Photo: Tonje Thilesen
Comprising Nick Sanborn and Amelia Meath, quirky pop band Sylvan Esso have a new album Ow ∞ set for release on September 11th.
At the moment I can’t stop listening to
Amelia Meath: I just got into this EP called Psycho by Tshegue. It’s so good. I just found it doing my daily dig through Bandcamp, looking for things to DJ. I’m generally working on a personal practice of trying to actually listen to new music! Because it’s so easy not to. And this EP... number one: it runs the gamut of so many different sounds. Like, there’s one track that sounds like the Moldy Peaches in a strange way, and then one track which is a stone‑cold 140 bpm dance track, and it’s insane‑sounding. They’re doing my favourite thing with vocals, where they’re using their voice as percussion in a way that feels effortless. Like, every time they speak, you feel like you sink deeper into the beat. It’s heaven.
Nick Sanborn: Olof Dreijer’s album Loud Bloom is kind of a collection of the last few singles he put out. The work that he’s done post the Knife is all spectacular, but it feels like in the last couple of years he’s really found this new space, and it feels like no‑one else is doing the thing that he’s doing. This album is just one of those rare kind of dance records that’s all in one zone, but you never get tired of the zone. Like, it’s a perfect record to put on at the beginning of a party, and just let it play all the way through. And he has one kick drum for the whole thing, and it is a perfect kick drum. It’s the only kick we want to hear!
The first thing I look for in a studio
AM: I look for the bathroom. So I know where I can hide, if I’m going into a place that I don’t know or where I feel pressure. Usually, I’m going into a studio that I don’t often work in to do something like a songwriting session — and I can do that. I can sit down and bang out lyrics and a melody pretty fast. But I do always like to know where I can go, where no‑one can see my face, so I can just like, take a little rest. Most studios I find don’t really feel like they’re made for people to feel comfortable in.
NS: Sunlight. I look for sunlight. I feel like not enough studios have windows. I know they’re expensive. I know they make stuff sound bad. I don’t care. This sounds crazy, but I’m so tired of studios being designed for engineers! I’m sorry. Nobody really gives a fu*k if there’s a weird frequency spike somewhere. Is the song good? Is the take good? That’s the only thing that matters. Why are we not focused around the emotional headspace of the musicians? Insane!
The person I would consider my mentor
NS: I feel like I need a mentor right now! You know, I might go with my high school band director, Brad Schneider. I played baritone sax, and bass. He’s the best music teacher I ever had, and he made me feel like I could do anything. You know, there are less and less music programmes in the States right now, in public schools, and I feel like I was in the last group of people who got this thing, really. And to have that coupled with a teacher who was extremely encouraging and challenging, I think just kind of pointed me in the right direction for the rest of the stuff! I wish I had a saxophone now.
AM: For me, I think it’s my aunt Carol. She is about to turn 83 in January. She lives in Maine. She was an oyster farmer for a while, and then she became really obsessed with emergent movement and like various forms of wild therapy that include, like, costumes, and Jungian stuff. She has a beautiful life, and it seems like she’s done a really good job of cultivating that, while still just being... chill. I think that is what I would like for myself. I’d like to figure out a way to enjoy more.
My go‑to reference track or album
NS: I hate to be basic, but [Radiohead’s] ‘Everything In Its Right Place’. Is there a better one!? Listening to that, you know immediately if the bass is right. You know immediately if there’s that midrange clarity, because there’s so much in such a small amount of space, spectrally, in that song. But it’s so rich and simple and beautiful. You immediately know if it’s all there or not.
AM: The thing that I use the most is David Bowie’s ‘Sound And Vision’ for vocal sound, particularly when I’m trying to describe the ‘depth of field’ of a vocal. I think that vocal, the way it’s placed, is so perfect and shocking. Like, every time it comes in, I’m amazed by it. I think, kind of once a session, I’m just like, “I want it. I want this.” It could be “I want the drums to sound like this vocal!” I find, more and more, as I’ve become comfortable with being a producer, that the only thing I ever really respond to is emotionality in music, and I can use that to talk about arrangement. I’m not interested in gear at all.
My secret weapon in the studio is
AM: I have a strange talent to get people to tell me anything.
Nick Sanborn: I actually now have something I’ve been trying to get forever, an FM radio in my modular setup.
NS: It’s true! It’s not gear. People tell you their secrets! Oh, here’s one that we cannot possibly overvalue. I love using those little eighth‑inch FM transmitters; running something to a frequency and then back directly in through a radio. There’s a very subtle sound that being transmitted over the radio imparts to something. You can use it very lightly, and it just adds this feeling of reality and tactile‑ness that we all know is the radio. It’s like an old grandparent’s perfume or something. It doesn’t draw attention to itself, it just kind of like pushes things into this space. I highly recommend everybody use the radio more. I actually now have something I’ve been trying to get forever, an FM radio in my modular setup: finally, just an analogue tuner where you can modulate the frequency. I just think it’s such an under‑explored thing, it sounds so cool and it’s so accessible.
AM: It does the same thing as throwing it to tape, but it’s different. It feels less expensive. It belongs to everybody. The radio’s for everyone. I will also say that I’m sort of forever obsessed with [Soundtoys’] Little AlterBoy. It’s my favourite plug‑in. Usually, for every record, I’ll say “I like three plug‑ins!” And Little AlterBoy is my one right now.
The studio session I wish I’d witnessed
NS: D’Angelo’s Voodoo. I mean, how? I’m sure it’s just that they’re all really good! But, what else can we even pick?
The producer I’d most like to work with
AM: I love Ian Kirkpatrick. I think he’s a fu*king genius. Seems like a real cool nerd, and I really like his brain. I like all the decisions he makes. He’s really decisive and the quality of sounds that he produces is really exciting and good. I think he’s like, one of the rare freaks that’s infiltrated the pop world, and maintains some fascinating integrity. I like him.
NS: I feel like the only people that came to mind were Geoff Barrow and Adrian Utley from Portishead. I would be really interested to see what would happen if we worked with them. I also just think, the older we get as a band, the more I start looking to other bands who I feel kept shifting, and kept their career vital and interesting. Portishead, in my personal musical hierarchy, hold that torch the highest. All three of their records feel wildly different, especially the last one [Third], which I think is just one of the greatest records. And I think this phase of their careers has been really fascinating. Especially Geoff’s soundtrack to Annihilation. I don’t really have a ton of desire for someone to come in and like, be the ringleader of a Sylvan Esso record, but the question of, “Who could we go in with where I don’t know what it would make me do?” That’s exciting to me.
The studio experience that taught me the most
AM: I think it might be the making of our second record, What Now. We decided that we were going to go to April Base, which is Justin Vernon’s studio. It was March. When you’re in Wisconsin in March, it’s cold as fu*ck, and it was just snowing all the time. We were in complete isolation. There was no‑one to really see, because you’re in the country. And I touched the pure heart of boredom and sadness, and felt like we were never going to write anything ever again. And it was just the worst. I learned a lot of things. The snappiest thing I learned was, never write pop music in isolation. But I learned a ton there. Like, you really need to take care of yourself in the studio. And not watch every film in the Mummy series in one day.
NS: When I was in high school, I was playing with a band and we went to record some demos at one of their friends’ houses. I had to be at work for the first couple of hours of the session, so I showed up late. And I came in, and they had changed a bunch of the stuff that we had been doing, or at least, it didn’t sound anything like what we had talked about, you know. And I was kind of negative about it. I was like, “Guys, what are we doing? What happened?” And the producer, who I did not know, was like, “Hey man, this was a great hang until you came in here and were being negative about this. We were all having a really good time, and you’ve kind of bummed everybody out.” And I remember thinking, “You know what? He is totally right. This doesn’t matter. Let’s just have fun.”
The advice I’d give myself of 10 years ago
NS: Chill out. Anxiety isn’t going to make your music better.
AM: Yeah. I mean, I’m still worrying.