Somewhere in the great plains of indie music, beaming is doing some revolutionary musical world-building. Their overall sound can be soft and palatable for the casual listener, but with hints of grunge and lo-fi pop, you can tell from the get-go that they're onto something new. You could say it's the perfect music for a PG-13 Willy Wonka if you add some vampires and headless horsemen, but then throw a bunch of prismatic rainbow colors all over it, and toss it into the dryer with the sweetest-smelling dryer sheet. If it wasn't clear from that description, it all works together in a very distinct and harmonious way.
As the days count down to the release of their first full-length project, they're on a breather from their tour with Field Medic, where they say they're making good choices and being healthy (i.e. not partying and eating Taco Bell every night). Despite their lives being in constant motion, the Los Angeles-based duo still set aside some time to speak with us, starting with their new single "BUGBITE" off of their upcoming LP horseshoe out on April 17th via Rose Garden.
"BUGBITE" has a different production style than the other singles you've released. What was your process behind this one?
Braden: We didn't really overthink it. The song is a bit more of a rocker, inherently so it's a little more distorted. It was fun; we started with a drum loop and just started building it. We wanted more of a hip hop drum beat, which the other songs don't have as much, and it got to a more rock-y zone.
Derek: And it has more of that guitar attitude. I think in the world we've made for the new album, some songs have different genres than others. I feel like we didn't really choose any aesthetic super hard. We just were like, this would be cool. We just listened to the song and what it wanted to do.
Braden: This is the only song where we trade verses, which we always wanted to do like blink-182-style. We're usually singing harmonies or in unison, so that was fun.
Thinking about that song in the context of blink-182 makes it sound totally different.
Derek: Some of our songs in my mind I hear blink-182 because I grew up listening to that. But I would never push that aesthetic in someone's mind, because it's so different. Evan from our label, on a different song, was like, " This kinda reminds me of blink-182, and I was like oh shit, you hear it too. It's like a secret influence from our deep DNA.
What era of Blink-182 do you channel the most?
Derek: For me, it was the self-titled, more emo album. A little less pop-punk-y and more emo and atmospheric.
Braden: With the Robert Smith feature?
Derek: You know, I heard that in high school and was like oh shit. It got me addicted to The Cure at an early age.
Braden: I found out about The Cure through the Korn Unplugged, where Robert Smith does "Make Me Bad" with Korn. That got me started on my journey.
What do you lean on each other for in your collaborative process?
Braden: I think Derek is great at growing melodies. The first song we ever wrote, I had a piano part that I had for at least a year or two and never knew what to do with it, and Derek just started singing. He's really good at expanding.
Derek: Braden basically plays all of the instruments and has the musical vision. Then we'll produce the song together, and I'll ponder mixing it. I feel like we can work really fast because if it were up to one of us to do everything, we would get burnt out and confused. Being a partnership, we can power through stuff and stay excited about it.
Braden: We write all of the lyrics together too. Every song is a bit different, but it's been really fun to sit down and figure it out together.
Does it feel different to lead this project together, as opposed to other projects you've worked on?
Derek: It's been interesting. We did that whole album pretty quickly, and then recently we've been touring with the songs from the album, and hearing lyrical themes and things that we didn't even think about at the time. Then the bigger picture, hearing and being like, oh, we were really in a specific zone when we made all of these songs, and they're all really interlinked in a real way. There are a few words and themes that resurface in ways we didn't intend, but it made it feel more real later when we were performing them.
Is it intentional that some of the songs on your album are in all caps, and some are all lowercase?
Braden: Subconsciously. "BUGBITE" is in all caps, and that one is more like…ahhhh. And then a song like "horseshoe" is really gentle.
Derek: It just felt right, aesthetically. I enjoy doing things on a gut impulse, even if it doesn't make sense to a regular person, or someone who cares about grammar or something. I personally would like to challenge conformity, like, there's a choice being made here that's not default.
You already talked about some of your big influences, but were there any other sources of inspiration for this project?
Braden: We've been producing other artists too, so we would be working with someone, and the inspo would come out, like let's do All American Rejects type, and some of it would be like pop. I feel like that has been making this project feel freer. We've tried a bunch of different stuff and it's nice to just throw paint at the wall.
Derek: We work with a lot of different artists that are super pop-y, so we learned a lot of tricks for actual pop music. I feel like every time we learn something new, it's in our arsenal of colors to throw at the painting, but I feel like a lot of it is really subconscious. A lot of the pop stuff for me is song structure. I feel like we like to keep our songs really short and efficient, and we love a good drop chorus. Stuff like that comes from the pop world.
Braden: Definitely indie classics like Pavement and My Bloody Valentine or Built To Spill are big for me since I was in high school, so that stuff seeps into it. And The Cure is one of our big touchstones, because they're so pop-y and fun, but also really emo and have a bunch of different styles of songs. They're kind of the perfect band.
Out of the unreleased tracks, what are you excited for people to hear?
Derek: "4leaf". When we play it live, I feel like it resonates with people.
Braden: That one has a lot of different inspo. It's a little more folk-y, but the chorus gets pretty washed-out and big. That one and "SLOWER," I feel like those are my big ones now. "SLOWER" was a fun one to make because we were working on "DADA," and we had a bridge idea that wasn't working so we just slowed that one down and it was the lead riff for that song. So we wrote those two in the same night.
Derek: Sometimes we hit a certain point, and just for the LOL's or for inspiration, we'll play a part of a song in half-speed. Sometimes it's like holy shit, is that cooler than what we were working on? So we just listened to a whim and imported the bridge of that song [DADA] in half-speed into a new session and wrote that song [SLOWER]. Usually, I'd want to be more focused, so we don't lose track.
That's why those songs sound so linked!
Derek: And if you really listen, you'll realize that the drum beat for "SLOWER" is the same as "DADA" but just half-speed. I also feel like "DADA" is an outlier with a crazy vampire vibe, and I feel like it kind of expanded our palate.
What kind of vampire would it be?
Derek: Personally, I feel like more Interview with the Vampire, with Lestat/Tom Cruise.
Braden: And a lot of skeletons on horseback.
Derek: Ichabod Crane running from the headless horsemen.
What does your album taste like?
Derek: It's one of those candies that starts with one flavor and ends with a different one. I feel like it starts with mango and it becomes raspberry or something.
Braden: It's a Willy Wonka Factory new flavor.
Stream "BUGBITE", available on all major streaming services, and keep an eye out for horseshoe, out on April 17 via Rose Garden.
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