words//cady drell
Here We Go Magic has been on the scene now for just a year, but is steadily gaining a following for the ethereal, psychedelic sound expressed on their first self-titled album. With the Brooklyn-based five-some preparing to drop their second full-length, Pigeons, this June, Artist Advocacy talked to Kristina Lieberson [synths/vocals] about the band’s latest tour, what listeners can expect from future HWGM projects, and how pleasant tour-mates White Rabbits are to be around.
Hey, Kristina! You’ve had a crazy busy tour schedule lately. I know you played SXSW this year, and you have tons of dates coming up, including a stint in Europe and Pitchfork Music Festival. How have the shows changed for you in the last year after all this touring? Have the fans been different?
Yeah, we have more of a language with each other now. I think we’ve always communicated well with each other as musicians, because that’s what makes us a band. But I think the level of intimacy, as far as knowing what the others are going to do and how we’re going to play, is on such a different level now. We’re like family. I think it’s definitely a different experience watching us now compared to, say, a year ago.
So how are the fans abroad? Does Europe treat you well?
Yeah, we’ve been to the UK and we’ve been to France, and so far I think we were received pretty well. Sometimes the London shows were more difficult, in the same way that playing major cities is just more difficult. They’re just so saturated with music. But Paris was great; we had a great show in Paris. But other than that, we haven’t played too much in Europe yet. So that’s going to be fun, to see how we’re received over there.
Your last project has been called many things: ambient, folky, lo-fi, among others. Classification for Here We Go Magic is pretty difficult, but do you agree with those adjectives? How would you, as a member of the band, like to be classified?
Well layered, definitely. I think we’ve gone in more of a rock direction. Simple song structures, with a lot of layers.
So you’ve been touring with White Rabbits for a while now. They seem nice.
Oh man. They’ve been the best band to tour with! They’ve been so great and we’ve all become completely good friends with them. It’s been a blast and every show we’ve all gotten onstage together. At least one member of Here We Go Magic has gone onstage with them and at least one member of their band has gone onstage with us. It’s been a total blast.
So you’re releasing your second full-length, Pigeons, this June. What can fans of the previous album hope to expect? What’s changed for you guys?
Well I think the consistent thing is the hypnotic feel of the last record, like on “Tunnel Vision”. We like to think that we can hypnotize people. [Laughs]. We hold onto that. But I think the record this time around is more expansive. Jen [Turner, bassist] and I both sing, so there are a lot more backing vocals. I think that’s another texture that you didn’t hear on the last record. It’s a little cleaner. But it definitely still has that swirling, atmospheric sound to it. But it’s a little more dense. It gets pretty dense at times.
I know Luke Temple [lead vocals, guitar] has said that your self-titled was recorded in “a two-month long stream of consciousness”. Does Pigeons follow that model or did you record differently? What was the recording process like?
It varied. In the beginning we would try to get into the groove. It was a lot of one person sitting in the studio and trying their keyboard part or their guitar part. But once we started getting into it, Luke would start writing songs every day. So we would go into the studio and play them, like, three times and then just sit down and record it. Those songs are really cool, that we’re recorded like that, because we started to have a real band sound. And that’s another thing I would say is different, too. This record sounds like a band.
Was that difficult? To do it day by day?
No, actually, it was easier. Because we were all working together. It would be more like a rehearsal or a live show, rather than like trying to figure out the perfect thing to play. We would just play. So it captured a really cool sound, it just captured the band.
So if this is a more band-oriented album, what would the first record be?
Well, [Luke Temple] recorded it on his own. So it’s just Luke. And you definitely still hear that on this record. He wrote the songs. But then, we all wrote our own parts, too. Which makes it sound different, because it’s everybody’s different voice. It sounds like that do-it-yourself home recording process, because it was.
That’s awesome. Well we’re all really excited for your next album and good luck with the rest of the tour.
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