Los Angeles – At first listen, psych-pop band White Arrows’ just-released In Bardo sounds like running into an estranged acquaintance: you know you recognize the face in front of you, but you’re not quite sure of how or when you were introduced. White Arrows’ first album is a jumping, Adderall-speedy and spinning ride. It is a constant high and the velocity just gets more powerful until listeners are left with sweat dripping down their faces for the moves they’ll inevitably bang out.
In Bardo is slower burning. It is not necessarily better then 2012’s Dry Land Is Not a Myth, but it is more thoughtful and strategic. It is White Arrows turned inside out, and by the time “Scream” finishes, I was alright with abandoning the high rush of their debut in favor of screaming drops — it’s just that infectious.
If White Arrows is still a stranger to you, let’s get you acquainted through Best New Bands latest interview; you won’t regret it.
Ariela Kozin: Can you elaborate on the evolution of sound on this new album?
Mickey Church: Yeah, this record is definitely darker, heavier, and moodier. It just felt really good to kind of write all the songs at one point in time in sequence. We were actually home as opposed to anything else we’d done before. We’ve always been between tours and it’s been pieced together, but this album was cohesive and recorded at one point.
AK: And do you all work together to make the music or is it one person’s vision?
MC: Andy and I do most of the songwriting. We kind of write like producers. We sit in our house and we just compile things in a session sort of like how a bedroom producer would do it.
AK: Is there any difference in how you’re compiling the first versus the last?
MC: It’s pretty similar, but this new album we actually worked with a proper producer for the first time and in a proper studio. We wrote the songs at home, we went into a studio on the Westside and worked with Jimmy.
AK: I noticed on the first album that the only collaborations you had were remixes. What about collaboration on In Bardo?
MC: On this album there aren’t any really, but we’re always open to that.
AK: Who would be someone you would want to collaborate with?
MC: There are so many. There are a bunch of electronic producers that I would think would be so interesting. There is a British guy who goes by the name of Airhead. He worked with James Blake before anyone knew who either of them was and I just think his stuff is really interesting.
John Paul Caballero: That was what producers used to be. They would take a song and possibly re-contextualize it. It’s really cool that someone remixes something, but it’s another level when they co-produce — it’s like they’re rewriting the song in a certain way. It’s all very sacrosanct. People have that “don’t touch my shit” mentality, but we’re open.
AK: You’ve toured with a lot of big names. What do you think you’ve learned from artists like Cults, White Denim, and The Naked And The Famous?
MC: You learn something different from everyone. I think of White Denim and our tour in Europe as though they’re our big brothers because they’ve been doing it forever. They ended up sounding like a completely different band from what they started out so I kind of looked up to them in that regard. They’ve really been playing together for so long that they’ve got their live sound down. You really learn something from everyone — even if it is something as little as a cool light production element.
JPC: It’s the little things. There are cultural traits to each band. We’re all each like our own little village.
AK: Has that bled into your live performance?
MC: We like it to be a sensory overload if we can. Ideally, even if it’s a bit bare bones, we like to spend whatever we have on just making it an experience and awesome visually. We just want it to be a freaky party.
In Bardo is available for purchase Tuesday, September 16. Find out more about the album and where you can purchase the record HERE.
To read our recent live review of White Arrows, click HERE.
Ariela Kozin
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