Miya Folick has released a new song called ‘Nothing to See’. Produced by Big Thief collaborator Andrew Sarlo, the track is the latest offering from her upcoming EP 2007, following ‘Oh God’ and ‘Ordinary’. It comes with an accompanying video directed by Noah Kentis. Check it out below, along with Folick’s upcoming tour dates.
“This song is about falling in love with someone emotionally unavailable,” Folick explained in a statement. “Someone whose feelings and desires were so obscured to me and themselves, that I had to become a detective. I studied their life for clues and tried to fit the role of the person I thought they’d like. Eventually we broke up, and I realized that I’d lost the plot on my own life. My body and personality and life were so populated by the interests of this person, that once they were gone, there was nothing left to see. But, to me, this song isn’t bleak. I think there’s power in being brave enough to say, ‘I was made a fool by you’.”
1. Oh God
2. Bad Thing
3. Nothing to See
4. 2007
5. Cartoon Clouds
6. Ordinary
Miya Folick 2022 Tour Dates:
Sep 15 New York, NY – Market Hotel
Sep 27 Los Angeles, CA – Teragram Ballroom
Sep 28 San Francisco, CA – Café du Nord
Sep 30 Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge
Oct 1 Seattle, WA – Madame Lou’s
Oct 29 Dublin, Ireland – 3Olympia Theater *
Nov 1 Glasgow, Scotland – SWG3 Galvanizers *
Nov 2 Manchester, England – Academy *
Nov 3 Birmingham, England – O2 Institute *
Nov 5 London, England – The Roundhouse *
Nov 8 Brussels, Belgium – La Madeleine *
Nov 9 Cologne, Germany – Live Music Hall *
Nov 10 Paris, France – Bataclan*
Nov 12 Luxembourg City, Luxembourg – Den Atelier *
Nov 13 Amsterdam, Netherlands – Melkweg *
Nov 15 Berlin, Germany – Astra Kulturhaus *
Nov 16 Warsaw, Poland – Stodola *
Nov 18 Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega *
Nov 19 Oslo, Norway – Sentrum Scene *
Nov 21 Stockholm, Sweden – Berns *
Nov 22 Stockholm, Sweden – Berns *
Over the past half-decade, the world has come to know Jack White – ever the traditionalist – as being unable to rein in his creative eccentricities. The jury’s out on whether embracing his unwavering musical curiosity leads to some of his more interesting, if not always strictly enjoyable, work: both 2018’s wildly esoteric Boarding House Reach and this year’s Fear of the Dawn remain among his most divisive efforts, despite the latter being slightly more controlled in its chaotic experimentation – an exhilarating mess or a frustrating slog of an album, depending on how you look at it. Entering Heaven Alive, his second album in the space of three months, seems like a strategic move to balance out the darkly unhinged weirdness of its companion with a set of subtler, mostly acoustic arrangements.
Longtime fans will know that some of the best stripped-back moments in White’s catalog are most impactful when juxtaposed with the ferocity and pathos he tends to pack elsewhere. But it’s also true that White has a unique knack for melodic songwriting that can dominate a body of work to satisfying effect, and Entering Heaven Alive will naturally appeal to those with a special fondness for records like 2012’s Blunderbuss or the White Stripes’ Get Behind Me Satan. (If opener ‘A Tip From You to Me’ sounds more like an outtake than anything on par with the classic ballads off Blunderbuss, ‘A Tree on Fire From Within’ certainly comes close.) But the most confounding thing about the new album is also the most unsurprising: not all of it sounds particularly low-key. Maybe it’s just the fact that White didn’t originally intend for the songs to be on separate albums, but the fluidity that has defined his recent output also bleeds into this collection in intriguing ways.
While it may not be the consistent, nuanced portrait of an artist that the 2016 compilation Acoustic Recordings was, Entering Heaven Alive leaves the biggest impression when it reaches beyond its purported framework. “Ask yourself if you are happy/ And then you cease to be,” he philosophizes on the aforementioned opening track; the more raw and less settled the music sounds, the more it comes alive. An electric guitar lick crawls and shrieks its way into the delirious jazz-funk of ‘I’ve Got You Surrounded (With My Love)’, by far the most captivating track on the album; the groove of the finger-picked ‘All Along the Way’ switches up as it builds, adding an instrumental heft that much of the record lacks; and the synth that blooms out of nowhere on ‘If I Die Tomorrow’ is an excellent touch that instantly turns it into a highlight.
There are also songs here that benefit from not messing with the refreshing simplicity of White’s approach. On ‘Love Is Selfish’, which directly references his 2013 track ‘Never Far Away’, there’s a familiar tension that arises from the way he knits his strained voice along the spare guitar. But the nakedness of the instrumental also draws more attention to the lyrics, which are sometimes more thoughtful than Fear of the Dawn‘s but never as imaginative as his musical trickery (“Always crying, ‘Me, me, me’/ And it’s always trying to mess up all my plans,” he sings on that one). But if it doesn’t always feel at odds with the persona White inhabits, the writing exposes emotional contradictions that are often undermined by the polished, accessible production, as in ‘Help Me Along’, which unnecessarily takes on an orchestral quality.
The decision to release Fear of the Dawn and Entering Heaven Alive as separate albums rather than one double LP makes sense, even in a year where the format has seen an unlikely resurgence. But although White’s continued willingness to experiment and play around with style, particularly on an album that’s supposed to be more laid-back, is no doubt fascinating – and, on this new record, often endearing – it also hints at a level of comfortability, more implicit than explicit, that prevents it from being truly impressive. Jack White has mastered the art of throwing everything at the wall and contrasting his various artistic sensibilities without losing his core audience; now would be a good time to try to bring it all together.
The craze of people toward puffing seems to know no counts. As much as they are getting into this stuff, they adore it more. On one hand, it is relatively better than blowing off those toxic old cigs. Right? You may also puff some healthy stuff like cannabis contents, including THC or CBD. They lend the best of puffing with some rare raw pros. The scope for puffing is boosting as well. And most likely, the reason why we can find a great vape store in a particular area.
We all are trying to conquer puffer hearts with their unique crops. Almost all of them sell that lawful thing on the board of laws. And then we may have others who may sell the illegal ones secretly. On a serious note, that’s not at all right! Those crops are not even good enough to suit your health. Avoid them.
But no matter which puff crop you wield, there may be similar stuff present in many of them. And that is also the thing that comes from smoking cigs. And that thing is nicotine. We believe there is hardly any soul feeling strange about this term. It has been centuries since we have had it on the market. The crop was initially existing through smoking and now also comes with vapes.
But even after this vogue, the struggle for this crop is not over. We can also see many folks thinking, ‘if the crop is available in the vape shop near me or not?”. And you seem to be another one with this turmoil. Aren’t you? Well, then it is time to chill as the same is available at online vape shop near me. Further, we are here today with this written piece and a nicotine 101 guide. So, let’s begin right away-
Nicotine 101: what explains it?
Let’s begin the nicotine in vape stores by learning what it is. It will assist us in discerning the entire scenario better. Nicotine is a potent chemical that holds the presence of nitrogen. It may originate from several plant species, including the old tobacco one. However, its presence or occurrence is not limited to just natural sources. We can obtain it through synthetic one, too.
Many people and books also denote the chemical as Nicotiana Tabacum. It is the one arising from the vast tobacco plant and belongs to the nightshade family. And that’s the same family that potatoes, tomatoes, eggplant, and red peppers have. Its origination phase dates back to at least 2000 years.
If not cancer-leading or drastically toxic on its own, it is severely addictive. It exposes users to the drastically hazardous impacts of tobacco dependency. Puffing the stuff elicits more nicotine content to our lungs than smoking it. Although, as per reports, the substance is equally hard to give up on as heroin. Now, you must be, if these are the sides of this crop, why do people go for it? Let’s explain it to you.
Consequences of nicotine consumption-
The chemical elicits several positive and negative consequences. Some of them are-
The nicotine impact-
If you don’t recognize it yet, let us tell you that nicotine is a source of both sedation and stimulation. So, when we expose our body to this chemical, our system experience an unusual kick. It is somewhat like attaining highs from psychedelic marijuana. The impact works partly due to nicotine stimulation of adrenal glands. And that’s why we get an adrenaline boost.
This surge of unusual yet powerful adrenaline tends to stimulate our body. On the other hand, we can also sense a random waiver of glucose and speed up our heartbeat, blood pressure, and breathing rate. Now, driving our minds to its impacts on the pancreas, nicotine can make them release less insulin. And thus, we get an instant fluctuation in blood sugar or glucose levels.
Besides these aftermaths, our brain experiences a wave of dopamine, especially in the motivation and pleasure areas. A cocaine or heroin user would comprehend this feeling at once. They find this pleasurable sensation worth experiencing. The impact relies upon the amounts of chemical intake.
Pharmacologic impacts-
When our and animal bodies surrender to nicotine, it boosts our consumption rate, heart rate, and heart spasm volume. And together, these consequences are known as pharmacologic impacts.
Psychodynamic impacts-
Nicotine ingestion is related to putting up euphoria, relaxation, and an innate sensation of alertness.
Memory and concentration-
As per studies, this chemical tends to enhance concentration and memory grades. And believing their assumptions, it’s due to a boost in norepinephrine and acetylcholine. Together, they may also attract arousal or wakefulness.
Anxiety demolition-
In an era full of triggering anxiety among innumerable living creatures, nicotine proves to be its remedy. Yes, it can heal multiple sorts of anxiolytic disorders.
A super addictive substance-
Yes, that’s nicotine. Do you know? Even if people endeavor to quit its ingestion, they can get severe withdrawal impacts. Some of them are-
Cravings
Anxiety
Depression
Moodiness
A feeling of emptiness
Trouble paying attention or focusing
Irritability
As per many studies, its dependence may drive you to smoking obsession. Further, it can develop a craving for toxic cocaine inside your system. However, certain aids or therapies tend to provide promising results for their treatment.
Can puff stores sell it?
Well, that banks upon the state you reside. And that’s because, for some laws, the chemical is severely toxic to human lives, while for others, it may work well as a regulated substance. But in no laws or rules, you can probably find an appreciated or suggested wielding of this chemical. It can be due to the safety issues that nicotine carries. Principally with puff items.
Electronic Nicotine Delivery System (or we can call it ENDS) is deemed illegal in most states. Though they may assist you in quitting smoking, the chemical itself is drastic. However, according to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), it may work as a regulated substance. But that doesn’t mean that it insists on its usage. So, most likely, no! You will hardly grab it from a puff store.
The lawmakers emphasized the adverse impacts of this chemical and found that it can make you prone to
Lung cancer or ailments
Diabetes
Eye ailments
Impotence or infertility
Teeth and gum diseases
Circulatory system troubles
So, now you can discern why we do not legally recommend puff stores to trade with those nicotine crops. It can be a foe to your precious health in the disguise of a friend. So, you can try to think again if you are interested in trying this chemical.
Me and Earl and the Dying Girlis the film adaptation of Jesse Andrews’ 2012 novel of the same name. Directed by Alfonso Gomez-Rejon and written for the screen by Andrews, the film is a mostly upbeat dramedy centered around Greg (Thomas Mann), a socially awkward high schools student, and his best friend Earl (RJ Cyler). When his classmate is diagnosed with leukemia, Greg’s mother asks him to get to know her better and become her friend. At first, Greg is reluctant to befriend Rachel (Olivia Cooke) and is unsure how to go about it, so he enlists Earl’s help. The two of them have been making short films for years, so they decide to make one for Rachel. Meanwhile, all three of them grow closer, especially Greg and Rachel.
The film starts as a joke, but as Rachel’s cancer progresses, they feel unsure of whether their normal parody style is suitable for this project. Nevertheless, Greg tries his best to remain positive and to make Rachel laugh when he can. In turn, she encourages him to pursue his passions and apply to the college of his dreams. Their friendship is founded on some witty rapport and a slew of memorable sarcastic exchanges. Here are nine of the best quotes from the film adaptation of Me and Earl and the Dying Girl.
Greg: You know I’m terminally awkward and I have a face like a little groundhog. I just feel like, you know, for a kid like me in high school – best case scenario, just survive. You know? Survive without creating any mortal enemies or hideously embarrassing yourself forever.
Earl: One thing you can do if you don’t want to talk to anyone is just enter a subhuman state. Pretend you’re someone annoying. Rachel: ‘Hi Rachel, I’m really sorry you have cancer.’ Greg: That’s exactly what I’m talking about!
Rachel: So you and Greg are coworkers? Earl: Naw, we just friends. He just hates calling people his friend. Dude’s got issues. Rachel: Yeah, he does. What’s going on? Earl: Man, I don’t even know. It might be his folks. I mean, dude’s mom always tellin’ him how handsome he is, which he ain’t. So now he think he can’t trust anybody close to him. Dude’s weird-ass dad don’t socialize with anybody ‘cept the cat. So that’s a role model ain’t got no friends. Bottom line, dude’s terrified of callin’ somebody his friend…
Greg: Summer. What does that word even mean, right? More “summ.” Winter, same deal. More “won’t”?
Earl: You gonna take her out for ice cream. And you gonna take me too, ’cause I love that sh*t.
Greg: My mom is gonna turn my life into a living hell if I don’t hang out with you. I can’t overstate how annoying she’s being about this. She’s basically like the LeBron James of nagging. LeBron James plays basketball. Rachel: I know who LeBron James is.
Greg: Look, I know you’re really bracing for this sweet girl that you probably like a lot to die. Just please bear with me. She doesn’t. She gets better. I promise.
Rachel: Dear Greg, I heard what happened with your class work. And with Pitt State. So, I wrote them a letter, trying to convince them to let you back in. There’s a copy in here, if you want to read it. Hopefully, it works, because that would mean I have powers from beyond the grave. But you should probably send them something too. Goodbye, Greg. You’re a good friend. Although if you don’t go to college, you’re also an idiot. But you already knew that. Love, Rachel. P.S. I’d also like for you to take some of my pillows. They’ll want a good home where they’ll be loved. P.P.S. Not in the way you’re thinking, that’s disgusting.
Rachel: Dear Pittsburgh State Admissions, I’m writing on behalf of someone who gave me half a year of his life at the time when I was at my most difficult to be around. He has a very low opinion of himself, which is why I think it’s necessary that you hear from someone who sees him as he actually is: a limitlessly kind, sweet, giving, and genuine person.
Just months after his last LP Fear of the Dawn, Jack White’s second album of 2022 has arrived via Third Man. Entering Heaven Alive features a more stripped-back sound, as showcased in the previously released singles ‘If I Die Tomorrow’, ‘Love Is Selfish’, and ‘Taking Me Back (Gently)’. The songs on the two albums were originally intended to be part of one full-length, but White found himself dividing them into different camps. “You get into the zone on every record and the songs are telling you the way it should be,” he said in a new interview with Consequence. “You stupidly have to start sculpting things around that.” He also called Entering Heaven Alive “the first thing I did that was really gentle.”
2000, the highly-anticipated new album from Joey Bada$$, has arrived via Pro Era/Columbia. Originally set to drop on June 17, 10 years to the day after the release of his debut mixtape 1999, the record was delayed due to sample clearance issues. It features the previously shared singles ‘Where I Belong’, ‘Survivors Guilt’, and ‘Zipcodes’, as well as guest appearances from Diddy, Westide Gunn, JID, Larry June, Capella Grey, and more. 2000 follows the rapper’s 2017 album All-Amerikkkan Badass.
Nina Nastasia has issued Riderless Horse, her first LP in 12 years, via Temporary Residence. The album was produced alongside Steve Albini and features the early singles ‘This Is Love’, ‘Just Stay in Bed’, and ‘Afterwards’. It is her first record not produced by her former partner, Kennan Gudjonsson, who died by suicide in 2020. “I haven’t made an album since 2010. I decided to stop pursuing music several years after my sixth record, Outlaster, because of unhappiness, overwhelming chaos, mental illness, and my tragically dysfunctional relationship with Kennan,” she explained in press materials. “Creating music had always been a positive outlet during difficult times, but eventually it became a source of absolute misery.” She added: “Riderless Horse documents the grief, but it also marks moments of empowerment and a real happiness in discovering my own capability.”
Pool Kids have dropped their self-titled album via Skeletal Lightning. The follow-up to 2018’s Music to Practice Safe Sex To was previewed with the singles ‘That’s Physics, Baby’, ‘I Hope You’re Right’, and ‘Arm’s Length’. Talking about self-titling the LP, vocalist Christine Goodwyne explained in our Artist Spotlight interview: “Honestly, the initial idea was just like, it’s an easy cop out – we can’t come up with an album title, we can just self-title it. But then we started realizing, ‘Wait, this actually makes so much sense because it’s not just me and Caden anymore. This is Pool Kids, the four of us, this is the band. We all contributed to this album, we all made it together. And this is our fully-realized sound.’ Music to Practice Safe Sex To was just figuring it out, and then throughout the past four years, we’ve found the full band and started grinding together. And it’s like, ‘OK, this is actually us.'”
Beach Bunny have returned with their latest album, Emotional Creature, via Mom+Pop. The follow-up to 2020’s Honeymoon was produced by Sean O’Keefe at Chicago’s Shirk Studio and includes the advance tracks ‘Oxygen’, ‘Fire Escape’, ‘Karaoke’, and ‘Weeds’. “We are always changing, growing, and adapting – it’s a deeply ingrained part of the human experience,” the band’s Lili Trifilio remarked in a press release. “We strive to be stronger, trust we’ll grow smarter, and spend most of our lives reaching for comfort and happiness. Sometimes, life is stagnant, sometimes, life is difficult – but the wonderful part of being human is that we evolve and make the bleak moments beautiful – we find new ways to survive. Humans are emotional creatures and I wanted to capture that with this album in order to show how complex, sometimes tragic, and mostly wonderful the human experience can be.”
Ty Segall has put out a new album called “Hello, Hi” via Drag City. The follow-up to last year’s Harmonizer was primarily recorded at Segall’s home in California and includes the previously released tracks ‘Saturday Pt. 2’, the title song, and ‘Don’t Lie’, a cover of a song by The Mantles. “I guess for me, when I pick up an acoustic guitar, and I’m by myself, a certain kind of song just comes out,” Segall said in an interview with Esquire. “And I didn’t feel like supplementing that song with a different kind of instrument. Or expanding it in any way. So I guess the kind of ‘concept’ of this one is just that process. The songwriting, on an acoustic, and just a voice. And just keeping it raw.”
Rico Nasty has released her latest project, Las Ruinas, via Sugar Trap/Atlantic. It’s the follow-up to 2020’s Nightmare Vacation, her major-label debut, and includes the promotional singles ‘Blow Me’, ‘Black Punk’, and ‘Intrusive’, ‘Skullflower’, ‘Vaderz’, and the Marshmello-assisted ‘Watch Your Man’. It also boasts additional contributions from Atlanta’s Bktherula, Teezo Touchdown, and Fred again… In a statement, Nasty described Las Ruinas as her “most experimental and vulnerable body of work yet.”
TRAAMS are back with a new album called personal best. Out now via Fat Cat Records, it marks the band’s third album and first in seven years, following 2015’s Modern Dancing, and features Protomartyr’s Joe Casey, Liza Violet (Menace Beach, Softlizard), and more. “A lot of this album is about recognising yourself,” frontman Stuart Hopkins explained in press materials. “This record is about the little changes we make, and the milestones we achieve in that process. It’s not about big declarations of love or huge outpourings of grief. It’s about the little personal realisations and victories that people have throughout their lives. Some of them are massive, some of them can be hard, and some are small and beautiful, but they all matter.”
Other albums out today:
Cuco, Fantasy Getaway; Jamie T, The Theory of Whatever; quinn, quinn; Spacemoth, No Past No Future; Sean Nicholas Savage, Shine; RZA & Bobby Digital, RZA Presents: Bobby Digital and the Pit of Snakes; Isa Gordon, For You Only; Sam Prekop & John McEntire, Sons Of; Twen, One Stop Shop; Sonagi, Precedent; Anthony Green, Boom. Done.; Carlos Niño & Friends, Extra Presence; Rusty Santos, High Reality; Dawes, Misadventures of Doomscroller; Ben Harper, Bloodline Maintenance; The Kooks, 10 Tracks to Echo in the Dark; She & Him, Melt Away: A Tribute to Brian Wilson; Oh Wonder, 22 Make; Channelers, Time, Space, and Thought; Dewa Alit & Gamelan Salukat, Chasing the Phantom.
Ethel Cain has shared a new music video for her Preacher’s Daughter highlight ‘American Teenagers’. The clip was directed by Silken Weinberg and sees Cain taking a trip around her hometown of Perry, Florida. It also features an extended introduction to the original song. Check it out below.
In a statement about the video, Cain said: “I’ve been meaning to pay homage to my mom’s cheerleading days with her old uniform (and also to the gods of midwest emo. American Football forever!). Thank you for watching, I hope you enjoy!”
Along with the video, Cain has announced her debut UK show, which will take place at London’s Omeara on December 6. She’s currently touring the US in support of Preacher’s Daughter, which we named one of the best albums of 2022 so far.
Jack White stopped by The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last night, where he performed his single ‘If I Die Tomorrow’. He also sat down with Colbert for an album cover game called ‘Maybe Dropping Soon’, which ended up with them singing along to Stan Rogers’ 1976 track ‘Barrett’s Privateers’. Watch it below.
‘If I Die Tomorrow’ appears on Entering Heaven Alive, which is out today. It’s White’s second album of 2022, following April’s Fear of the Dawn, whose single ‘What’s the Trick?’ he also brought to Colbert.
Megan Thee Stallion has enlisted Future for a new song called ‘Pressurelicious’. The track was produced by HitKidd, and Megan shared it along with the caption: “Hot Girls Up 10000000000000 points.” Check it out below.
Discussing the collaboration with Future in an interview with Rolling Stone, Megan Thee Stallion said: “He just so fucking ratchet! He is unapologetically himself. I appreciate that about anybody who gets up and has to do anything in the public eye. Anybody who has to read about their life online every day and deal with so many energies and can put it out into their music and do it gracefully, I feel like you deserve your flowers.”
Teasing the follow-up to 2020’s Good News, she added: “I want to take you through so many different emotions. At first you was twerking, now you might be crying.”
Hailing from Tallahassee, Florida, Pool Kids started out as the duo of guitarist and vocalist Christine Goodwyne and drummer Caden Clinton, who wrote the entirety of the emo band’s 2018 debut Music to Practice Safe Sex To. The LP, equal parts forceful and contemplative, caught the attention of Hayley Williams, who claimed it sounded like what Paramore “WISHED we sounded like in the early 2000s.” Now a four-piece featuring Andy Anaya on guitar and Nicolette Alvarez on bass, Pool Kids have only grown since then, having toured with acts like the Wonder Years and Into It. Over It. For their sophomore outing, out tomorrow, they teamed up with producer Mike Vernon Davis, polishing up their sound and dialing up the dynamics: Pool Kids balances technical virtuosity with tight hooks, explosive choruses and nuanced, evocative lyricism in a way that few bands can pull off with such infectious confidence. Emotionally and otherwise, it wasn’t an easy process: not just because the songs touch on childhood trauma and the dissolution of a long-term relationship – the ferocity of the music sweeps away any negativity that comes up – but because an actual flood hit the studio just days before the record was completed. Knowing that they powered through and managed to save Pool Kids only makes it more of a triumph.
We caught up with Pool Kids’ Christine Goodwyne for this edition of our Artist Spotlight interview series to talk about her upbringing in Florida, the evolution of her songwriting, the making of Pool Kids, and more.
I was talking to the band Camp Trash, who also grew up in Florida but whose members are now based in different places, and they told me about how they found music and connected through the church, how you either have to get out of Florida or you’re kind of stuck there. What was your experience growing up there?
That’s actually funny because all the things that you said Camp Trash had said also apply exactly to us. We grew up in Florida – I actually haven’t gotten a chance to talk about it a lot, but I also started with church music. And now, Nicolette and I live together in Chicago, and Caden lives in Pittsburgh. Andy made it out of Florida, but he did go back and he has a house with his wife now in Melbourne Florida, but he might be leaving again, I don’t know. But yeah, growing up in Florida was interesting. I wasn’t exposed to this world, any of this DIY touring and this whole circle of music until I actually got to college. Not to say that that’s everybody’s experience – for some reason, I just didn’t find it.
Nicola and I met in college radio, actually. I was tabling shows, and I was like, “Oh my god, these are people that start a band and just go on tour.” And I was like, “I can fucking do that. I’ve been playing guitar since I was 10. I was in a church band, I can do this shit.” It was just me and my Baptist Church, which I obviously have stepped away from many years later. But playing for the youth band Christian songs, it’s kind of funny, but that was my entire music experience until college, even through high school. I went to like one of Montreal show at the Orpheum. And I was like, “Whoa, this is cool!” And then I didn’t realize that I could just go to those all the time and they were happening all the time. But yeah, pretty basic, pretty, like, deprived. I know the rest of the band, though, had different experiences. Caden, he’s from Vero Beach, and he was all into music stuff. Same with Andy, Andy was playing in bands in high school. Nicola had a high school band. But I was literally just in my church band. [laughs] No one wanted to be in a band with me.
You mean in high school?
Yeah. Another thing about it, I was in my high school guitar class, and people were always talking about their bands. And I was, like, one of the best kids in the fucking class, and I was interested, but no one ever wanted to be in a band with me. I was also the only girl in that entire class.
What do you feel like you learned from talking to other people in the band about their experiences in music before?
Kind of thesame thing, just realizing I could have started this so much sooner in my life. Even though it’s not like being college, you’re old, but everyone else I feel like I talked to started being in bands in high school, even if it was just casual. Safe Sex was really the first feet of songwriting and being in a band and stuff, and I wish I had more experience earlier.
How do you reflect on those early attempts at songwriting?
I can definitely see the growth and the changes. I remember when I was writing for Safe Sex, I would just get the first idea and go with it. Once I had a full song laid out, I was like, “We’re not fucking with it, we’re not changing it.” Like, “This is the song structure, this is what’s happening.” And part of that was, I felt so in a rush to get it out, I was like, “This record needs to happen ASAP.” And I really didn’t give myself the time, I wasn’t comfortable fucking with the songs. So it was just first idea, best idea. And then with this record, the self-titled, I was like, “I do not want to do that. I want to lay something out and then pull it apart, turn it inside out if we have to.” Really work on every song, change stuff around until it’s the best song that it can be, rather than just sticking with the first idea. And I’m very glad because if I compare some of the end products of the self-titled album with what the song started with, I’m like, “Damn, I’m so glad we ripped this apart.” It’s crazy to think about what this album would have been if I took the approach that I took in Safe Sex with the songwriting. It would be way less good.
When did you decide that this album was going to be self-titled and that you were going to have this approach to it?
We were already decently through all the songs, and throughout the whole thing, I was in the back of my head like, “What is this going to be called?” Like, we’re never gonna make an album title better than Music to Practice Safe Sex To. I think that’s the best title ever. And it was like, “How are we going to top it?” Honestly, the initial idea was just like, it’s an easy cop out – we can’t come up with an album title, we can just self-title it. But then we started realizing, “Wait, this actually makes so much sense because it’s not just me and Caden anymore. This is Pool Kids, the four of us, this is the band. We all contributed to this album, we all made it together. And this is our fully-realized sound.” And we felt like that’s a good statement, self-titling it, because this is actually who we are. Music to Practice Safe Sex To was just figuring it out, and then throughout the past four years, we’ve found the full band and started grinding together. And it’s like, “OK, this is actually us.”
It sounds like LP3 will be hard to title.
Definitely. [laughs]
Was that an emotional moment, when you all realized as a group that this could be self-titled?
Maybe a little bit. I would say there was other moments that were emotional. Listening back to songs I would say was probably the most emotional moment. Other than the studio flood, that was definitely emotional. [laughs] Realizing it was self-titled was more a cool, like, “Hell yeah, let’s do that. That’s us.”
Do you recall a specific moment of listening back to a song and having strong feelings about it? Or was it just the whole album?
I’d say the most emotional was probably the whole album. The first time we did a listen-through, the producer, Mike [Vernon Davis], who is like family now, he rearranged the whole little studio, he moved the couch so it was facing the speakers, he turned all the lights off. We got some wine, I think, or champagne, and we just started playing it through the nice speakers. Obviously, no one said a word the whole time. And then 46 minutes later, we were just like, “Holy fuck.” The producer was like, “I know this might sound dramatic, but I feel like I could die right now and feel fully satisfied just because we created that.” And I was like, “Honestly, same.” And I remember being like, normally I’m so concerned about the reception, what’s gonna happen after the release, but I was like, “I don’t even care. I feel like we don’t even have to release it. I just feel so satisfied that we made this product.” Yeah, it was really emotional all around. We all just sat there for probably another hour or two just having a big heart-to-heart. I’ll always remember that.
Going back to how intentional you were about every detail, I love how the record balances technical playing with immediately affecting songwriting. Was that something you were always conscious of in the process of making the album?
Yeah, I would say I was kind of always focused on that. Every song I was trying to think, like, Is this actually something I would want to turn on and vibe out to? Or is this just cool for a musician to watch? And so, we would have songs that weren’t fully-realized yet, and I was like, “It’s just missing that catchy piece.” And then we would eventually figure it out, which was great. I feel like we got there with all the songs. I mean, there’s some that aren’t earwormy, but they serve their purpose too, for sure. I just wanted a good portion of the album to have the catchy stuff. When I felt like it was a song that needed it, which was most of them, I was very, like, tunnel vision on achieving that.
I was looking at the press release and you were talking about leaning into some of your pop influences a bit as a means of inspiration, including “very select Taylor Swift songs.” Define “very select.”
That’s such a good question. Let me literally pull up my Spotify ’cause I actually I haven’t been on my Taylor Swift shit recently. Let me pull up my actual liked Taylor Swift songs. I have nine songs that I like by Taylor Swift, apparently. ‘False God’ I think is her best song ever, off Lover, which is super underrated. ‘Call It What You Want’ from Reputation – so many people do this, but she does this thing where she’ll just repeat a line, and that’s the whole pre-chorus or something. And I literally have been trying to figure out which song made me – I know it’s a Taylor Swift song, and she just repeated the same line a bunch, but I remember being like, “That’s a good way to do that.” Because I was having so much trouble writing courses and pre-choruses, and that’s what I thought to do for ‘That’s Physics, Baby’. “Telling you what I, telling you what I need,” just saying that over and over again. She kind of does that in ‘Call It What You Want’. ‘the 1’. ‘last great american dynasty’. ‘Cowboy Like Me. ‘Clean’. ‘Red’, obviously. ‘Dancing With Our Hands Tied’ from Reputation. I really like ‘I Forgot That You Existed’ off of Lover. That’s my list of Taylor Swift songs.
I wasn’t trying to call you out, by the way. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the Damon Albarn controversy…
Oh, yeah.
It just stood out to me that there was a list of pop singers and then “very select” Taylor Swift songs.
Honestly, what made me clarify “very select” is that I’ve said that before, I’ll say certain things about influences from her, and I really think she’s a good songwriter. And people just immediately jump to, “Oh, Christine’s a Swiftie.” And I’m like, “OK, calm down.”
That’s too much responsibility.
Yeah. I respect a lot of things about her songwriting and I enjoy chunks of her songs, for sure, but I also think she does some really cringey things in her songs that I kind of hate. But she also does some amazing things that I, like, copy, so there’s a balance. I’m not like a full-on – like, Billie Eilish, I’m pretty much a stan. I like the whole package pretty much with Billie Eilish, but Taylor Swift, I take some and then I leave the rest at arm’s length. [laughs]
To be fair, that’s very close to what Damon Albarn said. He was like, “Yeah, Taylor Swift, whatever, but what about Billie Eilish though?”
Oh, you’re right, you’re right. [laughs] He did say that. He was like, “I love what she’s doing! But fuck Taylor Swift, she’s not writing her own songs.” Isn’t that what it is? That is such bullshit. It’s so obvious that Taylor Swift writes her own songs. You can say you don’t like it, for sure, but to claim that she doesn’t write it – that’s ridiculous.
I wanted to ask about your music videos. I feel like it’s quite rare for a band nowadays to pair each single with a music video, or even just a visualizer. What made you want to invest in that side of the project?
Caden and I were talking about this last night – I think we spent the same amount of money just on those three music videos as we did on the entire record. [laughs] I’m pretty sure. Which is just crazy. But from the very start, I think before we even started writing, we were just like, “We need fucking music videos.” I don’t even know why exactly, because we all simultaneously recognize that music videos do nothing for a band nowadays. Unless one goes viral, they do close to nothing. It’s not MTV era anymore. But we just wanted it. It’s something that lasts forever, we can always look back on it.
Also, sometimes when you’re making a song or listening to a song, you just picture a video, and I just want to see that out. And Caden was like, “I want to make as many music videos as we can possibly make.” So we’re like, three or four. Obviously, if I could make a music video for every song in the album, I totally would. But it was like a goal we just always wanted to do because we didn’t do it for Safe Sex. I think that was the main thing. We made a music video for ‘$5 Subtweet’, like, four years after it was released, which was weird, but we were like, “This time around the music videos need to come out before the release, we’re either gonna do it or we’re not gonna do it. We’re choosing to do it, so it’s going to happen.”
Do you think you’d do it again?
Yeah. Again, I can’t put my finger on exactly what they’re accomplishing for the band, but it’s just part of the creative vision. It’s one of the things that, at least for me personally, feels creatively fulfilling, to have that visual element going along with the song. I just love good music videos. I’m always picturing them and thinking about ideas for them. And even before I started making music, as a kid, I would listen to songs and picture what a cool music video would be for that. So I think it’s definitely something we’re gonna continue doing, even though it’s so fucking expensive.
A lot of the songs on the album revolve around feelings and ideas that are personal but presented in a way that’s universal. The track ‘Couch’ stands out to me lyrically, though, just the intimate and physical detail that it goes into in describing this relationship dynamic. Was it a challenging one to write?
That one almost didn’t make the record, actually. Yeah, that was definitely extremely personal. I wouldn’t say any of them were actually hard to write. The only thing that’s ever been hard for me to write was something that I started during the breakup, and it actually was just hitting too deeply and I put it away. I could never come back to it. Maybe one day I can try to, now that those emotions are totally not there anymore. But I wouldn’t say it was hard to write; it was definitely a very personal song that had a pretty specific theme with the lyrics. I was like, this is turning into a song sort of about aging, growing apart from each other and coming to terms with irreconcilable differences. Just themes of growing tired of the same old friend group, I guess, like “They’ve heard all your stories,” that line – no motivation, sort of just being depressed and coming to terms with things like that.
When I’m listening to an album, I usually like to give it a couple of listens without any added context. So I really didn’t know that the voice recording on ‘Pathetic’ had to do with your studio being flooded. I think it’s really fitting, how the words “What can we make of this?” tie into the bigger themes of the album, just like the lyrics themselves can apply to different situations. For you, when you listen to that part of the song or any one of your songs, do you think you’re always going to associate it with this one thing, or is it always changing?
So, I have a complicated relationship with this concept. First of all, though, one cool thing specifically about the “What can we make of this?” – I recorded the intro hours before the flood. And then the ending of the song had no lyrics at all, that whole big explosive part didn’t have lyrics, it didn’t have a vocal melody, it had nothing. Then I tracked that on one of the very last days, and the “What can we make of this?” actually happened post-flood. It made so much sense in the context of the song, but it also was just, with us and the team making the record, we fucking just lost everything, we’re in this damp, moldy, post-flood studio – like, “What can we make of this?” We made a makeshift studio upstairs with shitty computer speakers and all this stuff. So that one actually did have meaning for both.
But I always feel like people are talking about their lyrics changing meanings and stuff, and I get that all the time, where I feel like I start developing what the lyrics meant after I already wrote them. And it feels so good and right, but then I always feel like it doesn’t count. Because when I wrote that, I did not intend for that. I feel like what the person was intending the time they wrote it, that’s what it actually means. And then anything else you say afterwards is just you trying to create this thing that it isn’t. But I wish I didn’t feel that way. Hopefully one day I’ll get over that, and I’ll be able to accept that my songs mean new and different things as they age. Because I definitely find myself trying to put new meanings into old songs.
How much was destroyed in the flood? Did you end up having to re-record anything?
The recordings were not lost, thank fucking God. That was the main thing getting us through. But Caden’s entire drum set got flooded, my entire pedal board – I literally saw it in the case closed, and it was sort of above the waterline, so I was like, “Oh my God, I’m gonna go save it.” So I jumped in the water and I sloshed over to it and I picked it up, and it was unlocked. So it unlocked, opened up, and my pedals all at once fell face first into the water. My pedals were submerged, the drumset was submerged, Andy’s amp was submerged but ended up actually being fine because the important stuff is at the top of the amp and only the first half of the amp was flooded. A bunch of studio equipment that wasn’t ours was submerged. The whole tracking room, the actual studio, so we just couldn’t be in there with the computer and stuff.
More than anything, it was the momentum that it killed and the time that it ate up because we were on our last week. So we had days left and we had songs that were not working that we had to fix and we just couldn’t go in the studio. We were all just hella depressed and had no motivation. And when you listen to songs in that mindset, everything just sounds like shit. It was just a horrible, horrible place to be mentally for the last few days of the record.
To end on a positive note: What do you love most about being in Pool Kids?
I love that all actually love each other and are best friends and enjoy each other’s company. And I love the dynamic that we have. It’s so unique, and it’s so good. And it’s so built to last. I feel like we can just do this forever because we just love each other so much and have so much fun together.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
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