Listening to Thorn Wych’s debut album Aesthesis, is like traveling back to a primordial world. Raw tonescapes, ancient melodies, and sacred alien languages are built on charred, pulsing cadences and ecstatic reverie. The sound of Aesthesis is so distinct.
Thorn Wych is not just a musician, but an instrument builder too. She creates string instruments in her backyard workshop from tree branches – Wych Elm, Line, Wild Cherry, Oak, and Yew so far. With these unique pieces at the core of her work, something new that still feels ageless emerges. Distorted drones undulate beneath entrancing incantations as though primeval spells are being conjured and future pathways molded. Aesthesis groans with life broken down and reassembled into something made of pure sonic magic.
Aesthesis is out now on vinyl and digital formats from Hood Faire.
First, I’d love to hear about some of your earliest memories of music and sound – are there certain things that stand out to you as memorable or formative from when you were younger?
I used to (actually still do) love to play with my radio. I had a double cassette stereo which had all the frequency bands. I could get all sorts of cool noises out of it. I would spend hours playing and recording things, and I would pick up strange foreign music which filled me with wonder.
Also, I used to have tape recordings of some of my parents’ old records. The one that stands out in my mind the most is “Killer” by Alice Cooper.
What were some of the first impetuses that made you want to start making and playing music?
Apparently, I was banging on pots and pans since before I can remember, so I think the impetus has always been there. My friend and I used to have a band when we were about 8 called “Wild Cats”. We were inspired by the film “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure”. Much like Bill and Ted, we too did not know how to play our instruments.
Can you tell us about your journey into instrument making and music? What drew you to work with tree branches and native UK woods?
I’ve always had a fetish for beautiful wooden objects, especially instruments. I would sometimes see unique things in music shops or at friends’ houses, and I would covet them. But I had no money, so making instruments became an obvious conclusion. Every January there would be old Christmas trees all along our street, left out for the bin men. So one day I picked one to make into a long-necked fretless ukulele with a piezo pickup and jack input. It took me several years to complete because I had no idea what I was doing or what tools to use, but it turned out quite well in the end. Over the following years, I practiced making more of them and attempting to make flutes too. I watched a lot of YouTube videos and I took a joinery course. I only moved away from Christmas trees when, in a local park, I saw a Wych Elm tree which had several big branches felled, and I took one home. This became my “Bowstrum”, a cello-like three-string that is still my main instrument and the one featured on the cover of my album.
How do you choose which types of trees to work with? Do their unique characteristics influence the sound or the making process?
As above, I primarily use branches that I find or are gifted to me. I became interested in identifying trees in order to tell the difference, and it just happened that I was using native trees. At first, apart from the Wych Elm, I had Oak, Wild Cherry, and Beech with which I tried to make
flutes, and then later I was gifted a Small Leaved Lime branch (which I made into a Spike Fiddle) and a big Yew branch (which has now become a Hurdy Gurd since finishing the record).
It’s more the qualities of the particular branch that influences me, rather than the species. I will have the branch in my living room for ages and just sort of periodically spend time looking at it, and eventually, the tree will tell me what instrument it should be. Of course, different trees do have different characteristics but it’s hard to compare them as the instruments are all different.
What challenges do you encounter when crafting instruments from tree branches, and how do you overcome them?
There are a lot of challenges, too many to list. The biggest challenge I had was getting fipple flutes (with a mouthpiece similar to a recorder or tin whistle) to work. They would sometimes work sometimes not. Very frustrating trying to work out why, but I just kept persevering.
What significance do improvisation and editing hold in the creation of your debut album, Aesthesis?
Improvisation is key to the creation of my music. On this album, aside from “The Blue Rose of Forgetfulness,” every track started as a recording of me improvising by myself in my living room. I have three different looper pedals and a circuit bent Time Machine, and I use these really interesting guitar pedals by Glowfly. I start by laying a foundation, often drone-based or a plucked riff that goes around in the background, and I will layer on other melodies and play around with it. Sometimes I manage to hit on something inspired when in the zone, and the music makes itself. Then I will chop down the recording keeping all my favourite bits and often overdubbing more drums and flutes, or whatever I think it needs.
The importance of improvisation is not just a musical method, but a spiritual one too. This style of playing is so much more freeing than reciting songs. I can get lost in it, swim through it, embody it. It’s a more pure expression, a meditative prayer to my holy mother Asherah. She sings through me and so I sing in tongues, lyrics would only stunt me.
Your music evokes “memories of an unknown world” – a phrase and idea I really connect with. How do you aim to capture this otherworldly quality in your compositions?
I was not aiming to capture or evoke any particular quality. I was immersed in an exploration, playing like a child without the end result in my mind. Only later in post did I reflect on the pieces, and that was simply to shape and improve what was already there.
How do the natural materials of your instruments contribute to the thematic and emotional aspects of your music?
One of the symbols of Asherah, aside from the snake, is the tree, and trees are used in her veneration. This is how I use my instruments, what my music essentially is, and so it is important to me that they are made from trees, especially for this purpose.
Are there particular themes or projects you’re looking to explore in your future work?
I’m currently working on a series of Yew tree instruments. 1 1 m planning to make a Yew-based record that explores the significance of the Yew tree in local culture, mythology, and folklore. And I’d like to have an exhibition of the instruments, maybe with a performance on the opening.
To close, as ever, what are your favorite sounds in the world?
Brambles scraping on your jeans as you wade through a blackberry patch. The squelch of sodden ground under your boots. Rain on the window.
