For readers who may be discovering False Figure for the first time, can you introduce the members and your respective roles in the band?

Hey I’m Andres Ruiz, I play guitar and sing for False Figure, I also provided the drum track and synth on this latest record “Incarnate”, Kienan Hamilton is on bass, and Kevin Defranco is on a 12-string guitar. Post recording, we got Aimee Schott on drums and we’re a tight solid 4-piece again.

Your new album, Incarnate, represents a noticeable evolution in your sound. The deathrock elements that were front and center on Castigations feel more subdued here, with a lighter, more melodic sheen throughout. The guitars in particular seem more deliberate this time around. What do you think prompted this shift toward a more indie-leaning direction?

I think the direction of this band has been trending towards making more beautiful music since the beginning. The B-side of our first 7” featured a track called Exhale which has a very melodic chorus that acted as a reprieve from a very over driven, tense verse. Each release I think we incorporated a softer sound, often found on the last track of each record, with Incarnate being a leap further into that direction. I think it’s a bit of a novelty for all of us to be playing this kind of music since we all play in punk or metal bands congruently and previously. We enjoy a variety of music, and have been really into the classic sounds of bands like Asylum party, Chameleons, The Cure, Killing Joke  (Night Time, and Brighter than a thousand suns era).

Looking back on the making of Incarnate, what musical, artistic, or personal influences played the biggest role in shaping the record?

All of the above-mentioned bands, I am a huge fan of Geordie Walker from KJ’s tone. That's been my aspiration since the band’s inception. Kienan and I are huge Asylum Party fans, particularly Thierry Sobezyk’s bass tone, JJ Burnel of the stranglers as well of course. Early 4AD and late 80s UK Dreampop very much influenced our tone, we feel like we write stuff that fits within the worlds of french coldwave and uk dreampop. Definitely my favorite era of this type of music.

Castigations was released through Oakland dark-music outpost Transylvania Recordings, while Incarnate is entirely self-released. What motivated the decision to finance and release this album independently?

It’s been an aspiration of mine for a long time to release music under our own label. While it’s a large undertaking, I infinitely respect bands that are able to elevate themselves by their own merits. I’ve spent a long time in the music world, playing in bands, booking shows, most aspects of that world yet a label was this frontier that I wanted to cross on, it’s like a piece of the puzzle that’s been obscured for us. Kevin and I financed the record, I do all of the merch shipment anyway and I have space for records so it made sense. So far so good. While I recognize it puts us at a huge disadvantage since we’re losing a lot of visibility that we had on a previous label, I think in the long run it will work out and I’ll be able to release future projects as well as associated projects under a new umbrella. I book shows as Cruel Subordination within certain genres, I think it makes sense to transfer that association to a label and make Cruel Subordination a bit more of a presence and synonymous with DIY sounds in the bay area.

You worked with Jack Shirley (Deafheaven, Whirr, All Your Sisters) at The Atomic Garden for the recording of Incarnate, and he brings an impressive résumé. How involved was he in shaping the sound of the record? Did he offer production input, or primarily serve as an engineer?

Jack is excellent! It’s always a treat to bounce ideas off of a sound engineer, I don’t have nearly the amount of knowledge as he does and it’s such a great learning experience that primes us to become sharper musicians especially when it comes to recording. This was our first record with Jack and it was great to see what we came up with together. He has a very hands off approach generally, not pushy at all but will present ideas, adding small details to really nail the overall sound on some tracks. A good engineer is like having another band member involved in the process and Jack as an excellent person to have involved.

You recently supported Wang Chung on the Bay Area stop of their most recent tour. How did their more synthpop-oriented audience respond to False Figure?

It’s always really refreshing to play to a new audience who largely hadn’t ever heard of us. It was an amazing show and their audience really loved us. There was a point a couple songs in where it got quiet on stage right before a song and this woman shouted out “YOU GUYS ARE REALLY GOOD!” We all had a laugh and it was nice to have that positive feedback. We had a lot of great conversations at the merch table and sold out of the last of our Castigations LPs that night. Very hopeful to play the The Guild Theatre in Menlo Park again, excellent venue and staff.

Touring on a larger scale can be challenging these days, but do you have any plans for regional or extended touring in support of Incarnate?

We have a little west coast excursion coming up in May as well as possibly an east coast trip late summer. Touring has gotten harder and it  seems unless you’re a package tour assembled by a record label there’s not much happening. DIY spaces are shuttering across the country but we’re hoping that something gives and we get a bit more space for the smaller bands. Our last west coast tour was amazing, we’re hoping to keep up the momentum especially with the reception this record has already gotten.

Is there a particular mood, atmosphere, or emotional space you’re still trying to capture with False Figure that you haven’t quite reached yet?

I think we want to retain a certain edge still, we still see ourselves as a punk band just as the same Blitz who released the Attack 7” went on to do Second Empire Justice. We want to do things as we see fit, stick to our ethics as anarchists and collectivists and navigate this current musical landscape in a way that’s genuine.

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