pop rock

“North Star Steady” is a love song that Becky wrote during a bout of insomnia, purposefully set to a minimalist keyboard line so that she could focus more on the vocals. This worked live, but when listening in the studio, the song felt incomplete. As Dave, Becky, and recording engineer Salmak Khaledi ate pizza and listened to the take for the third time, Salmak suddenly leapt up and ran over to the Moog. Within minutes, he was playing a killer groove that had all of us dancing. We recorded it then and there.

The “magic of the studio” is a phrase that gets thrown around a lot, but it’s SO TRUE. Salmak breathed new life into these songs, not just through his bass line but through all of his production choices and mixing edits. We can’t wait to visit Magnetic Pink Studios again!

Renee Ashley (pictured) is a phenomenal poet, one who breaks rules, challenges conventions, and leaves her readers changed. Becky discovered the poem “[you]” shortly after her mother passed away; its words both comforted and haunted her. Rumi’s poem about wine also resonated with Becky during this time and so she put them together, turning “You, Ruminating” into a place to explore and transform her grief.

Dave’s drum beat, often referenced as a “backwards beat” because of its unusual rhythm and how challenging it is for non-drummers to count (Becky can attest to this), was inspired by Scott Benedict’s line from the Pere Ubu song “Electricity.” As he worked on fitting the beat to Ashley’s poem, he tried to imagine how Will Calhoun of Living Colour would play it. Many other bands – Jethro Tull, the Pixies – have tried to claim this drum line, but Dave doesn’t believe in ownership of music like this. Instead, he offers this song as an homage to all of his favorite drummers.