Interpol PDA might be my third or fourth favorite song on Turn on the Bright Lights, which is one of my favorite albums of all time. I wanted to take a break from working on our album and see if I could recreate that chunky, warm guitar sound of Interpol PDA on a couple of synthesizers. I dialed up a Moog Matriarch and Mother 32, sent them through some distortion/wavefolding/saturation and it just felt like NYC 2001 for a minute.
For the vocals, I used a circuit bent military-issued telephone, which just felt perfect for it all.
A mid-March winter storm warning in Ithaca with snow starting at 1 am had me sheltering in the warmth of tape. I recently brought back to life a reel to reel Craigslist find with the hope of integrating it into our music. In this, my intention was to create warmth, so I set out with chords that had a slight growl. That first hit of the chord felt jarring in such a good way. Parts of the sequence fading in and out felt clumsy and imperfect. I was hooked.
I projected home movie footage from the 60s above my rig. Maybe it was just because it was past 4 am and the snowstorm was in full effect, but the guy with the binoculars at the end really struck me as if he was looking at me. Have a listen.
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