Nick LaFalce of the BK indie dream-rock band shares the story of a song three years in the making
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Two weeks ago, Nick LaFalce released “As You Are”—the newest single, following “Modern Mind” and the opening track off the band’s forthcoming EP (one of multiple), When the Compass Resets Part I.
“Social networks by design provide a whole new level of access to niche communities that can help us better understand ourselves and find support from like-minded people across the world,” the artist shared of the song “That’s fantastic, but we’ve obviously seen it can feed our ugly sides as well.”
Beyond that soundbite, the artist also offered to share the story behind the song, and because I’m a sucker for an ~exclusive~… and just really wanted to know… I’m stoked to offer some inside intel on Atlas Engine’s newest (+ maybe dreamiest) track:
“As You Are was written about 3 years ago after a show we had in my backyard in Bushwick. Our friend Ryan Egan played a new song at the time, “All is Fair in Exile,” and I loved how the top of the chorus switched from A major to A minor, which is something you usually don’t hear when the song is in either of those keys. Ryan and I were also in a weekly songwriting group at the time, so I figured I’d see if I could do something similar and wrote thIs the next day. Ryan I’m not sure if I ever told you that so thanks for that!
It was instantly very special to me, and throughout 3 years of playing it live it was always the song that got the most compliments – especially from the other bands, ha. We tried recording it 3 or 4 times over that time period but the results just weren’t quite matching what was in my head. The synths weren’t right, the bridge was a loud guitar solo (GREAT for playing live but just not right in this context), but thanks to the lockdown, the song had some time to breathe on its own and we were able to revisit everything a little more objectively – going through literally dozens of synths and tacos from Acapulco until we found it.
This will be the opening track of our next EP, When the Compass Resets Part I (due out this summer) and I think it really sets the tone for the new direction you’ll see from us in 2021.”
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Enjoy “As You Are,” um… as you are… and stay tuned for (much) more music from Atlas Engine—and, who knows, maybe more BdBK exclusives—coming your way soon.
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Follow Atlas Engine at @atlasenginemusic, add the band to your Spotify playlists and scoop up tunes (and tees) on bandcamp now!
Feature image (provided by the band): Keira Zhou