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Artist Interviews
Q&A: The Postmarks
By CMU Editorial | Published on Tuesday 16 February 2010
Formed in 2006, The Postmarks are an indie-pop band from Pompano Beach, Florida. The group were discovered by producer Andy Chase, and subsequently signed to his Unfiltered Records label; first releasing an EP of remixes on iTunes followed by their eponymous debut album in 2007, which was met with critical acclaim. The band have a range of influences, including film soundtracks, French pop and 60s psychedelia. With their new album ‘Memoirs At The End Of The World’ out this week, we caught up with frontwoman Tim Yehezkely to ask the Same Six.
Q1 How did you start out making music?
Before any of us met, we were all writing and recording our own songs. Jon was in a few local bands and scored some soundtracks for indie films; Chris was also in a band and produced local musicians’ albums in his home studio; and I was writing songs on guitar, accordion, and piano and recording them on my four-track. When I met Chris, he had an album’s worth of songs already written for our would-be project. Initially I only liked two them! But I decided to invest some blind faith in us working together, confident it would turn out alright. We all had similar tastes in music, and a mutual respect for the background of musical influences each of us was coming from. I trusted we would evolve as a band and eventually explore other musical territories that were more true to us as a group. So, we went with it, and it was fun, challenging and a valuable learning experience. Overall, Jon mainly worked on the arrangements with Chris, I wrote all the lyrics and put in my two cents here and there, Andy [Chase] took it to the next level with mixing the record, and that’s how the first album was born.
Q2 What inspired your latest album?
When we were up in NYC in 2007 finishing off the mixing and mastering, and doing photo shoots for, the debut album, we were already thinking about what we wanted the next one to sound like. There was a general consensus that we should venture into new territories, like exploring cinematic themes, and allowing more grit and darkness to find its way into our sound. Not a hopeless or depressing darkness, but something moody, nighttime, mysterious. Then, later on, after touring that first record, we realised that, while soft and gentle songs are a joy to write and record, they came across somewhat lifeless in a live setting. So, we decided that for the next album we needed more energy in the set, to make it something we could dance to and have as much fun playing live as we had recording it.
Q3 What process do you go through in creating a track?
For me, I write the music first. I come up with a verse, a chorus, a bridge. Or if someone else already has the song structure in place, I just listen to it and see how it makes me feel. Then I have to find the melody if there isn’t one already. Or I might try to find a different melody. If the song is fun and catchy, or moves me in some way, then it’s really easy to find. If I’m not feeling it, I will listen to it over and over and over until it starts to reveal itself to me. Once there is a solid melody I start playing with words to fit to the melody and try to match the words to the mood of the song. I try to let it tell me what direction it wants to go and find words to help it get there. Sometimes it doesn’t work so I just throw words at it and let them stick where they may. Sometimes they fall into place perfectly and sometimes no matter what they don’t seem to fit. Anyway, that’s my part of it. As far as the recording part is concerned, Postmarks tracks are built up very meticulously but I’m not involved in that. Jon and Chris could explain all the recording, editing, layering, and arranging. I just come in to record vocals when most of the groundwork is in place.
Q4 Which artists influence your work?
In general: Film soundtracks, French pop, 60s psychedelic, 90s dream pop. In specific: Ennio Morricone, Françoise Hardy, The Zombies, Lush.
Q5 What would you say to someone experiencing your music for the first time?
I would say, listen to it with headphones a few times! There’s a lot going on in these songs, there are a lot of layers in the sound and in the words and you probably won’t get it all on first listen (especially from low quality mp3s!). There is something there for everyone, and some of it takes time to grow on you. Some of it might grab you right away. There is a lot of love and attention to detail in everything we do, and it can only be truly appreciated and experienced by those who can surrender themselves to the music.
Q6 What are your ambitions for your latest album, and for the future?
We hope the album will have a wider release around the world, we hope it is received well, we hope to tour more of the world and we wish to continue creating and performing music because that is what we love to do! It would also be great to have the opportunity to score soundtracks, collaborate with other songwriters and musicians we respect, and, of course, to continue evolving as artists until we die.
MORE>> www.thepostmarks.com
