher of sorts). He resides in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.
