ISTA is a 7-piece post-punk/ psychedelic rock group from the West Coast. The band’s new single, “TRUE” was inspired by a 70’s tune, and has that perfectly gritty vintage/fuzz sound us audiofiles so crave.
“TRUE” begins with distorted guitar and frisky drums in a juicy 30-second intro. Then, we swiftly shift the focal point to sassy, provoking lyrics. For a fleeting moment, the vocals are layered with multiple voices in such a way that sounds like a spirit is being invoked. Then, the drum beat shifts to a simple yet powerful 4 on the floor, as the artists continue to taunt.
Between the catchy jam-bandy intro, tight-kit drums and bass, smooth vocal scoops, and use of theremin this song has us hooked with a brazen charm, ISTA combines the best aspects of Queens of the Stone Age and the Arctic Monkeys with vintage sounds of punks of old. “TRUE” is a raw, sexy and philosophical-yet taunting jam that may very well be your next earworm – I know it’s now one of mine! Today Glide is excited to offer an exclusive early listen of the track.
“TRUE came together in early 2020, right around the time of our debut show in Brooklyn. We had a couple half day sessions with Sam lined up before Ollie and I were heading back to LA for a month to rehearse with Kunzite, another project we play in, for what was booked to also be that band’s debut show but would ultimately be canceled due to lockdowns. Because the schedule was tight, from writing to recording, this one came together super quick. In a night, I fleshed out the bulk of the groove on guitar and the lyrics soon followed.
I remember sometime a year or two prior, back in Los Angeles, Ollie showed me this early 70s footage of Wilson Picket performing ‘Land of 1,000 Dances’ (a song i’ve loved since I heard it in Ferngully as a wee lad) live in Ghana, and the energy between Wilson, the band and the audience was so ecstatic, it really inspired me. I’d put it on while hanging with friends on many a late night leading up to 2020 and while writing True, found myself wanting the groove to land somewhere around that pocket, with a similar driving, locomotive vibe. The questioning chorus mantra just felt natural to sing along with the riff while Diona and Theadora’s “YEAH’” refrains tied it together.
The ‘is it true’ initially came from rhyming with “like i do” but thematically reminded me of the writer Byron Katie, who has inspired me over the years in regards to self inquiry i.e questioning the thoughts, perceptions and assumptions which may be distracting us from being fully present and consciously responsible for the creation of our own lives.
The pre-chorus, where Evan is just holding down the tom hits and Sam is thumping the base in unison, might be my favorite section of the whole album.
Something about the heavy and simple, almost dumb feel of that part just hits the spot for me. The recording of this one flowed super smooth and any holes in the composition between myself, Sam, Evan and Ollie were sewn up swiftly. If my memory is correct, when I went for the vocal, I did one warm up take and the following one is what you now hear on the track. I finished singing and Sam basically made an executive decision convincing me that that was the one, and now it is. Diona nailed her vocal parts in similar fashion and added her theremin parts the following year at Sam’s upstate studio, the same time Theadora would put a bow on her chorus, “Yeaaahh’s”. A sweet synchronicity we like to reflect on is that Diona delivered our first born child, Emmit, in December (of 2022) at a birth center that is actually called, TRŪ. The universe works in mysterious ways, no doubt.” -ISTA
One Response
In my completely unbiased opinion, this is a banger!!