Eros and the Eschaton: Wandering… But Together

Kate Perdoni and Adam Hawkins are Eros and the Eschaton.  They’re also a couple.  They recently made a young boy.  Even more recently, they released their debut album, Home...

Kate Perdoni and Adam Hawkins are Eros and the Eschaton.  They’re also a couple.  They recently made a young boy.  Even more recently, they released their debut album, Home Address for Civil War, which dropped August 13th on Bar/None.  They’re also currently on the road and will be in-town Thursday, September 12th, at PhilaMOCA.

Perdoni and Hawkins met in Omaha in 2010 and quickly became partners in music and otherwise.  And although they played in each other’s bands on a regular basis, it wasn’t until after they welcomed their son into the world in 2011 that they began writing together.  Their first song was Home Address for Civil War opener “20 Different Days.”  After that they decided to travel the country with their young son, looking for inspiring adventures, before eventually setting up fort in Greensboro, North Carolina, the place they decided would be most conducive to recording a great album and raising their son.

[youtube http://youtu.be/pCWP8_kvrqo]

While the story of Eros and the Eschaton sounds like they would be ripe for comparisons to classic Americana singer/songswriters, they actually fall into the realm of Shoegaze-inspired Dream Pop… or maybe Dream-Pop-inspired Shoegaze… (?)  Their sound is airy, but profound.  It certainly haunts but, more often than not, in a comforting manner.

I recently got a chance to chat with Kate Perdoni (while she was making her son a PB&J) about Eros and the Eschaton, their process, and what the future hold for them.  Although, first, I had to ask about the dynamic between herself and Adam (I’m always curious about the dynamic between musical partners who are partners in life.)  Kate says, “For us, it’s awesome,” and tells me that Ira and Georgia of Yo La Tengo are a big influence and one of their favorite acts.  She does, however admit, that their personal bond can make it difficult to collaborate with other musicians: “Sometimes it’s hard for people to sit in because we have all these non-verbal cues…”

When I ask Kate about their debut album, she tells me, “It’s kind of in chronological order,” explaining that the aforementioned opening track would seem to represent the band’s starting point and closing track, “Trust Me I Know,” represents the direction they’re headed in the future.  She explains that when it came to the writing and recording process, the two of them just kind of let things happen: “We didn’t have a goal or idea of what we wanted it to sound like.  On an esoteric level, it was just inspired by the thought of Adam and I getting to explore our sonic boundaries.”

The live dates Eros and the Eschaton are currently on are apparently something new for the band.  Kate tells me it’s the first time that they’ve ever played with a full band, but describes the result as, “A more fully realized version of the band and it sounds a lot more like the album.”  She concludes our chat by telling me that you can expect to see a lot more of herself and Adam in the near future: “We’re kind of perpetually touring.  There’s no plan to stop being on the road anytime soon.

*The first person to tell me to what the title of this article is an allusion, I will buy a drink (if you are in or can come to Philly).

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Band Interviews

During the day Izzy Cihak teaches transgression, subversion, and revolution at Temple University. At night he haunts Philthy's best venues to cover worthwhile acts for Philthy Mag. Morrissey is everything to him and, in their own heads, all of his friends see themselves as Zooey Deschanel.

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