STACK 132 October Issue

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Peter Gabriel’s studio looks a bit like the
isolated, wood-bound mansion from Ex
Machina , and its insides might be even more
magical. “It’s unusual for a studio, isn’t it,” Boy
& Bear’s Jon Hart tells us. “It has a lot of vibe
but it’s also got a lot of natural light. [Gabriel]
has a ridiculous collection of instruments, but
Ethan [Johns, producer] has a collection that
would rival Peter Gabriel’s. It was a mix of his
gear and Gabriel’s gear… a drum kit from the
1960s he’d played on a lot of Ryan Adams and
Ray LaMontagne records, a really nice Wurlitzer,
an old B3 organ, heaps of guitars, and a grand
piano. The only thing I contributed was a Roland
Juno from the ‘80s; it’s an amazing analogue
synth.” In recording new album Limit of Love,
Johns and engineer Dom Monks managed to
produced an extremely clean sound despite
the fact there was no separate control room or
partitions between players. The whole thing was
taped in real time. “[Normally we’d] build the
song in layers as opposed to capturing it live,”
Hart explains, “and we realised there was a bit
of a disconnect between [live shows] and what
was getting recorded. Ethan was just sitting
there listening to us play, he wasn’t listening back
on speakers. It was just him being a listener in
the room and being able to tell whether or not
we had a take. And that was really exciting.” It’s
clear that Jon and his bandmates are fanboys of
the revered producer, but apparently their nerves
cleared within a day or two. “I mean, he has rock
and roll stories that go back like you wouldn’t
believe, because his dad worked with The Rolling
Stones and The Who and The Beatles,” he says.
“So when we had a down moment we’d talk
Ryan Adams stories or Kings of Leon stories…
it just went on.” The result of that snug rapport
is a beautiful record which moves through
several eddies of style: Hart’s own grace note-
inflected piano on Where’d You Go, the gorgeous
arrhythmia in Man Alone, the spectre of Nick
Drake on Fox Hole, Hart’s delayed and reverbed
Juno on the wonderful Ghost 11 and the stand-
out, pretty as hell Just Dumb.
On My Speakers
MUSIC NEWS
B ig Sound is over for another year but you can't stop the
rock, stop the rock; it's flying down the hill like that
boulder that lands at the bottom of the pool in Sexy
Beast. Julia Holter (left), recently announced for Meredith Music
Festival, spoke to us about her beautiful new album; Link from The
Meanies tried to remember why the band decided to record
again; 'Yass Queen' Peaches thinks we're all too repressed; and
Dan Kelly will shortly be bringing the sounds of Leisure Panic! to a
venue near you. Happy days. Zo ë Radas (Music Editor)
ALEX G BY THE SEA
Beach Music by Alex G is
out on October 9 via Domino.
BOY & BEAR: JON HART
Limit of Love by Boy & Bear is
out October 9 through Universal.
There's something really secretly major
going on in the music of Alex G. Just the
sparse song titles communicate something of
the slipshod beauty of Beach Music: there’s
the ineffably enchanting single Bug ; the sound
of Giannascoli’s fingers sliding along his frets
alongside organ and brushes on Thorns; the
chordal slouch of Kicker; Salt has a drum beat
like someone’s turned on one of the pre-set
pulses on an organ and then thrown it into
a cave; and the creaky vocals and bright
solo trumpet of heartsick ballad In Love. The
whole thing has the dreamy electronic spine
of Smashing Pumpkins’ Adore, but it’s also
just as acoustic and naturally unrefined as
its shoreside title suggests. The tracks were
written in Giannascoli’s home in between
tours for Gardens & Villa, Elvis Depressedly
and Cymbals Eat Guitars, rather than all in one
rapid chunk; it means the ideas float across
genres in beautifully surprising ways, all the
while suggesting the emotive stuff of Elliott
Smith. “Every song is coming from a different
place,” he's said of the release. “It branches
off in all these directions, but it has its own
sound. It’s not something I do intentionally,
but I’m the common thread.”
Other critics have variously mentioned
River Cuomo and Neil Young in their efforts to
describe the album, but we highly recommend
you listen for yourself.
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Julia Holter
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