The Schisms are an Austin, Texas psych-goth trio led by singer, songwriter, and guitarist Carson Barker, joined by Goose McCollum on bass, keys, and vocals and Michael Stockton on drums and vocals. New single “I Learn To Love,” out now, is the first taste of their forthcoming EP Tejas, due October 2nd and partly funded by the City of Austin Live Music Fund.
I Learn To Love
The song was recorded with Grammy-winning producer Stuart Sikes, whose credits include The White Stripes, Cat Power, and Loretta Lynn, and it came together almost by accident, starting as little more than a mantra before taking real shape spontaneously once the band got into the studio with him. Barker has described the result as landing somewhere between a chaotic Bo Diddley song and a shot of punk and psych, a fair description of a track built on raw energy, tangled rhythms, and a loose, collision-like feel that never quite settles into one lane. The band’s chemistry comes through clearly in the playing, the rhythm section staying relaxed rather than locked-down tight, which gives the track a live, in-the-room looseness that suits its unplanned origins.
The accompanying video, made with Austin’s Three-Eyed Cat Collective, leans into a deliberately trashy, VHS-style aesthetic, pairing exaggerated Texas imagery with nods to filmmakers like Alejandro Jodorowsky and older, stranger visual touchstones. Barker has said the goal was to show a grittier, more maniacal side of Austin subculture that tends to get left out of the city’s more polished public image, and that same restless, slightly unhinged spirit carries straight through from the song into the video. “I Learn To Love” marks a real tonal shift for the band too. Tejas trades some of the darkness that defined their previous album, Moon, for something meant to lift both the band and their listeners up, and Barker wrote and recorded every instrumental part himself, partly during a winter spent isolated in a Colorado mountain cabin, before bringing McCollum and Stockton in to add their own parts.
Final Thoughts
“I Learn To Love” is a raw, unpredictable single that turns a spontaneous studio moment into a genuinely exciting preview of Tejas, and it’s a promising sign of a brighter direction for the band. Follow The Schisms on Instagram, Facebook, and X.
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