Silver Liz: "Even though the lyrics are incomprehensible, we spent a good amount of time on the word choice"
"L.I.F.", the new single from the Brooklyn-based husband-and-wife duo Silver Liz is interesting for a few reasons. First one: it's a mix of country and shoegaze that sounds even better than you imagined. Second: the vocals are... well, incomprehensible, and this adds a pinch of beautiful whatthefuckness to an already unorthodox-sounding tune. Third reason – it's just a great tune with a great melody and vibe. Listen and read how it was created.
— Was fusing country and shoegaze the initial idea or did it happen at production stage?
— We always wanted to try fusing country and shoegaze, jokingly calling it "bootgaze". This song felt like the right opportunity to try it. The ¾ timing and strumming pattern reminded us of some folky or country-tinged songs we like. Two songs we were taking inspiration from in particular were "Behind That Locked Door" by George Harrison and "Crime" by Alex G.
— And what about the "incomprehensible vocals"? Was anybody or anything in particular an inspiration to the vocal idea?
— On the rest of the record, the vocals are extremely clear. On this song, the lyrics are really abstract and depressing, so we decided to make this the one song from the record where the vocals would function to serve the vibe of the song as a melodic instrument, rather than the song being a platform for lyrics.
— Does this song actually have lyrics? Would you like your listeners to go find them and actually understand what you're singing?
— Yes, it has coherent lyrics. We will probably publish the lyrics on Bandcamp once the album is released. Although, it would be interesting to see what someone would try to decipher without reading the lyrics.
Other artists have done similar things before. Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine are of course known for this. In the 33 1/3 book about Loveless, Kevin Shields said that he and Belinda Butcher actually spent more time writing the lyrics than the music. This blew my mind, because no one knows what they're singing on that album most of the time. The reason they did this was to ensure none of the vocals protruded in a way that distracted from the music. So for "L.I.F.", I'd say we did the same thing. Even though the lyrics are incomprehensible, we spent a good amount of time on the word choice to make sure nothing protruded syllabically.
Other artists have done similar things before. Cocteau Twins and My Bloody Valentine are of course known for this. In the 33 1/3 book about Loveless, Kevin Shields said that he and Belinda Butcher actually spent more time writing the lyrics than the music. This blew my mind, because no one knows what they're singing on that album most of the time. The reason they did this was to ensure none of the vocals protruded in a way that distracted from the music. So for "L.I.F.", I'd say we did the same thing. Even though the lyrics are incomprehensible, we spent a good amount of time on the word choice to make sure nothing protruded syllabically.
Revisit the band's earlier singles.
