December’s children

Missing music is the basis of Sound

INTERVIEW. While fans of heavenly, droning early ’90s style shoegaze music will certainly find plenty of crowded, tonal space to zone out to on the self-titled debut from Boston band The December Sound, don’t mistake this record for a retro style rehash. On the contrary, the music of guitarist/vocalist Zack Sarzana and his cohorts is a living organism that is very much a product of its day.  “It breathes, and we actually believe in it,” says Sarzana.

Is the tone or aural dressing, so to speak, of a song more important to you than presenting a traditional pop rock oriented song?
We like to present a full attack on the senses, live and on record. There’s definitely an undercurrent of disorientation to what we do, yet a song still lies beneath and pulls you under. In a contemplative sense, we like to keep people on their toes, you know, so they never know what’s coming next.

Do you consider vocals simply another instrument to color the overall sound?
Yes and no. The melody is imperative to the song, but its placement in the mix is just as important. In some cases, we mix it down so the vocals sound as if they are another instrument or layer to the song, and in others, it’s a major part of what drives it. Even though the vocals are low in the mix, I do work on my lyrics and have a lot to say, but you have to be willing to listen.

Do you think of your music as being of a different time and place, or is it a natural progression of where a certain style has been going over the years?
It started out as a continuum of things we listened to, but now it’s taken on a completely different life of its own. The creative process is solely our own, yet there are still so many different forms of media that we take influence from. I think we’re just documenting the here and now. ... We just write music we think is missing.

The December Sound
Saturday, 9 p.m.
TT the Bear’s
10 Brookline St., Cambridge
MBTA: Red Line to Central
$9 18+, 617-492-BEAR
www.ttthebears.com