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Track By Track: Pianos Become The Teeth

Pianos Become The Teeth vocalist Kyle Durfey walks us through the band's new album, The Lack Long After:

“I'll Be Damned”
When we first started writing this song, it was actually one of the more poppy things we had ever written and it seemed to flow pretty well right from the get-go. We all agreed it would be a good opener. This song is more or less about letting someone live on through you but becoming jaded from the loss in the process. The title comes from when I was watching the movie Contact with my dad when I was younger. There's a scene where Jodie Foster's dead father walks up on a beach in space (you gotta see the movie) and greets her. I remember my dad saying, “I'll be damned” during that scene. Even though I was young, I was old enough to realize he was imagining seeing his father again and that always stayed with me, now I know the feeling completely. This song is just a lot of random memories I have, and things that remind me of him.

“Good Times”
This song is more or less about better times and being terrified of where life will take you. This is one of my favorite tracks on the record. I think the album artwork really portrays this song well. It seems everything was worry-free when you were younger and as you get older, everything just gets you down a little easier. Its also about watching your and/or someone else's health get worse and how hard it is to keep a positive attitude. For me there's just a very uncertain, defeated feeling to this song and that's the way I wanted it to come across. The guys blew me away with this song and just its overall mood.

“Shared Bodies”
This song is one of the heaviest on the record. We left it and revisited it a bunch of times; it sounds so pissed. This is really the only song not about my father on the record but I feel like it still ties in the feeling of someone leaving your life and the effect it has in you. It's mainly about how the opposite sex can drive you insane. This is embarrassing but there is actually a Bette Milder reference in this song. The song is about looooove.

“Such Confidence”
This song is more or less about being angry at a God. It's about the things the preacher said at my father's viewing and how it almost cheapens something when you say too many words, regardless of what you believe. I think Zac's bass line carries it so well.

“Liquid Courage”
I can honestly say this is the most honest thing I've ever written, just in the way that I didn't change it all after I wrote it. I tend to edit everything but I wrote this song in one fluid motion and that's what you hear on the record. I'm constantly floored by the guys' ability to convey overall feelings in the song, without any words.

“Spine”
This song makes me feel so powerless.

“Sunsetting”
This is one of the first songs we had written for the record, and we wrote and rewrote it until a week before it was recorded. This song was frustrating as hell but we're happy with the final outcome. This song is about how you keep telling yourself something will get better, when in reality, it never will. I often worry that I dwell too hard on my dad and it's not healthy to hold on so hard but it's the only way I know how to feel about it. Mike's slide kills me every time.

“I'll Get By”
I think we all like this song the most. It's just so simple but came across perfectly. Chad floored me with the initial riffs, just a powerful song. This song was kind of nervewracking for me, but I felt some of the parts needed to be sung and some of the things needed to be said, if only for myself. This song is where the title of the record comes from and I'm really happy with how it came out—there's nothing good about this kind of situation, but you gotta keep moving. alt