Guards featuring Richie James Follin (of The Willlowz, Cults) have announced their second full-length and their first LP in six years entitled Modern Hymns. It will be out 5/22 via Kobalt and was recorded over the span of the past five years. After touring extensively for their first album In Guards We Trust, they retreated to the isolation of Sagaponack, New York to write a new album. After six months of writing and what seemed to be a never-ending battle to be released from their label, the group decided to head out west. They rented a house in the Valley of Los Angeles that had a studio attached to it, and began recording what would become Modern Hymns.
Sonically, the album is more synth and bass-heavy than the Guards have ever gone before. Lyrically, the group delves deeper into the spectrum of human emotion. Follin welcomed his first child while recording the album which contributes to a vast array of new themes. Recording the album over such a lengthy period of time gives the album a wide mix of moods.
Guards were formed in the summer of 2010, when Richie James Follin (of The Willlowz, Cults) was on a break from touring. He wrote an EP’s worth of material and decided to put it on the internet under the moniker Guards. The next morning the EP was all over the internet thanks to a few tweets from the EP’s guest vocalists Caroline Polachek of Chairlift and Madeline Follin of Cults. The Guards EP garnered much critical praise. Requests for live performances from Guards followed shortly after and Follin enlisted the help of Loren Humphrey (also of The Willowz) and Kaylie Church.
Glide is thrilled to premiere “Take My Mind” off Modern Hymns (below), a smokin’ track that combines a psych gospel flourish reminiscent of Yeasayer, yet with the hook accessibility of STRFKR.
“This is the second single off our forthcoming album Modern Hymns says Follin. “Musically, we based everything around the quirky arpeggio rhythm. We normally go heavy on the guitars, but we tried to change it up on this one and replaced the rhythm guitars with a synthesizer Joy Division made famous called the Arp Omni. It’s more dance-heavy than our previous songs thanks to a heavy dose of cowbell. Lyrically, the song pulls inspiration from Lennon’s “I know what it’s like to be dead” line, but we flipped the concept to explore what it is like to have lived. It’s the first song we finished where we knew it was perfect for the album and just left it alone after we recorded it.”
Follin and Humphrey stayed very busy in-between recording sessions for Modern Hymns. Follin started a group with The Strokes guitarist Nick Valensi called CRX, and Humphrey took on drumming duties for The Last Shadow Puppets, Florence and The Machine, Arctic Monkeys, and Tame Impala.
The album was produced by Follin and mixed at The Notch in Los Angeles by Sean O’Brien. It features contributions from Mike Shuman (Queens of the Stone Age), Money Mark (Beastie Boys), Patrick Keeler (Raconteurs, Greenhornes), Benji Lysaght (Father John Misty, Beck), James Richardson (MGMT), Matt Schaeffer (Kendrick Lamar), and Brian Oblivion (Cults).
