Frostlines by Time Rival

CD & VINYL AVAILABLE HERE
https://elasticstage.com/timerival/releases/frostlines-album

This is the Time Rival sound I hope for whenever engaging with a new selection of tracks by Mr. Michael Southard. A sound not unlike being seduced by an array of haunted bells. In a good way. Packed cleverly with genre-bending excursions and experimental use of textures too varied and frankly, hypnotic to put a number on. These are cold themed tracks, but the warmth shines on through via Southard's clear adoration for his craft. Once you've heard, you'll agree its there.
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INTERVIEW
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George Ernst (Triplicate Records) As I was listening to Katabatic Winds I started to think “God Damn, Mike's gotten good at drum stuff. What've you been up to, drum-wise? What strides have you made to have them sound this cool.

Michael Southard (Time Rival): Drums and percussion are deeply ingrained into my understanding and enjoyment of music. I learned almost everything I know about music through the lens of a percussionist. Over the years I've accumulated lots of VST Drum samplers, sequencers, and sample packs (including many that I recorded myself). After working in music for the last 20 years or so, it's easy to forget what I have in my collection. So I recently started organizing all of my samples and going through some of my forgotten tools. It was mainly a way to simultaneously speed up my workflow and deter me from buying any more plugins and sample packs. For "Katabatic Winds" in particular, I really just wanted to make something that sounded like an actual drummer and not just someone at a computer. I think it also helps that the piano and flute parts were improvised live, giving off more of a performance vibe than a programmed one.

GE: Would you like to visit the kinds of polar landscapes your music describes? A certain aesthetic yearning for that kind of environment is decently apparent from listening to Frostlines.

MS: There's something about the polar regions that I find fascinating. I can't say I would like to visit the upper latitudes though, it's not very hospitable to human life and I like being comfy.

GE: What would you rather fight? 18 Million Polar Bears or one Penguin with a broken wing? You have 10 seconds to answer and you're not allowed a calculator.

MS: If this theoretical fight would save the polar bear population, I'd take one for the team. Although 18,000,000 seems like far too many polar bears for their dwindling habitat. Unless there's an environmentally responsible way to send polar bears to Antarctica. I bet that would have plenty of unintended consequences though. Let's stick with the penguin.

GE: What's your favorite track on the album and why is it Theme from Salt Lamp? No, I kid, it's your album, You don't have to agree with me there. You can be wrong.

MS: Theme from Salt Lamp is one of my favorites as well. This track started out as being a fun little exercise to test out some new software. Very carefree and spontaneous. There's just a certain simplicity to it that's hard to come by and when it happens I try my best to not overcomplicate it or mess it up. I don't even think I went back into the session to adjust the mix and risk losing whatever vibe I happened to conjure up.

GE: Did you set out to make something genuinely creepy on tracks like Boundless and Sea Ice? This album has Ice-based-Horror written all over it. What inspired this sound?

MS: I record new music almost every day and I switch around genres quite a bit because I get bored easily. I don't know if I was necessarily shooting for a creepy sound, but I was going for cinematic and emotional with a hint of danger. As to what inspired the sound? I recently read a book called "The Ends of the Earth" by Neil Shubin that was a good mix of science and history of the poles. That must have fed into my entertainment algorithm because now I'm constantly getting recommendations in my feed that deal with the poles, whether it's news articles, videos, books, movies, etc. All of that has surely played a part.

GE: I sometimes ask people to shout out any indie producers they're currently enjoying but I can't bring myself to do that to you since you basically do that for your job. So... once again, what've you been reading recently?

MS: Here are my top 10 books that I read in 2025:

Andy Weir - Project Hail Mary
Jacqueline Harpman - I Who Have Never Known Men
Emily St. John Mandel - Station Eleven
Charlotte McConaghy - Wild Dark Shore
Steven Pressfield - The War of Art
R. F. Kuang - Katabasis
Neil Shubin - Ends of the Earth
Brandon Sanderson - Yumi & the Nightmare Painter
Susanna Clarke - Piranesi
Ishiguro Kazuo - Klara and the Sun

Cross-genre electronic, ambient, electroacoustic & experimental music from the Chicago suburbs

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