Pigeon Spins Featuring an Interview with Deaf Locust

Deaf Locust - Kakorrhaphiophobia EP

Deaf Locust debut EP, Kakorrhaphiophobia, delivers four emotionally charged and meticulously arranged tracks that span alternative rock, doo-wop, darkwave, and experimental soundscapes laced with shades of post-metal and prog. Each piece reveals a different facet of influence, yet all converge in the same fearless creative spirit.

Deaf Locust is a NJ-based Singer/Musician/Composer who is releasing new music for the first time in over a decade. His previous work is a bit obscure but was well received at the time, and his current music is an exploratory style that he describes as prog adjacent alternative rock with dark cinematic undertones.

Deaf Locust crafts artfully entangled earworms through a lens that feels more cinematic than conventional, often pulling away from standard approaches to contemporary and traditional songwriting. While rooted in rock, the sound splinters into echoes of prog, retro pop, post-punk, metal, grunge, avant-classical, and doo-wop. These threads transform familiar textures into something stylistically unique.

At it's core, Deaf Locust is the ongoing sonic journey of lifelong musician Brian Gawaski (aka Ciem). His earlier chapter produced Lifelike Scenes (2010), an experimental prog-metal album released under The Ciem Show. Not long after, creativity fell silent—a pause that lasted more than a decade. Only in 2022 did inspiration begin to return, sharpening Brian’s original vision and rekindling the restless energy beneath his work.

This new incarnation leans less on technical spectacle and more on emotional resonance, seeking impact through atmosphere and intent rather than sheer complexity. Where it evolves from here remains uncertain, but as always, art bends to inspiration, and the path forward reveals itself only in motion.

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Interview with Deaf Locust

(º)> What inspired your return to releasing music after more than a decade of creative silence?

My renewed inspiration was sparked by a very dark moment in my life. Following the release of my previous album "Lifelike Scenes" as The Ciem Show in 2010, I started becoming numb to my emotions and completely lost my artistic intuition. I continued to play in bands and do audio production work for other artists but creatively I was stuck. I enjoyed what I was doing to an extent but at the same time I felt aimless. Eventually it got to a point where I barely even liked music anymore and only listened to podcasts. I rarely ever picked up an instrument. Then, in 2022 I was hit hard with the reality of how heartbreakingly fragile life is. I had formed an intense bond with a senior tuxedo cat named Max. I adopted him in 2015. No one else wanted him, due to behavioral issues. We were both defective in different ways and became inseparable.

One night without warning, he became violently ill and had to be put down the next day. I was flooded with emotions that I didn't even know I still had. It was so sudden and I didn't know how to cope with such a profound loss. In the middle of the grieving process I picked up an acoustic guitar and as crazy as it sounds, I instantly felt reconnected to music.

So short answer, grief is what lead me back to music.

(º)> How did your time away from recording shape the sound and philosophy behind Deaf Locust?

Once I was finally ready, the time away from creating and recording my own music got me out of my head and allowed me to create more freely without over analyzing. It was a fresh start. I believe my long hiatus was necessary. I dug myself deeper and deeper into a hole until i eventually had to accept that I need to face some inner demons in order to move forward. While I was artistically inactive I spent a lot of time working with other bands/artists in my studio. Helping others bring their visions to life made me see things in a different light. I was an observer instead of the one creating but was still a part of the process. I got to witness truly inspired creative energy as an outsider which definitely changed my perspective on how I see myself as an artist today.

As Deaf Locust I am focused on "now". I acknowledge the past and accept that I cannot change it. I also know the future can only be shaped by what I am doing in the present. I have learned to be more present and self aware these past few years and that helps me connect to a more natural flow of ideas on a regular basis.

(º)> What does “prog adjacent alternative rock with dark cinematic undertones” mean to you in practice?

Prog Adjacent Alt Rock is a very loose description I often use interchangeably with Experimental Post-Metal when trying to promote my latest work. It's difficult to categorize what I'm currently doing since I am exploring completely different genres on the Kakorrhaphiophobia EP. Everything I write nowadays is generally rooted in rock but its not normal rock. It's also not metal but my metal influences I had growing up come through often. Devin Townsend once said in an interview that he used metal as a dynamic for certain albums and that's a good way to describe what I like to do. I'm also mentally stuck in the 90s and early 2000s. Anything that wasn't seen as standard hard rock at that time was considered alternative rock. I say "Prog adjacent" in regard to Kakorrhaphiophobia because the music is prog and it isn't at the same time. I am a prog nerd at heart. The insightful storyteller style lyrics and complex compositional nature inherent in Prog Rock had such a huge impact on me throughout my life and that influence is in most things I do regardless of what I'm doing.

The cinematic undertones refers to my love for film and how I incorporate that into the flow of my songs. As I am arranging something I always envision it in cinematic terms. I see the music as a movie playing in my head which always translates into structures I can only describe as cinematic.

(º)> How do you balance experimentation with accessibility when crafting something both complex and emotionally resonant?

Everything I write now starts with something simple and catchy. A strong melody that I don't instantly forget. It is sometimes accompanied by nonsensical lyrics but the vowel placements remain the same when I write real lyrics. Then I get a certain feeling and start imagining where I can go with it.

The experimentation and complexity usually comes after I already have a basic structure for a song. This is an approach that I only recently started using leading up to Kakorrhaphiophobia and I attribute it to my intense admiration for Peter Hammill from the prog rock band Van Der Graaf Generator. Listening extensively to his work for years and learning many of his songs made me realize I was going about song writing in the wrong way which I will explain later on. I also should mention I only write on either acoustic guitar or piano/keyboard to simplify things even further in the beginning of the writing process.

(º)> In what ways does Deaf Locust expand upon or diverge from your earlier work as The Ciem Show?

The process is still a journey for me. I feel growth with each new composition and it is as exciting now as it was back then. The "dark cinematic undertones" mentioned earlier were present since the beginning. I always saw music as moving pictures. Being a fan of David Lynch and film in general has always played a big part in how I "see" music when I create.

What's different now is that my approach has changed. As i said earlier, the song and feeling behind it comes first. It is the foundation for all of the arrangements that surround it, whether they end up being complex or more straight forward.

I used to write songs backwards if that makes sense. I arranged all of these highly technical, meticulously orchestrated sections and then was tasked with putting lyrics and catchy vocals over it afterwards. This was incredibly difficult because almost nothing I wrote in The Ciem Show was in standard 4/4. I used to base everything (including melodic guitar lines) strictly off of complex rhythm patterns inspired by Meshuggah. The vocals had to fit over constantly changing time signatures and not sound forced. There was still genuine emotion behind it but my main goal was to create the most complicated compositions I was capable of making at the time and present it more as an experimental piece of art than an album.

It actually took about 7 years to put that album together and it was very frustrating at times. I even tried to force myself to continue writing in the same exact style many times after "Lifelike Scenes" but it never felt right. It became irritating to be honest. I think that was mainly due to the backwards way I was composing.

(º)> How does your compositional background influence the structure and flow of your songs today?

I must preface by saying I'm not classically trained nor have I formally studied composition in an academic setting. Everything I've learned about composition has been by ear, through experimentation, and by working with people who do have an advanced educational background. When I was younger I would intensively listen to a variety of composers. What really resonated with me was 20th century classical music which ranges from Shostakovich and Prokofiev to the more avant-garde, experimental works of Edgar Varese for example. Steve Reich's use of minimalism intrigued me as well. Plus I realized early on how much impact a musical score has on the intensity of a film or tv series. (Angelo Badalamenti was the master of this in my opinion.)

I tried to absorb everything I could as a self taught musician. In the beginning, putting what I heard into practice involved a lot of trial and error. I knew what I wanted things to sound like but didn't quite know the correct way to go about it. This was especially the case when I was working on "Lifelike Scenes" for 7 years. I would re-arrange things over and over again until I finally found exactly what I was looking for. It was very time consuming and frustrating at times.

I now have a much better understanding of how all the elements of a piece fit together without having to blindly guess why some things work and some things don't. This makes me way more proficient at creating the atmospheres I want and also allows me to make artistic choices that are not always what you would expect in a typical rock or metal song.

(º)> What role do atmosphere and mood play in your writing compared to technical musicianship?

It sounds cheesy as hell but it all starts with a melody and a feeling. The feeling dictates the atmosphere and sometimes there is a need for extreme technicality to achieve a certain mood or dramatic shift. Sometimes the technicality is obvious like in The Ciem Show but on Kakorrhaphiophobia it's more subtle for the most part.

I'm working on a song now that actually started out with a simple catchy lyrical phrase but the feeling I got from it was chaotic. Because of this, the rhythmic patterns and structure are off the wall and unpredictable right from the beginning of the writing process. I'm actually having a lot of fun with it because it feels like something I would have tried to write back in the day except now I am way more confident in my approach. Things generally come together way quicker now.

(º)> How do you approach genre-blending—especially weaving in elements like prog, post-punk, and doo-wop—without losing cohesion?

When I'm writing something initially, I am deep in the moment. I don't think about what is influencing me or why something sounds a certain way, I just let the inspiration flow. Since I have such a wide range of influences, I can never predict what will show up where. If I end up having to force something to fit into a song, it obviously is not right for that particular piece.

Using cinema as a reference again, I see each element as the addition of a new character to the story. Each character introduced plays a specific role that is crucial to the plot. If completely random characters and events are thrown in just for the hell of it but serve no real purpose, the end result is not cohesive to me. For some artists this randomness works but I personally have a certain way I like things to flow. I also try not to make my influences too obvious now adays. With Kakorrhaphiophobia, I intentionally wanted to release songs in completely different genres knowing it could be potentially divisive to people discovering my music. It's meant be a collage of styles showcasing the different sides to my identity and a way to re-introduce myself as an artist. That being said, even though the tracks each have their own distinct vibe, they are all tied together by the same wave of creative energy and vulnerability.

(º)> Can you describe a particular moment or piece that marked the turning point in your creative reawakening?

The song Gloomy Sunday comes to mind. After losing Max, one of the first things I did when I picked up my guitar was learn this song. It was written in the earlier part of the 20th century and there are multiple versions with different lyrics. It is known as The Hungarian Suicide Song because it allegedly influenced numerous suicides in the 1930s due to its depressing lyrics about death and despair. The song was eventually banned from radio airplay.

I ended up arranging my own version based on a Diamanda Galas performance of the song. Then I filmed myself singing and playing Gloomy Sunday on acoustic guitar in one take and put it on Youtube. This was the first time I ever did anything like this. Up until that point I was very uncomfortable with the idea of being seen in such a vulnerable state, especially publicly. This was a huge turning point for me. In that moment I decided it was time for me to just let go of my inhibitions and start creating music again.

(º)> Looking ahead, what emotional or sonic territory do you hope Deaf Locust will explore?

I have a lot of material in the works right now for Deaf Locust. I started recording a full length album before I decided to put together Kakorrhaphiophobia. The songs lean more into Heavy Alternative Rock/Metal, Post-Punk and Goth territory but there are more technical prog moments present as well. The final track on the album which I am still demo-ing, is a 15-20 minute song that explores different aspects of various prog sub-genres. There's some disgustingly heavy non-repeating riffs but also mellow 70's psychedelic moments mixed with Alice In Chains style hooks and chord progressions akin to the band Cardiacs. I'm very excited about this!

"Even In The Dark" was written to be the 2nd track on the album. A different version of that song will be included but with my close friend Shawn Eldridge on drums instead of me. He played on "Life Scenes" and also "Running Away" from Kakorrhaphiophobia. He will actually be featured as the drummer on most of the songs for the first Deaf Locust full length.

Before I finish the full length, I'm aiming to release possibly two more EPs. One that is more synth/piano driven Art Pop while the other is guitar based and aggressive Post-Punk/Metal. Rerecording 1 or 2 Ciem Show songs is something me and Shawn have been talking about as well.

(•)> That's all, Folks! Check out Deaf Locust  on the Pigeon Spins Playlist