Right Brain/Left Brain: Thrice

THIS MONTH: THRICE’S "CIRCLES" (thrice.net)

WITH TEPPEI TERANISHI (GUITAR, PIANO/PRODUCER)

WOOD AND WIRE

Dustin [Kensrue, vocals/guitar] figured out that a few of these things that Riley [Breckenridge, drums] had written could go together well, and basically just built a song off that. I don’t think a lot of it strayed really too much away from what Riley had originally demoed. Playing it on real instruments and stuff gave it a really different feel, because I think a lot of it was originally electronic. We didn’t really stick with that for the recording; it would have been weird, and it definitely wouldn’t have fit the vibe of the record, which isn’t very electronic-heavy. So we chose to have [Riley] play everything on real drums.

THE EARTH WILL SHAKE

We wanted a drier drum sound for the song. Just because of the rhythmical aspects of the song, we wanted something kind of punchy, and not too open and airy sounding. I feel like when things are drier, it sounds a little more realistic in a sense. It feels more intimate-not like you’re recording drums in this giant studio, in this giant room. It sounds more like you’re hearing someone playing in your bedroom. That was the goal for the drums. Even in our tiny garage studio, we weren’t getting the sounds that we wanted, so we threw up a bunch of moving blankets all around Riley’s kit, and kind of made this tunnel of blanket, to try and make the room drier. [Laughs.] We used that for a few of the tracks.

TALKING THROUGH GLASS

On the chorus, there’s a bunch of added percussion. I don’t know if it’s super noticeable, but it’s there. That was just us trying to accomplish the stuff that the electronic drums were doing, and that was kind of fun. We tried to get electronic-y sounds, but still have it be an organic thing being played. We tried things like Riley clicking his sticks together. There’s actually a part where Riley is hitting his chest with his sticks, and I remember that came about by us trying to find the right sound for this one part, and in between trying to find something, he was sitting there tapping on his chest. I was like, "Wait-that sounds really cool. What are you doing?"

A SUBTLE DAGGER

The way that Dustin put the melody over the song is kind of interesting. I remember it threw me off at first. We had the basis for the song, but no melody over it, so we jammed on it a bunch. I remember him starting to sing over it, and I thought he was singing over the wrong part, like starting too late or something, but I think it ended up working out really, really cool. I think that’s the reason it has a kind of syncopated feel-the vocals float over the music in a different kind of way from how the instruments move.

THE WEIGHT

I think Riley’s original demo just had a synth or Rhodes playing the parts, and when we were practicing, I was just playing on my Rhodes, so we were trying to figure out what to do with the guitar. It just sounded so good on its own that we didn’t want to add any other melodic elements to it. Dustin just learned how to play it on guitar and was just doubling what I was doing on the Rhodes, and it sounded really nice so we kept it. I think it’s cool; the guitar and Rhodes are playing the same exact thing pretty much through the entire song, up until the outro, and I think they’re complementary sounds, the way we recorded it. The Rhodes is a warm-sounding instrument, so we tried to match that vibe with the clean guitar. They fill each other in and make an almost complete sound together.

AT THE LAST

The last note hits on that song, and there’s kind of all this weird noise going on. That was actually us splicing in the actual practice, like the demo. I think [the demo] was one of the first times we played the song through, and that was what happened at the end, with just us jamming. I don’t think we even had an ending planned or anything; that’s just what happened. I remember we were in the studio trying to replicate what happened, and we weren’t able to do it, so we were like, "Why don’t we just splice in the stuff from the demo?" So that’s what that is.

WITH DUSTIN KENSRUE (VOCALS AND GUITAR)

THE GREAT EXCHANGE

For the melody, I remember messing around with a few different ideas, before settling on what’s there now. It almost works like a call and answer now, where there’s the guitar line, and then I sing in response to it. At first I was kind if singing with it, but it seemed a little too wooden. I was afraid that doing it this way would take away from the guitar line, but they compliment each other well.

MOTION ISN’T MEANING

The image of the carousel was the first thing I started thinking about-this idea of movement, but it’s very meaningless, and not actually going anywhere. You’re riding this horse that’s moving in a circle, and also just that image of the old carousels, where you can grab the brass rings. So the idea is moving nowhere, and reaching for something that in the end isn’t ultra-significant. That was the first metaphor I had in there. I wasn’t sure if I was going to make it all about the metaphor and expand it, then I decided the whole song would just be various metaphors for this whole false progress idea.

ALL THE WORLD IS MAD

Then I had this idea of sailing without a fixed star-sailors used to navigate by starlight, but they needed a fixed star to tell relationally where everything was. Also, I’ve always liked the term "driving by Braille," meaning using the bumps in the street as the only way to guide you, which is reactive instead of proactive. I also talk about building towers without foundations, the most important thing being putting that next stone on the pile, rather than any thoughts of why this tower is being built, if it’s being built well, and at what cost.

IN YEARS TO COME

With the lyrics, my first thoughts that kind of started the ball rolling in my head were some writings from G.K. Chesterton. He talks a lot about this idea he had called the "Cult of Progress," kind of this obsession with progress. The last line of the song is a paraphrase of a saying that he had, "Progress should mean that we are always changing the world to fit the vision, instead we are always changing the vision." So he’s saying that to have real progress you have to be moving toward a specific ideal; that there has to be some relation to something, otherwise you’re not making progress, you’re just moving. But the world seems to be constantly changing what its vision is, to match where the world is going, and it’s very arbitrary. He wrote this in the early 20th century, and it’s still just as applicable today. It’s almost to the point where it’s so pervasive and common, that it’s hard to step back and even recognize it.

UNQUESTIONED ANSWERS

I see this happening mostly with various moral issues, especially bio-ethics. I feel like the line about "bricks and mortar" is about how we see what we want, whether it’s convenient or to cure a disease, and that blurs any kind of moral issue, and we gloss-over questionable practices, because there’s a desire behind it. I think it’s a dangerous path to go down, and historically you can see that. Not to draw too heavy a line, but you see that happening with the Nazis even, though that’s an extreme case. You don’t see it to that level, but in much more subtle ways. [Stem cell research] is some of it; I’m also referencing abortion. The whole issue is so bogged down in rhetoric, it’s sad, because to me there’s a lot of good, respectful dialogue that can be had, and I think we’re all poorer for the fact that it’s just a shouting match most of the time.

UNDER A KILLING MOON

The issue that has to be decided thoughtfully is whether or not a fetus has the same right to life as a human being, and the issue should never be, "I have my right to choose." You don’t have the right to choose whatever you want-you don’t have the right to kill someone, or steal from someone-there are limits to your rights. So you need to establish first what you’re dealing with, then talk about what your rights are. I feel like it usually doesn’t get discussed in that way; usually anyone who has a different opinion is demonized as a misogynist or whatever. I don’t think you have to make the argument at all from any religious grounds, but just on the common ground that we all think it’s wrong to kill innocent humans, and then decide whether that term applies to these unborn children.

—————–

LINER NOTES

SONG: "Circles" ALBUM: Beggars WRITTEN: Spring 2009 RECORDED: June 2009, New Grass Studios, Orange, California PRODUCED & ENGINEERED BY: Teppei Teranishi/Thrice