COUNTERPRODUCTIVE TURN EMO INTO SOMETHING MUCH WILDER
Sperry Falls moves from poetic fragments to driving guitar music, finding a sweet spot between Midwest emo and bruised introspection
Sperry Falls, Washington band's 12-song, 45-minute album has intricate emotional vocabulary and its songwriting keeps pushing outward into heavier alternative rock, melodic hardcore and quiete more reflective territory.
“Pharisee (Poem)” opens at just 43 seconds before “Deep End” expands into nearly five minutes, and that contrast becomes part of the record's personality. “Woodbridge, CT” and “You're Safe With Me” allow the band more room to develop their melodic ideas, while “Skin Turn to Stone” and “Over It” bring a harder edge. Then “Freaks (Acoustic)” strips everything back again at the finish.
There are riffs, hooks and dynamic shifts, and the emotional centre never gets buried under the instrumentation. I hear a band comfortable with both catharsis and restraint. Counterproductive understand vulnerability. Sometimes it sounds like a confession. Sometimes it sounds like an argument. I recommend it to anyone who wants emo with muscle and personality.
Interview with Counterproductive
(•)> Sperry Falls moves between very short pieces and songs approaching five minutes. Did you think about pacing and contrast while sequencing the album?
(•)> Why was “Pharisee (Poem)” chosen as the opening statement when it's only 43 seconds long?
(•)> What was the central idea behind “Deep End,” and how did that song establish the musical direction of the record?
(•)> “Woodbridge, CT” is one of the album's longer pieces. What does giving a song five minutes allow you to do that a shorter arrangement doesn't?
(•)> How did you approach balancing the intricate guitar language associated with Midwest emo against the heavier side of Counterproductive?
(•)> “You're Safe With Me” carries songwriting credits from Sean Michael Curran, Jacob George Curran and Chase Rivera. How collaborative is the writing process inside the band?
(•)> What did you want Tyler Mays' mastering to preserve in the finished recordings?
(•)> “Sweet Virginia (Pieces)” and “Danny Boy (Carpe Diem)” have unusually evocative titles. How important are imagery and narrative when you're writing these songs?
(•)> “Skin Turn to Stone” feels like one of the points where the record's heavier instincts come forward. Did you deliberately write the album around these changes in intensity?
(•)> Why did “Freaks (Acoustic)” feel like the right song to close Sperry Falls, rather than ending on one of the band's louder performances?
(•)> Looking back at Urban Epileptic, Theology Of The Body, DRUG DEALER, MANIAC and Over It, where do you hear the biggest songwriting change leading into Sperry Falls?
(•)> The band has been releasing music since Nothing Lame in 2018. What does Counterproductive understand about its own sound now that wasn't clear in those earliest recordings?
(•)> That's all, Folks! Check out Counterproductive on the Pigeon Opinion Playlist