The new single from the band is a product of fighting habit and attempting time travel
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With any work—even the artistic kind—it’s easy to fall into a pattern. To discover a way of doing things that feels natural and right and to continue to ride that wave. And while there is, of course, nothing wrong with following instinct, perhaps even developing a signature style, there’s something to be said about instead opting to paddle against one’s own creative current—making the decision to depart from routine, take a personal path less traveled and make, in the case of music, a sort-of sonic shift.
“Don’t You Know We’re See Through,” the newest song by Brooklyn band Nancy Whitaker (out TODAY), is the product of a band doing just that: the group recognizing a certain tendency then finding direction in their desire to shake things up.
“We wrote this song a bit ago in response to a habit we had formed of making music with a lot of dynamic shifts,” said singer and multi-instrumentalist Kevin McDaniel, the songwriter around whom the project was initially conceived. ‘We wanted to make something that felt like it slowly inclined into intensity rather than jumping in and out of it.”
Beyond operating with a new approach, the band—comprised of Kevin, Evan Roque, Ben Carolan, James Carolan—also found inspiration in another era: The, shall we call it, Meet Me in the Bathroom period, which continues to offer endless allure and artistic fuel (plus, perhaps, a touch of envy… a shot of retroactive fomo) for any indie band, or writer. From Brooklyn and beyond.
“At the time I was listening to a lot of the Walkmen and all those 2000s NYC bands, and I think we were all curious about trying to write a song that wouldn’t sound out of place in that context,” Kevin said, going on to describe the group’s process.
“We tracked James on kit and Ben on bass together and then Evan and I spent a different day recording guitars, synths, soundscapes and percussion on top of it all to fill it out as much as possible.”
And it is full. The result of the band’s motivation and method is a song that sweeps you up and carries you along, one that you don’t just bounce along with but dive into… a piece you can practically swim through. Momentum-building from the very beginning, punctuated with surprising, sometimes startling, and occasionally almost-outerwordly elements.
As a writer and a reader, I’ve oft made it clear I’m a sucker for lyrics. Of course, they have to be delivered via notes and a melody that move me — physically, mentally or emotionally…. in a perfect world (I’m greedy), all of the above. After all, without the sonic sea on which they float (or, in some cases, are submerged), words would just be poetry. And that’s a whole different thing.
As I prepared to premiere this track and received input from Kevin over email, I was shocked to learn that he had initially been unsure about and unsatisfied with the song’s lyrics.
“Lyrically I just know I was feeling incredibly irritated when I wrote the words/recorded vocals,” he recalled, “and no combination of words sounded right to me.”
Because while I was initially swept away by the sound, it’s the lyrics that took me home—the metaphors, sweet sets of phrases and wordplay that took my listening experience to the next level, hooking me even harder:
“I’m playing catch with a shadow but I can’t figure out if it’s mine”
“And the noise drags on but the silence slips right through my hand”
“Then we could shake heads or hands and float in space where we don’t need to land”
“And the glass where we hide’s got a time where it turns into sand”
… just to name a few.
However, in a pleasant twist, it seems like Kevin’s frustration in this department might have been a good thing for the song itself, emotion adding an element to the recording that wouldn’t have existed otherwise—and that he actually ended up being pleased with.
“I actually enjoy that aspect now though because I think that the irritation while writing/recording led to certain vocal inflections that I really enjoy.”
There’s a life lesson there somewhere.
“Don’t You Know We’re See Through” is out now! Listen to it everywhere and don’t miss your chance to hear it live at the band’s next NYC show — Saturday, April 6th at Bar Freda.
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Follow Nancy Whitaker at @nancywhitaker_, buy music on Bandcamp and add songs to your Spotify playlists!
Feature image provided by the band.