static roots on spotify – #01/2021 – Coco Reilly, Karen Jonas, Reb Fountain

Been listening to this song off Coco Reilly‘s debut album for a dozen times today. Co-written by Erin Rae and with some utterly mean guitar playing by Jerry Bernhardt, this song is the first one to be added to the „songs that got us through the year“ (2021 edition) Spotify playlist.

Coco Reilly about the creative process:

“That song started as a joke between my friend Erin Rae and I – we were just hanging out with Dom and Jerry and some of our friends. Erin was playing the drums and she said, “You’re like a mirror with a mirror in front of it.” And I said, “That’s kinda cool.” And then I started strumming these chords and then we switched back and forth a couple of times, and that night we only walked away with the verse and melody. So I tried to finish the song and every time I tried to write a verse or put it into a normal song structure, it just didn’t work. So I thought, maybe I just need to listen to the actual lyrics and do AB repeating parts and just let the music spiral out of control, kind of like when you’re in that art installation where it’s just an infinity mirror.

So we recorded it a few times and then once we got into the second phase of it I just – I think Jerry was being timid because he wasn’t sure if I wanted the record to still stay kind of… pretty? So I told him, “I assure you that I don’t care if this album sounds pretty. I want this song to get really fucked up and really weird and really fun.” So he stayed up all night and I reminded him, “You’re here because I completely trust your creativity. So you just take a day and lay down any guitar parts that you hear and just go for it.” I walked in the next morning and it was amazing. I think, you know, when the artist is just standing over your shoulder it can be a little nerve-wracking. It’s good to give the band space.“