A few months back, the band got together to write some new material but nothing was jelling; we hit a period of writer's block. After banging our heads against the wall, we decided to apply some limitations and challenge ourselves.
Someone suggested the ultimate Indie Rock taboo: a 'cover.' Leaving the resistance aside, we decided to go for it. After scrolling through a rolodex of our influences, nothing seemed like an exciting choice. We then thought about the influencers of our influences and settled on one of the great american songwriters, Smokey Robinson.
There's no better master of the pop song than the Motown original, Smokey Robinson. With a catalog of literally hundreds of songs, we decided to go for two of his most popular. We tried to get into his head by breaking down his chord structures, lyrics, and arrangements. What stuck out was how sad the lyrics all were but how happy the songs felt. We tried to dive a bit deeper into the sadness and darkness of the lyrics. After a few attempts, we began to find ourselves in his songs and decided to record them.
We hope you enjoy. They'll be out this Friday!