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THORNS.

This one had a life of its own from day one. We loved jamming on it and it was the first song we attempted when we got to Seattle to start work on the LP with Chris and Franc. The tempo changed a few times, especially after I had a few too many cups of coffee but we finally settled in, and it found life right away.

We did all of the basic tracking live to lay down the feel of the band. We wanted to make sure this song FELT great from the jump, so we spent a lot of time together in the room. It might have started as a band in a room but there was way more that went into this one. Here are some interesting facts about the recording process, this song has a lot of unique pieces that are very specific to “Thorns”, and the informs the overall scope of our debut record.

The drums were played by our friend Charlie Hall (The War On Drugs) but the secret here is the CMI FAIRLIGHT. Once the groove and Charlie’s feel we’re dialed in, Santa spent days on end sampling Charlie’s drum kit into the Fairlight. She learned “Page R” which essentially allowed the fairlight to spit the drum groove back at us for the entire song. Charlie’s drum sounds were now hitting the fairlight and we had that unique drum sound we were after. That was the moment the track came alive. We knew we had captured a sound no one could ever fully replicate. This kind of stuff excites us!

We spent a lot of time in an LA studio called “Electrovox” and that studio holds the actual Vibrophone from The Beach Boys “Pet Sounds”. Charlie locked himself in the live room with the vibes while the rest of us were working on other bits and pieces. After a few hours he invited us into the control room and we listened to a part he had worked out for Thorns. It was magical. It moved the chorus in this special way, it informed so much of the track, and I know we will never forget the first time we heard it. Not only was it amazing to hear his amazing spirit on the track, but it highlights the true beauty of colloboration, and the openness we shared as a band on this track specifically.

While in Electrovox our friend Allison Tavel brought around a one of a kind synthesizer called the “resonator”. This instrument has a very special story and I encourage you to check it out here https://fiscal.ifp.org/project.cfm/857/ It’s a truly amazing instrument. Walla, Sam and Santa spent a ton of time running synths and guitars through it to add a very special color on the track. Again a sound completely unique to that moment in time.

Lastly we had few very special guests on this track. I knew I wanted a Fleugelhorn solo on the bridge. I heard it in my head every single time the bridge hit. When I told the band I expected crazy eyes but they trusted me on this one. Walla and Franc were really into the idea so we Invited Thomas (a friend of a friends) down to the studio in Seattle. He played a bunch of solos and we worked on finding the right vibe. Once we had it we all knew right away. It’s such a unique sound for the band, and appears on one other song on the record! Early on in the process I was introduced to P.J. Moore who played keyboards in the legendary band The Blue Nile. I sent him some demos and he responded that he was really connecting with it. Through that we had some great conversation and spoke about the making of “Hats” and I encouraged him to try some stuff on the demo of Thorns. P.J. laid down a very specific sounding M1 Bell, and it made it all the way to the final recording. Lastly we all though Adam Granduciel would be able to unlock some beauty on this track. It just seemed like he might be into it and Charlie really wanted to share it with him. We are such a fan of The War On Drugs and Adam as a musical guru. He’s such a special voice and we invited him to come down and have jam on the track while we were recording at Electrovox. It was such a beautiful moment for us! There’s a very specific Adam moment right before the start of the second verse, that if you know his playing you can easily detect!

Thorns is all about the spirit of the band finding its voice. We loved the openness we had in the process of making the track, and it informed so much of the record. We found our way through true colloboration and we are so happy with the way it sounds. It’s definitely one of our proudest records and we hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed making it! This could’ve gone on for days.

Much love and thanks for being here. x

Matt