Brightest Young Things

Fresh off of their CMJ jaunt, Last tide is back in DC and is having their EP release party for "The Broken Places" tonight @ The Black Cat. To get you ready and excited for their carefully arranged, shoegaze inspired pop, we asked the band to sit down and walk us through the record. Let the sonic rain wash over you:

A Traitor in My Mind:
This is one of my favorite songs I've ever written. Lyrically, it was partially inspired by themes from Graham Greene's The Heart of the Matter, but re-imagined to reflect how they might play out in my own life. I wrote the lyrics first, kinda picturing a country song as I was writing them, but when I picked up a guitar to write music, it came out in pretty much its present form. The sound you hear in the intro is the metro passing behind the studio in Brookland.

Shapeshifter:
This song is, at its most basic, about a twisted friendship. It was written for piano, but I really like how it turned out with the band. They picked it up fast and Misha brought a beat to the verse that just tied it all together. I also enjoy playing the little jam part towards the end- to me it's kind of reminiscent of The Chemical Brothers, believe it or not.

The Aftertaste of Both:
The oldest song on the record, by far. I wrote this circa my sophomore year of college I think? The girl I wrote it about is married now, hah. I think you can hear our Smiths and Red House Painters influences most clearly in this one. The last section is sweet and should be listened to at high volume.

W.Y.C.:
The original title of this song was "Will You Come?" People seemed to take that the wrong way, (and who could blame them, really), so I eventually abbreviated it. From a pure technical/recording standpoint, this is my favorite thing to listen to on the record, especially in headphones.

Shadows in the Rain:
This one was frankly a bit of a nightmare to record. It's a really long song, and keeping the drums synced up to the guitar pulse in the verses/pre-choruses isn't particularly easy. The guitar solo also took like 15 takes. I couldn't come up with anything I liked, and what appears on the final version is actually spliced together from three different takes. That said, I'm glad we did it; it's one of my favorite songs we've done -- so epic. It's also my Dad's favorite thing on the record.

Want more:
Befriend Last tide on myspace here, check out our earlier interview with them here and be at the Black cat tonight