Interview · 9 October 2026
We reviewed this record as an unofficial soundtrack to a 1974 film, because that is how it reached us. Shalor Howell, who made it, is not sure that is right. Asked what finishing one feels like, he turned the question over and suggested the premise might be wrong, since most listeners will never know the film exists and he reworked the samples far enough to call them his own. He also answered the thing we could not work out from outside: every piece except the closer was written before he had seen the film at all. What follows covers the second-person voice and why he wanted listeners inside the record rather than looking at him, what happened when Canopy stopped and weekly practice disappeared at forty, where the pedal steel came from and how much of it was Ethan Fogus rather than him, and an unusually direct account of what a solo release costs when there is nobody else to help carry it.
The voice sampled through the record only ever says “you”. Never “I”. Perec’s novel is written in the second person and the film keeps that, so in one sense you inherited it, but you also chose how much of it to use and where to put it. Was the “you” the reason you reached for that film in the first place, or something you noticed once you started cutting?
The second person perspective is definitely a good reason why I chose to put so much of the movie’s dialogue into the album, once I began to see the theme within the movie. However, that was not my initial goal when seeking out movies to sample. I just wanted something to use that spoke about grief and hopelessness. The Man Who Sleeps absolutely nails these feelings and emotions for me.
I felt like the second person perspective was perfect for potential listeners to put themselves into the music, rather than the music be all about myself. I think grief and hopelessness are pretty common themes we all experience throughout our lives, especially these days.
Canopy is a sludge band and this is not. When Canopy paused and this project started, did you set out to make something different, or did you just write what came and discover afterwards that it had gone somewhere else?
I’ve always wanted a project that was similar to artists and bands that I have loved for a long time. I love slowcore bands like Codeine and Low. Singer-songwriters like Townes Van Zandt and Linda Perhacs. Post-metal bands like Mouth of the Architect and Cult of Luna. Ambient artists like Brian Eno and Jasper TX.
This is music that gives me chills and moves something inside of me. I love music that is heavy and pissed, too, but I have always enjoyed a good sad song.
Not having the band rehearsals and shows to look forward to was driving me crazy. Playing music is something I’ve done since middle school. Weekly band practice and a gig every other month has been pretty consistent for me since right out of high school (for perspective, I turned 40 this year). One of the few things that I have ever felt passionate about in my life was gone. I just needed another outlet for the meantime, so here we are now.
I’ve always played melodies and riffs like on the album but it used to feel difficult to bring those kind of moods into a heavy, pissed off band like Canopy. But I’ve been trying to sneak these kind of ideas into Canopy recently when it makes sense. It’s becoming easier to meld the two emotions into a single song and it not feel forced.
Every one of the seven tracks moves from quiet to heavy. Our measurements put the distance between the softest and loudest passages at between eleven and twenty two decibels, and the widest of them is “Distant Sirens Wailing”, which is also the shortest song here by a margin of over ninety seconds. Opening with your biggest swing and your shortest song is unusual. Was that sequencing, or did the song simply want to be first?
I felt this song was the simplest song I had for the album. It’s one guitar melody that loops for the entirety of the song. Then there is a distorted guitar power chord being strummed four times with feedback that builds between those four power chords. Very simple but hopefully effective.
The violin melody carries the song and makes it a little more interesting. It felt like an intro track for me. Something to set the mood for the rest of the album. So that is why I chose it for the first track.
The thing I could not work out is how much of the record existed before the film and how much was written to it. Were there pieces already in progress that you fitted to scenes, or did you watch and write?
All of the music besides the final track, “To Keep From”, was written before I was aware of the movie. Once I discovered the movie, I took all of the dialogue that spoke to me and fit it into a rough layout I already had for the album. There were so many good lines from the movie that I just had the idea of having a consistent voice to narrate the entire album, rather than just a song.
You brought in Matt Hendler on drums and Ethan Fogus on pedal steel and violin. Pedal steel on a post-metal record is a decision with consequences, because it does something a guitar cannot and it is hard to hide. What did you want from it, and did you know where it was going before he played?
Post-metal with pedal steel guitar certainly isn’t a novel concept. Listen to Circle by Cult of Luna or With Stardust Flowers by Rwake. Both are huge influences on the idea.
I love strings that ring out and flow into each other so that was the desired effect that I was seeking. There were a handful of sections I had in mind for the pedal steel but some of those ideas didn’t work out. Some ideas came out of nowhere with some experimenting. Some ideas were mine but a lot were Ethan’s.
An unofficial soundtrack is not something anybody asked for and nobody is waiting for. What does finishing one feel like compared to finishing a band record with a label and a release plan behind it?
I think most people who will listen to this album won’t even be aware of the movie the samples were taken from. So maybe the idea that this is an unofficial soundtrack isn’t the correct idea?
I’ve also played with the samples a lot, slowed them down, layered them, reversed them, put effects on them, etc. Enough so that I made them my own. I hope so anyways. But if folks want to say it’s an unofficial soundtrack, then that’s cool too! It’s a wonderful movie that is beautifully shot and really captures a mood.
As for releasing this as a one man project, it has certainly felt lonely at times. It was fulfilling to create and not be hampered by other people’s schedules and opinions but it sure did feel lonely when it came to funding the recording and release.
I also don’t have three or four other bandmates out there to help spread the word because they had a part in creating it. However, I have had a lot of help from Fig On Wrist (a record label) and Good Boy PR (who had a release plan), which I sincerely appreciate all of their help and encouragement.
Not ever getting to play these songs live is a bummer too. I’d prefer to play in a band but why not have the side project for when practice is canceled last minute or I have ideas that I can’t express with other people in the room.