Freeing themselves from any categorisation and defying any “ill-fitting, but well intentioned” label, the members of Crumb have just released a new album, Amama. The twelve-track record gets listeners on a sensory journey that ranges from psychedellic sounds to jazzy instrumentals, to experimental productions and even samples of Lili’s grandmother singing.
Speaking of how the album came to be during these past two years, Jesse says: “We allowed each song to exist in a distinct production space and see how they all get along with one another.” Currently touring Europe through June, and embarking on a three-month long tour across the United States and Canada, we catch up with the band members to discuss their third studio album, the pros and cons of streaming, and how they prepare for a live show.
Hey guys, it’s a pleasure to speak with you. How are you feeling today, and where do you answer us from?
Feeling a little sleepy but good! We’re in NYC.
You’re set to release Amama in the coming days. Are you nervous about it? What do you do to relax before a big event (from an album release to a concert)?
Bri: Feeling very excited about it! It’s nice that we’ll all be together in rehearsals around the release and can go celebrate afterwards. This will be the first time we’re playing live shows directly after release too, so it will feel great to ride the energy wave and ground it down to earth. I’m honestly not feeling too nervous about the release, but it’s been nice to take long walks and chill in the park now that the weather has been getting nicer in NYC.
It’s been three years since your previous full-length work, Ice Melt. What has the process of crafting Amama been like during this time?
Jesse: The process is very different from album to album. This one was recorded in bits and pieces, in a few locations, as apprised to a longer chunk of recording. We allowed each song to exist in a distinct production space and see how they all get along with one another.
Let’s talk about Amama, the lead single. As Lila shared, it is dedicated “to my namesake, my grandmother, whose voice is sampled throughout the song. A video sent to me over WhatsApp of her singing originally inspired the melody and ethos of the song, from which I built its glitchy, warped foundation.” Could you tell us more about how this song came to be and became the cornerstone of the entire record?
Lila: Yea, it’s a song I had kind’ve been working on somewhat secretly for years—it started as an experiment to see what I could make with this little audio clip of her singing and unraveled slowly into this full on song. I wasn’t sure whether it sounded like a Crumb thing, so I was hesitant to share it with the band like I usually would. But when we started recording the album, I felt like it actually would fit really well and was a needed vibe for the album.
We used a lot of my original recording (the samples, guitars, synths, electronic drums, some vocals I think) and then tracked live drums, bass, more vocals, some synths and other effects on top. I think it maybe became so important to the record in part because the video, which came out so special and really elevated the meaning and feeling of the song. I was resistant to the album being called Amama at first, but now it feels really right.
We used a lot of my original recording (the samples, guitars, synths, electronic drums, some vocals I think) and then tracked live drums, bass, more vocals, some synths and other effects on top. I think it maybe became so important to the record in part because the video, which came out so special and really elevated the meaning and feeling of the song. I was resistant to the album being called Amama at first, but now it feels really right.
Also, sampling Lila’s grandmother’s voice reminded me of Rosalía’s G3 N15 song, which at the end of it also features a voice note that her grandmother sent to her. I don’t know if you’re familiar with the track, but I love it. It seems to me like a current practice that speaks of the times we’re in – hyperconnected despite the distance, our grandparents trying to understand and embrace technology to be closer to us. Do you feel like there’s something of this in Amama? Or the intention was totally different?
Lila: I just listened to it! I’m a big fan. With my grandmother, we don’t speak the same language and live across the world from each other. I’ve only gotten to see her once in the past eight years, and my only interactions are these little videos of her I get sent on WhatsApp of her singing or talking. So I think it was a way of connecting to her in an indirect way. I used her melody as an inspiration for what I was singing as well. It felt like we were singing together.
From Outside a Window Sill opens the album. It’s dreamy and poetic, and Lila’s voice is so hypnotic in it. And it sets the tone for the rest of the record. How would you say this song is a good representation of the full-length work, and what are the reasons why it’s the opener?
Lila: Yea, it has this ‘welcome to the album’ quality to it for me. Not necessarily because it sounds like the rest of the album though. But it feels like it plops you down into this little universe, you are ready to start on the journey.
There are a couple of very short tracks in the record: Nightly News and Swarmed. I understand them more as sound experiments rather than interludes. What role do they play within the album? How did they come about?
Lila: Yea, they feel like little palette cleansers, meant to prepare you for the next song (Nightly News) or wind you down from the previous (Swarmed). Nightly News sort of emulates the background noise of a TV or radio when say you’re stuck in a hotel room for days and time is slowing down. Swarmed is like the flip side of Dust Bunny (it’s literally the reverse / slowed down).
Sitting at the crossroads between psychedelia, pop, jazz, and rock, your sound is genre-defying and hard to classify. Are you comfortable in that grey area where you can pretty much do whatever you please? Are there any downsides to this type of freedom?
Jesse: I think it’s increasingly obvious that these sort of labels are ill-fitting, but well intentioned. There are many musical traditions and genres that our music draws from, and I think the contemporary music listener is A OK with that (for the most part).
It seems like this formula is working. Just on Spotify, you have an outstanding 2,2M monthly listeners. As artists, what’s your take on streaming and the pros/cons of it? Many complain about the low income it generates and how hard it’s become to live off their art. And also, touring is becoming increasingly difficult.
Lila: We’ve been really lucky with that stuff on account of having really supportive fans through the years and remaining independent. But yea, the music industry can definitely be predatory—streaming services don’t pay artists enough and labels take a lot of the money that they do pay. I don’t think streaming is inherently bad, I think it’s cool that anyone can upload their music and listen to it at any time. It’s just hard for most artists to make a living from it with the rates they’re giving.
Speaking of touring, you’ll be embarking on a US and Canada tour starting July. And meanwhile, you’re performing across Europe in May and June. How is the process of translating the studio songs into a live show and experience? Do you try to make them as similar as possible, or do you like to shake things up for the stage?
Jonathan: It’s very rewarding to put our live set together—for our headlining shows, we’re playing around nineteen songs, including most of the songs from Amama. It ends up being a combination of learning the recorded version, stretching certain sections… and my favorite, connecting songs into each other seamlessly. I’m very excited for these shows.
Also, you’ll be performing from July to October, which is a long time. This needs a lot of vocal, physical, and mental preparation. What exercises, tools, and techniques do you use to get ready for such a feat? Also, do you perform any rituals before going onstage maybe?
Jonathan: The bulk of the preparation happens together in the practice room—deciding which songs to play, what order, how to connect them, adjusting the tones, and finally drilling the set. That’s most of the work right there. Because our grooves vary pretty heavily from song to song, I find that it helps me to just loop certain sections by myself and improvise over them. That way I can tap into the feel of the song in a less pressured way and come up with new fills I didn’t do on the album.
