on the outside and that comes out in the art. We’re both known for deep hours long conversations as much as laughing about crazy ideas. So being deeply moved by music, comedy and film — those arts are where we naturally developed our storytelling. So we take advantage of that full range for the things we want to do. Sometimes it blends — Cocoon is deep and covers tough to swallow topics, but the promo for the album is a total spoof infomercial, which felt like a good format to quickly and simply share the essence of the whole album. As a concept record band, can you dive a bit deeper into the concept approach and also why you took a slight turn with your sound on your new 3-part album, The Magic? (And also why it’s been compared to a collaboration between Prince and Trent Reznor, because according to legitimate streaming service stats, I’m a top Reznor listener/fan in the world ;) Dan: Okay, that is a huge accomplishment, so I’m more interested in what you think here! The Prince and Trent Reznor feel emerged from the combination of pop elements like top-line melodies, falsetto vocals with lots of harmonies blended with dark synths and basslines with drums that can have an industrial feel. But we’d change that to “If Prince and NIN made SNL digital shorts.” On the concept question: from the very beginning we agreed our whole output would be one concept. It’s a sketched out 6-installment story arc. The upcoming album series, The Magic, is Installment 3 and it’s broken out like a movie into three acts with each song being scenes. Cocoon was Part 2 of 2 of Installment 5. The idea was to start with an ideal end state, finite vision while creating a way to account buckets for all the sounds and themes we want to explore in a way that would be compelling for us to create and others to consume. Charles: The sound is definitely a pivot for the audience, but not so much for us as we have each made songs in the genre of metal, hip-hop, classical, jazz and sometimes we just feel it’s best to use something like Yacht Rock. And it WAS important for us to come out with our new sound immediately after Cocoon came out for ourselves to be able to operate in the whole available range, especially without misleading fans. We’re not Korn or ACDC or Beach House or Migos who do their specific thing so well every time. We’re not something for everyone, and some people may just like one song, and some people may love dissecting the puzzle we’re laying out. We do lose a few fans when we shift and we get it and that’s okay. We don’t like it when bands that we like change sometimes, but we also like bands like Ween who changed on most songs. Part 1 of The Magic centers on the exploration of romantic love in all facets: the good, the bad, and the ugly. Please expand. Dan: The concept of love is an important one. Everyone experiences it at some level, and that comes with the biggest elation and also heartbreak, so the type of music is a good way to communicate that. In music, love songs are so prominent. On the good side, there’s so much of the fuzzy side of how in love you are and so it’s fun to cover those wonderful and sometimes naive feelings. But on the tough side, love songs are so often about being a victim or suffering because of losing a relationship, or because the other person was such a problem. But sometimes, aren’t we the problem? Have you ever screwed up a relationship you really wanted to keep, or ended one the wrong way? We have, and assume most people have, but those stories are hard to admit, and harder to admit honestly and end up sanitized. There’s a low understanding of what it looks like on the inside of anxious or avoidant attachment styles that feels urgent to talk about. These are the things people feel and think or experience but don’t usually say. Ideally, someone could turn on these lighter songs and feel energized, and maybe think, It’s not just me; or Hmm, I think this might be what my partner experiences; or even one step further, Wow, I’ve known I should end this relationship and now I have the guts to do it. In 23
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