Ed: For me lockdown was brilliant, because it forced me to stop, and it forced me to deal with my demons. There was no running, there was no diversions. It was like, okay, you’ve got to walk through the fire, you’ve got to sit in the labyrinth. There’s nowhere to go.
That was what the first song, “Incantations,” is about — being in the labyrinth, and you have to get to a place where you actually see and feel the beauty in the darkness, because there is beauty there.
That was what the first song, “Incantations,” is about — being in the labyrinth, and you have to get to a place where you actually see and feel the beauty in the darkness, because there is beauty there.
Stereogum: The ending of “Incantations,” was that all orchestrated ahead of time, or was that a jam?
O’BRIEN: I had done a demo arrangement for that with acoustics and voices. That was one of the ones I gave to David. And he basically got together with Dan See, amazing drummer. And they took my demo, and they just drummed on top and added a bass. And the bass is following my guitar. And then the band, we learned that arrangement. That arrangement was one of those arrangements that I didn't know how to end. But what was beautiful about it was, there was a kind of a form where we're trying to [pursue]. You're trying to get to that point where the bass is sort of moving around and then it finds its place, and then it settles in that groove and then it just stays in there. It's sort of mantra-esque. And that arrangement became the default setting the band played in. The essence of it is to try and to get to that point, and to sound like it was a jam.
O’BRIEN: I had done a demo arrangement for that with acoustics and voices. That was one of the ones I gave to David. And he basically got together with Dan See, amazing drummer. And they took my demo, and they just drummed on top and added a bass. And the bass is following my guitar. And then the band, we learned that arrangement. That arrangement was one of those arrangements that I didn't know how to end. But what was beautiful about it was, there was a kind of a form where we're trying to [pursue]. You're trying to get to that point where the bass is sort of moving around and then it finds its place, and then it settles in that groove and then it just stays in there. It's sort of mantra-esque. And that arrangement became the default setting the band played in. The essence of it is to try and to get to that point, and to sound like it was a jam.