Coping Mechanisms

We all have different coping mechanisms to get through trauma, large and small.

Eugene experimental noise artist and musician Joshua Isaac Finch, who performs as Entresol, copes with trauma by making music — music sometimes made by the sound of Finch screaming into an Altoids tin full of mints.

“With a contact mic in it,” Finch says, “run through distortion and a pitch shift, and also reverb.”

The product of this experiment found its way onto Entresol’s latest EP, the fantastically titled How Quickly We Normalize What Feels Like the End of the World. EP tracks like “Mortise & Tenon” are a little like a Tom Waits dub remix, blended with Nine Inch Nails and a weirdly deconstructed 12-bar blues song structure, frozen in liquid hydrogen and then shattered with a hammer.

It’s “intentionally weird,” Finch says, oversimplifying the work.

“This EP in particular is maybe the most minimalist,” Finch says. “It’s largely comprised of contact mics, distortion pedals, one severely outdated Boss drum machine and metal boxes.”

Nevertheless, on the new EP Finch tried to balance harshness and abrasiveness with hooks. “Something to bring people back,” he says.

“Each track on the album is about something fairly different. In each case, there’s an atrocity, a personal or large-scale trauma, that has been adjusted to,” Finch says.

This can be a necessary means of coping, but it can be problematic. “Remaining bothered, remaining upset, is a necessary part of moving forward,” Finch says.

Entresol with Eugene’s Synaptic and XrayVsns

Friday, March 8 • 9:30 pm

Sam Bond’s

$5 • 21-plus.

A Note From the Publisher

Dear Readers,

The last two years have been some of the hardest in Eugene Weekly’s 43 years. There were moments when keeping the paper alive felt uncertain. And yet, here we are — still publishing, still investigating, still showing up every week.

That’s because of you!

Not just because of financial support (though that matters enormously), but because of the emails, notes, conversations, encouragement and ideas you shared along the way. You reminded us why this paper exists and who it’s for.

Listening to readers has always been at the heart of Eugene Weekly. This year, that meant launching our popular weekly Activist Alert column, after many of you told us there was no single, reliable place to find information about rallies, meetings and ways to get involved. You asked. We responded.

We’ve also continued to deepen the coverage that sets Eugene Weekly apart, including our in-depth reporting on local real estate development through Bricks & Mortar — digging into what’s being built, who’s behind it and how those decisions shape our community.

And, of course, we’ve continued to bring you the stories and features many of you depend on: investigations and local government reporting, arts and culture coverage, sudoku and crossword puzzles, Savage Love, and our extensive community events calendar. We feature award-winning stories by University of Oregon student reporters getting real world journalism experience. All free. In print and online.

None of this happens by accident. It happens because readers step up and say: this matters.

As we head into a new year, please consider supporting Eugene Weekly if you’re able. Every dollar helps keep us digging, questioning, celebrating — and yes, occasionally annoying exactly the right people. We consider that a public service.

Thank you for standing with us!