Remo Drive by Shun Matsuhashi
Following a six-year run of pristine emo-influenced rock ‘n’ roll records, today Remo Drive announce their fourth studio album ‘Mercy’ due for release on February 23rd via Epitaph Records. Featuring brothers Erik (vocals, guitar) and Stephen Paulson (bass) and produced by Phil Ek (The Shins, Band Of Horses), it’s the band’s most vulnerable and lyric-focused offering to date.
The band is also sharing the album’s title track, intricately arranged with crisp vocals and swells of guitar. Inspired by a Nick Cave interview on the idea of mercy, the lyrics were written from a sarcastic POV and suggest to the listener that they should be completely unforgiving of anyone who ever does something that they don’t like. “This is (in my humble opinion) not good advice,” Erik warns.
The lead single is accompanied by a black and white Spaghetti Western style music video complete with a standoff involving toy guns. Check it out below:
The origins of Mercy are based on moving apart, with Erik relocating to the sleepy upstate city of Albany, New York as Stephen stayed back in the duo’s native Minnesota. In this new environment, Erik wrote constantly, playing alone in his room and allowing himself to use his music to think existentially about life. He contemplated the complexities of being in a relationship, of making art and having it be received by a wide audience, and the complexities of finding your footing in a new place (inspiring recent single “New In Town”).
In addition to the physical distance added between them, the new album introduces a major sonic departure from records of Remo past. Less indebted to the emo and pop punk that foregrounded the duo’s career, instead Mercy is invested in thorny, baroque indie pop by way of Father John Misty and Fleet Foxes. The band thrived under the guidance of legendary Seattle-based producer, Phil Ek (The Shins, Band Of Horses) who helped bring their new ideas to life in the span of ten days. “It was refreshing to work with Phil,” says Erik, “It made music feel like how it did when we were younger. He was like fuck it, let’s go, let’s have fun.”
Returning to their respective home studio setups to finish up the album, remote recording sessions were also something new to the brothers who had gotten used to the comfort and convenience of making music in one room. The band cheekily refers to the experience as toggling between their most legit recording environment and their most scrappy, “It’s like going from Michelin Star to the Dollar Store,” jokes Erik. The record also features touring members Dane Folie who plays keys on “Hold You,” and Sam Becht who plays drums throughout. Tim Houston is also on the record, playing pedal steel.
Mercy is a record about getting in touch with your mental health, deprogramming what you thought you knew about yourself and using music to unlock inner honesty. It lends to some of the band’s strongest lyrical work yet – proof that they have found their stride making the art they really want to make.
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