O’Brother released their fifth album, ‘You and I’ on May 1st (coming to Spotify/Apple Music etc on May 8th) and we asked Tanner Merritt (vocals) and Anton Dang (bass) to tell us about each track. Check out their commentary on the album below.

You and I (Intro)

In true OBROTHER fashion, there’s an intro track. Every OBROTHER record has started with an intro track where it’s kind of an actual song but kind of not. I (Anton) think it sets the mood and tone for this album nicely. Tanner had 3 or 4 different demos of the same melodic idea all with different vibes. The original idea was to intersperse them throughout the record but instead opted to put them at the beginning and end in a continuous loop.

Soma

The drum loop for “Soma” was one of the first loops I (Anton) wrote after getting an analog drum machine. We ran that loop through Johnny’s pedalboard for reverb and self oscillation. Jordan added this digital violin track that sounds like an “end of the world” type siren sound and the main guitar riff. The whole thing had a very uncomfortable almost horror film vibe. While we all thought the loop was super cool, it sat alone for over a year because we had no idea how to incorporate it into a song.

In prepro, we knew we needed another part, Tanner started going through iPhone demos to dig for nuggs. He found one titled Halogen Eye, which is another song on the record. Apparently he used that same line in two completely different demos so we took the chorus chords and melody from the other version for Soma. Within this song you get to hear all the new elements we’ve added; drum samples, synths, and classical guitar. Get ready because you’re in for a sonic journey!

Halogen Eye

Tanner had started writing this song close to 4 years ago. He had a verse and chorus and demoed it, the band wasn’t completely sold on it. We tried to hash out ideas a few times but nothing was sticking. Really glad Tanner kept pushing for this song though, it made its way through pre pro and while Michael and I were figuring out the chorus in the studio, it all just clicked and the song made sense.

Turned out what Michael and I added had a heavy Biffy Clyro vibe to it and thankfully our good friend Simon Neil (Biffy Clyro) was kind enough to lend his voice and a few guitar parts to it. This song went from almost being cut to almost becoming a title track.

Slipping

I play lead electric bass for the band but I’m a terrible guitar player. I decided a few years back that I wanted to buy a guitar and practice and write more. The opening guitar riff was one of the first riffs I wrote. This one’s definitely got a more chill vibe and the ending section features one of our favorite vocalist, Jesse Coppenbarger (Colour Revolt/El Obo)

Locus

This is the only song we wrote as a whole band with everyone being in a room together. We rented a cabin in the mountains for a weekend. After getting settled in and setting up some instruments and recording gear, we hit record and this song was born. Michael was engineering the session, Tanner was playing keys and singing, Jordan was singing background vocals and playing digital strings from his phone, I was playing the drum loop while Johnny was controlling the effects of the drum loop from his pedalboard. All the effect changes you hear to the loop was made in real time.

Only Other

Jordan wrote the main classical guitar part on this song. He had been learning a lot of classical guitar pieces around this time and it really shows in the chord progressions. When he was demoing this track, he used his mouth to make a lot of the drum sounds, we ended up keeping the original snare sound. Not positive what his main influence was for this song but it definitely has a Blonde Redhead vibe to it.

Killing Spree

This was another track we wrote on our cabin trip. We had actually split into two mini studios at this point, one upstairs and one downstairs. Tanner had a really simple acoustic song originally intended for a solo project. We decided to try it as an OBRO song and Jordan and Johnny added these beautiful pulsing classical guitar trills, our drummer’s brother Jamie (who was helping us engineer the cabin sessions) threw in the electronic beat for the ending section and our friend Rob Hardie put these synth chord clusters over it. It immediately became very OBROTHER and more than I ever thought it could have been.

Black Tide

Johnny wrote this menacing opening guitar riff. It’s just so off putting and uncomfortable, I love it. We were going for a dissonant Portishead guitar part meets Young Widows guitar sound. More use of drum samples on this track as well. The ending turned out to be straight Zeppelin and this track might be the only one on the album besides “Halogen Eye” that can be considered a “rock” song.

What We’ve Lost

This song actually started with a drum beat. Michael had put some drums grooves in our shared demo folder and the first time Tanner heard this main groove, he immediately heard a rhythmic picking pattern and wrote the chords to the drums. Also the song is broken into 3 completely different movements with different vibes,It’s like if Blonde Redhead wrote the first half and Nine Inch Nails wrote the ending.

Spill on the Carpet

The chord progression to this was born out of that writing session at the cabin as previously mentioned. It was a rainy weekend up in the mountains and Johnny originally wrote it outside, in the screened in porch where the rain was the background. It was adding so much depth and texture that that classical guitar part and the rain go hand in hand. This is another track where we relied heavily on cutting and moving parts around in Protools.

I know I haven’t mentioned Michael, our drummer, much but he was at the helm of engineering everything and played a big role as far as production and structures go in the early stages of this record. I love the middle section of this track, when it basically turns into a completely different song. Love the ending as well, it's got 3 different drum parts layered; a drum loop, a cool jazzy ride beat, and a tribal percussive beat.

Leave Me Out

Like most of Johnny’s songs, the chord progression for this is quite repetitive but we change it up slowly by adding subtle layers to create a symphonic drone. He sent the song to us and Tanner immediately tracked two vocal parts over it and sent it back. I remember listening back for the first time and being floored immediately and it was just guitar and voice. We knew we wanted the song to get big at some point but didn’t realize the potential of how heavy it could get until we started tracking in the studio. The ending is probably one of the heaviest and sludgiest moments our band has written.

You and I (Outro)

We’ve always ended a record with some sort of ending section but never an official outro. It's the same chord progression as the intro but a different vibe. The ending to this song is a perfect loop going right back into the intro, which is one of the things that the ouroboros symbol on the album cover represents. So listen to this record on loop!