On October 28th Chicago-based quartet The Youngest will release their sophomore album See It Through. Compared to their debut Feral Road, this album finds the band taking a more progressive, grown-up approach to their music, even if their band name suggests otherwise. See It Through is thirteen shimmering, fleshed out folk rock tunes. With each song the band taps into a range of influences, ranging from the jangly infectious rock of “Built To Last” to the solemn, heartfelt groove of “Make Me New”, and the voice of frontman Andrew Taetz is a force that’s impossible to ignore with his ability to be emotional one second and freewheeling the next.
To craft the album’s textured, enchanting soundscapes, the band enlisted two of rock music’s star players with producer Brian Decker (Iron & Wine, Modest Mouse, Josh Ritter) and Pat Sansone of Wilco. Both of these musical forces were able to mesh naturally with The Youngest and elevate the band’s sound to one that is unquestionably ready for larger venues. Today we are excited to share one of the standout tracks on See It Through right here on Glide Magazine. “Red Corolla Rental” is a quintessential road song that brings to mind the likes of James McMurtry and Dire Straits inflected with slide guitar, groovy piano playing, and catchy lyrics that linger long after listening.
Give a listen to”Red Corolla Rental” and read our conversation with band member John Wood, who wrote the tune:
The song “Red Corolla Rental” seems to be a country rock tune about something more than the title suggests. Can you give us some insight on the inspiration behind the song as well as the musical style?
You’re absolutely correct to assume this. Funny enough the inspiration for “Red Corolla Rental” came to me right after I had been in a car accident while living in Boston. At the same time I was making a pretty big decision to leave my job and current gigs to drive across country to start a new band with previous collaborator Matt Bean (The Dwells, Sneaky Bones). I also had been going through a lot with trying to figure out my identity as a drummer and artist, as well as where I needed to be mentally and emotionally to achieve this. So many of the references in the song are literal but a little masked, such as the “brother” (friend) I had who was convinced the government was out to get us, the idea of family members passing on or friends abandoning you, and the romantic relationships I had that I couldn’t seem to keep. Eventually, I came to the realization that I could not hold these ideas or relationships as ultimate truths and that the only way to get through these situations was to form and maintain my own disposition.
How does this album differ from your debut in sound and approach?
I think the first album was a great example of us trying to find our footing as musicians from different backgrounds and parts of the country. Even when the album was done, we were still trying to figure out what all those pieces meant and how to express that together. So naturally after a couple years, we reached a point where our sound began distilling into something more cohesive, which is where this second record found its genesis. Sonically, this second album was new territory because we were working in a much more professional environment with a very talented producer, Brian Deck. Brian has a natural approach to recording, which meant that a lot of what we did was recorded all together (unlike a lot of recording projects these days where drums are done first and then piece-by-piece other things are added). This seemed like the right logical progression forward for us, since we tracked our first album with a similar approach but ran into some predicable constraints with recording in a rural Texas cabin. For us, Brian’s approach definitely added a good organic feeling to the songs and to the album as a whole.
You’ve said the album’s inspiration is “half relationships and half society.” Can you talk a little bit about what that means?
Well I think any artist in any field is general pulling inspiration from the things going on around them and well.. as young mid-twenty-somethings, we definitely are privy to a lot of new understandings about how society functions and how that applies to us. At the same time we are VERY aware of the difficulty of relationships in your mid-twenties, whether that be because most everyone you know is getting married or extremely focused on their career and not interested in relationships, or just in the “not taking anything seriously” boat.
Three of us contributed heavily to writing the lyrics for this album. Some of these lyrics had been in the works for several years and some were finished on the way to our first session with Brian. For these reasons, this album paints a more macroscopic picture of us, which felt more genuine than trying to write the “break-up” album or some kind of comprehensive political synthesis. There have been break-ups and new relationships, we’ve met a ton of inspiring people, and continue to grow as individuals. When listening to the mastered record for the first time, it was cool to see all of these things coexisting across 13 songs.
How did you end up bringing Pat Sansone in to record?
The band put together a list of producers we wanted to work with that included both Pat Sansone, Brian Deck, and several others. After talking to everyone on the list, scheduling for the first recording session didn’t line up for Pat since he was on tour supporting Wilco’s album Star Wars, so that wasn’t a possibility. Our final decision for the producer role was made very easy after we had a couple conversations with Brian and clicked with him immediately. Once we started to map things out with Brian, we both agreed it would be awesome to find a multi-instrumentalist, particularly strong in the piano/keys department, that could help put the finishing touches on our arrangements. That search didn’t last long once we figured out Pat was able to join us in Nashville.
Was there anything Pat brought to the table that you think changed how you had originally approached the songs?
Pat Sansone is a musical force and downright one of the best musical minds to have at your side in the studio. From the first time we met with him, he was so intent on finding out who we were and what we were trying to say with these songs. He brings so many things to the table, but a couple that come to mind are…an undying commitment to get the feel and the emotion of the song right, an adventurous spirit to not just lay down the first idea but to take that idea and twist it and contort it until it was both appropriate and inspirational, and finally a relentless positivity that was infectious to everyone involved.
There seem to be a lot of contemporary influences that come to mind on this album. What kind of stuff were you listening to as you sat down to begin recording?
I feel like we are all being influenced constantly by new and old music, songwriting greats and friends that no one has ever heard of. At the time of the recording for See It Through I know that I personally had been listening to a good amount of Dawes, Jackson Browne, Blake Mills, Ryan Adams, Otis Redding, Rayland Baxter, and The Water Liars. But I know that The Youngest’s influences are constantly in flux and draw from every side of the musical spectrum.
Can you talk about the writing process for this album?
Well a lot of the songs we started independently and then completed and reworked as a group. From there we recorded 20+ demos and worked with Brian to come up with the most cohesive final group of tunes.
See It Through is out October 28th. For more info check out The Youngest online:
http://www.theyoungestmusic.com/
https://www.instagram.com/theyoungestband
https://www.facebook.com/youngestmusic
https://twitter.com/TheYoungestBand
The Youngest Tour Dates
Oct 28 – Milwaukee, WI – Art Bar
Oct 29 – Neenah, WI – Cranky Pats
Oct 30 – Des Moines, IA – Vaudeville Mews
Oct 31 – Omaha, NE – House Show
Nov 02 – Rock Island, IL – Rozz Tox
Nov 03 – Madison, WI – The Frequency
Nov 04 – Chicago, IL – Elbo Room
Nov 05 – Grand Rapids, MI – Lamp Light Festival
Nov 06 – DetroitMI – Northern Lights
