Record Premiere: Getting Our Zen on With Iron Elbows and 'Sanity Breath'

Record premiere! 'Sanity Breath' by Iron Elbows

Try this Zen Exercise on Your Way to Work.
Put in your earbuds in.
Click play on track “Epicurus”.
And just let the music walk with you.
Do you feel just the slightest bit more enlightened?

Iron Elbows is a Boston-based experimental guitar/synth brainchild of Derek Hixon (AKA Mint Pillow) and Zac Trainor (AKA Gold Must Die) formed in 2007. The pair combines guitar riffs and rhythms with atmospheric synths and mashed out sounds and minimalist sessions like standout track “Epicurus” on their sophomore album, and Bishop & Rook premiere, ‘Sanity Breath’.

“The name of the track was inspired by the Philosopher Epicurus,” Hixon tells Bishop & Rook. “Particularly with his teachings of ataraxia—peace and freedom from fear.”

Once both situated within the Boston area, Trainor relocated to North Carolina, resulting in a new, almost pen-pal approach to recording their second record.

“A lot of our songs, which are usually between 3-4 minutes, start off as a 20+ minute jams we did together. Recording in the same room is the desire, but it's just not our reality anymore,” Hixon explains of his partner’s relocation to NC. “We can only do the minimal now, so trading tracks is what we started doing which yields different results [than recording together]. You never know which way a track is going to turn when you hand it over and it's fun to hear how the other interpreted what you did. It's similar to the fold-in technique of creating poetry.”

In addition to Iron Elbows, the duo maintain passion projects including Hixon’s Visions of the Unexceed Boston music blog and podcast and Mint Pillow DJ nights, and Trainor’s music and visual art.

You can catch an all vinyl Mint Pillow DJ set this Thursday July 28th 9PM at State Park in Kendall Square, Cambridge (flyer below). Follow Iron Elbows on Facebook and visit the official websites of Visions of the Unexcued, and Zac Trainor for additional information. ‘Sanity Breath’ is available on Bandcamp for free (at a name your price donation).