So Look Outside Your Window, the Slipknot side project with Jim Root, Sid Wilson, Corey Taylor and Micheal Shawn Crahan that was recorded in 2008, has been released. Miracle of miracles!
"We knew we were heading down a different creative path, entirely apart from Slipknot, and we followed it eagerly. We called the project Look Outside Your Window as a tribute to this experimental spirit.
Created during a chaotic time in our shared history, the songs were born late at night, in a house on a farm in the middle of nowhere. Peering out through a big picture window, we wondered about what, or who, might be lurking outside. That sense of the unknown seeped into the music itself. There were no rules; ideas could come from anywhere: subtle drum loops, bits of organ or abstract guitar noise, even samples of frogs or crickets. Guided by emotion and instinct, we let the sounds themselves point the way.
Look Outside Your Window"
Shawn (Clown) Crahan's Interview with Rolling Stone:
""One night, we were sitting in the studio, and we looked out and saw some eyeshine on the tree in front of the window. It was pretty high up in the air, probably most definitely a raccoon looking in at us. But we started imagining cryptic mothmen, and Jim [Root] called the second song 'Moth.' By the end of it, Jim was walking away, and he said, 'Always look outside your window.' It just meant so much, and I just kept saying it over and over again. It just really solidifies who we were, what we were doing, the conversations we were having between writing and having to go down and contemplate [Slipknot], which is huge."
This seems like it was a kind of therapy for the four of them and that lended itself to making an atmospheric record. I'm excited to hear these songs. Also, something that's gnawing at me: it's weird they spelled Cristina Scabbia's name incorrectly in the credits (and on the song she recites a poem in Italian on): "Christina". Like what's that about? She hates that spelling of her name. It could go back to the fact that she was dating Jim at the time of this recording and they had a bad break up after. Is it that, or just a weird 'artistic' choice? Seems kinda sus, sorta rude and a little unprofessional tbh. She hasn't said anything about this publicly (yet, that I know of) but it'd be interesting to hear her take. Or it could be nothing - there could just be a simple explanation and they're all on the same page and it's all good. It would probably be smart for them to say something now though rather than later if it's a not great reason for it and they have to clean up a mess. Ymmv, just my thoughts.
General release is sometime this June. I hope they release a single, that would be cool.