This spring, cave doom returned to Portland. That’s what the duo that makes up Creaturess—multi-instrumentalist Jess Hamlin and guitarist and vocalist Jo Sendejo—call their genre of music.
On their 2024 singles and self-titled full length you’ll hear doom metal, folk, and shoegaze combining into a wave of sound that ranges from a light sonic mist to a deluge of riffs.
After that burst of output, though, Hamlin and Sendejo both spent some time away from Portland, Hamlin in Chicago and Sendejo in Salt Lake City. They’re excited to be back in the Rose City, working on a new album, and headlining Mississippi Studios on June 23.
“We connected with lots of people over Instagram after the album released,” says Hamlin. “This week is going to be us meeting all of our internet friends in real life. It’s like a homecoming. We’re a real band now.”
For Creaturess, their music is about suffering and healing.
“The album has been healing for me,” says Sendejo. “When I reflect and I try to play intentionally and think about the process, it sort of reminds me of this universal suffering that we all have… It will always be there, and I can’t get rid of it. But it’s something that has made me who I am today. It’s transformed me in some way.” For Sendejo, the process of creation and making art is: “Giving honor not necessarily to the suffering but more to the outcome.”
Sendejo also cites the vast, gray Pacific ocean as a force that informs the band’s expansive sound. “There’s a parallel to the coast and our album and the way the Pacific is always transforming in this really brutalist, raw way,” she says. “In a way that people can’t really interfere with. It’s something we all just have to witness. There’s beauty in that.”
“It’s inherently inhumane,” says Hamlin. “It’s doing its own thing with or without us.”
The influence of nature doesn’t stop at the water’s edge. For Hamlin and Sendejo, cave doom is more than just a metaphor. Prior to recording their debut they traveled to Falls Creek Cave in Washington. “It’s this huge magma tube network that comes off of Mount St. Helens,” says Hamlin. “We went down in there for about half a day in the pitch black with a bunch of field recording gear. We recorded sounds, ambiences, and samples. We also recorded the reverb of that space. All of that’s on the record.”
Hamlin thinks the local metal scene “reflects what the Pacific Northwest looks like… The metal sounds like big mountains and high deserts.” Hamlin adds that Creaturess’ take on metal is a bit more queer than a lot of other bands. “I feel like our music is for the girls and the gays and the theys, a little bit. Not just in a fun Pride way. There’s a different kind of emotional content and a different kind of struggle that’s more relatable to a different population. I find myself always looking for more artists of that resonance in the metal scene. You have to dig.”
Creaturess plays Mississippi Studios, 3939 N Mississippi, Tues June 23, 8 pm, $19.27, tickets here, 21+ w/ Tylo, Shield Maiden
