The Drums

i am really trying

It’s been six years since the release of Brutalism. It feels like a lifetime. I made this album in upstate New York and Belgium and Stinson Beach and LA. Made it with Bryan and Johnny and some others. I went decidedly more dry on this album. I wanted to pull back on the reverb and just let things be what they were. My number one influence while making this was myself and my number 2 was this little known Swedish band called Whale - specifically their sophomore album ‘All Disco Dance Must End in Broken Bones’. I was incredibly depresssed while making this album. I lost so much weight, I looked sick, I remember walking around in Belgium in the cold rain and feeling hopelessly alone and I remember needing to take naps- often- which is not like me. I don’t feel that way anymore, and it makes this album feel like something someone else made. I think good art is like that. It has its own energy, and if an artist is committed to their own growth, creatively or otherwise, they often can look back and be confounded by the trail they’ve left. Still, so many of you have told me over the years how much this one means to you and that helps me feel good about the work I put into it. God, what would I do with you! Always lifting me up when I am down! You really do take good care of me.
Yours, Jonny.