 |
| |
|
The name of the band, as the years went on, took on more importance. I can't just bring in a song about some girl that broke up with me. It has to be – I don't want to say a 'larger picture' thing but [pauses] - less of our straight-up egos and personalities. That's the consciousness we're trying to get to. -Jesse Gallagher |
|
|
| |
|
Implicating Vibrations
Despite the far-flung exploration and stylistic switch-up in Apollo Sunshine, it never feels like some willy-nilly mix tape. There's an underlying intelligence that's purely their own that subliminally unifies the whole.
 Apollo Sunshine |
"The consciousness that Apollo Sunshine has is definitely beyond us. It's a good thing. I know when we come together the song has to be on some righteous good vibes. It has to be about something greater," says Gallagher. "The name of the band, as the years went on, took on more importance. I can't just bring in a song about some girl that broke up with me. It has to be – I don't want to say a 'larger picture' thing but [pauses] - less of our straight-up egos and personalities. That's the consciousness we're trying to get to."
The title of new album, an anagram for the band's name, makes you shift your perspective a few degrees with just three words. It's a tiny koan to puzzle over before you've heard note one. Then, the album continually befuddles expectation, turning on strangely etched dimes and skittering like dandelion petals. Jump cuts abound, yet melody reigns supreme and everywhere a sense of smiling engagement pervades. Apollo Sunshine has never sounded like the near Disney romanticism of "Happiness" or the muted balladry of "Fog And Shadow" before, the latter echoing an under-sung ancestor that lolls around in their work, Michael Nesmith, especially the former Monkees' gently cosmic early '70s albums (the uninitiated are encouraged to begin with Magnetic South if they dig twang or Tantamount To Treason Vol. 1 if they want the truly peculiar brew).
"Nesmith is a badass. The Byrds and Flying Burrito Brothers get all the credit for psychedelic country music but Mike Nesmith was doing some awesome stuff! I think it's more subtle so I think a lot of people overlook it," says Gallagher. "My dad used to play his song 'Joanne,' so when Sam brought in 'Fog And Shadow' and laid down a vocal I said, 'Honestly, I think this song needs to be sung by an old guy.' I knew my dad, who's like 60-years-old, was coming up that weekend so we got him to sing it. And Sam was all about it!"
Part of Apollo Sunshine's basic character involves a certain gusto for sound, as if they are constantly asking, "What neat fuckin' noise can we make?" It's a precociousness that sidesteps typical musician ego, turning the spotlight onto what might be minutiae in another band and finding unorthodox elements that hold up to the scrutiny.
 Apollo Sunshine |
"That's the one area we're incredibly meticulous in – absolutely no throwaway sounds. I think this [new] album more so than any of our other records, every sound just had to be cool," says Cohen. "It's hard to edit though. Some things we decide just have to be there might be total accidents but it jumps the guitar part or the vocal. We're like, 'Just take that lyric out and we'll have that noise there' [laughs].' We've done so much recording that we've never released, primarily instrumental stuff that we talk about releasing an all-improv album or all-instrumental album or a totally abstract album. But, the more we listen we either rein it in or put it on the shelf because the tendency is to turn things into songs. We gravitate towards melody, and a great fuckin' instrumental single, like when The Ventures take a famous melody and play it with amazing guitar tone in an amazing band, it's just the best thing you've ever heard. Booker T is so great! Total control of the Hammond but it's on a Beatles song!"
"After we made the last record and Jeremy moved to California, we all had to figure out what to do with ourselves after living together in a farmhouse," says Gallagher. "I got really into spinning records and the whole turntable thing. I did a tour with They Might Be Giants and opened for Cut Chemist, and kind of developed a new persona. I became good friends with this hip-hop guy, Edan, and he played on [Shall Noise Upon] doing drum machines. He's brilliant but he stays so under the radar. He just went to Europe and opened up for Kool Keith and Public Enemy, and he's playing All Tomorrow's Parties. He's one of my great friends and he opened up my mind to SO many great records."
"I'd go to his house, smoke a little pot and have him play albums for me for four hours straight and just obliterate my mind over and over to the point where I just felt so small and humble as a musician," continues Gallagher. "I've been pretty obsessed with music all my life, and here's someone who in a half hour has played me four songs that are better than any music I've ever made! And I've never heard of these people! It made me realize how I'm just part of a lineage, and just seeing the connections between so many different types of music. Once I started really collecting records and putting them together, mixing and playing two things at the same time, it really opened up my brain about how you can lay out a song."
"[Psychedelic is] one word we use as we're making the music, but I feel like we're actually making psychedelic music, on several levels [laughs]. I just wish the term was reserved for times when bands actually make an effort to be truly psychedelic," says Cohen. "There has to be a sort of surrealist element for it to be psychedelic, either sonically or lyrically."
Continue reading for more on Apollo Sunshine...
|
