When we last chatted with Empath back in 2019, they’d just re-released their two most recent albums through Fat Possum Records and made the bold promise that no matter how high their star rises, they’ll never stop playing instruments that sound like trash cans (their words, not mine). Whether the statement was the product of exaggeration, self-deprecation, or tinnitus, one thing’s certainly true: the Philly four-piece has found a unique sound that works for them, which they seem to have very little interest in experimenting outside of.
Experimenting within the parameters laid out by Active Listening: Night on Earth and Liberating Guilt and Fear, however, was the MO on their latest release, Visitor, with lead single “Born 100 Times”—and the visual aid of its accompanying music video—amping up the carnivalesque energy the band exhibits on stage and on record (“cruise ship vibe” is how vocalist/guitarist Catherine Elicson describes it, citing the sounds of the “Marimba 2” setting on bandmate Emily Shanahan’s keyboard). Meanwhile, the drumming on the next track “Diamond Eyelids,” yeah, gets pretty trash-canny.
With Visitor arriving today, we asked Elicson to give us an under-the-hood look at each track on the new album, detailing the specific gear, keyboard settings, and, um, pitch mod oscillator hard syncs the band used throughout the LP, as well as how the influence of MBV, Phil Collins, shitgaze, Bachelard, seductive Satanic sculptures, and Jehovah’s Witness pamphlets worked their way into the finished product. Stream along and read Elicson’s words below.
1. “Genius of Evil”
We had the first half of this song written for a while, but we were kind of stuck on the second half, not sure what should happen next. Months later [drummer Garrett Koloski] and I were upstate at his parents’ house. We had been jamming some of the songs in his parents’ garage when we finally figured it out. Having the song break out of the haunting, bass-driven sound of the first half into an open, syncopated groove seemed like an exciting contrast. There’s no true chorus moment, but the song is driven by the idea that everything should be a hook. I got the idea of “Genius of Evil” from the 19th century religious sculpture La génie du mal. I was intrigued by the idea of a sculpture of Lucifer too seductive to be shown to the public.
2. “Born 100 Times”
I’m pretty sure I got the line “Millions alive will never die” from a Jehovah’s Witness pamphlet I saw and kind of built the vibe of the lyrics off of that. The song is just two chords repeated over and over again, and I think the simplicity of that is what allows there to be a lot of different vocal and synth melodies layered on top. I also wanted there to be a song that just started immediately with a catchy hook. The drums were inspired by a Fleetwood Mac beat sped up. The bass line is open and flowing, not holding down the song rhythmically, which feels chaotic in a good way. Jem discovered the “Marimba 2” setting on her keyboard, which became the sound of the middle section of the song. It kind of has a steel drums/cruise ship vibe that we simply could not resist.
3. “Diamond Eyelids”
To balance out the pop qualities of this song, we incorporated some broken parts and a fun metal blast beat at the end. The words in this song were written from a few pieced together memories I had—one of coming downstairs at my house one morning and unexpectedly finding a friend who lives on the other side of the country asleep on the couch, and the other memory was of when a friend used to travel from Chicago an hour and a half to the suburbs to work full time at a low paying AmeriCorps job. When the time came to pick singles, this song felt like a no-brainer.
4. “Passing Stranger”
Sometimes we don’t know the nuances of each other’s parts until we record. That was the case with Randall [Coon]’s stabby synth line that we return to throughout this song. When we all heard that in the first mix pass, the rest of us were like, “Ohh, that’s the hook!” Now when we play that song live that section feels so powerful when it hits. Garrett and I slam that part along with Randall.
5. “Corner of Surprise”
This is a song we just wanted to have fun with, and we basically tried to play it as fast as possible. Drums were inspired by a faster Times New Viking beat. I attempted my best Karen O yowl. The keyboard sound reminded us of steel drums once again, so we were trying to lean into a cruise ship vibe at the end. Randall has a pitch mod oscillator hard sync (whatever the fuck that means) like The Prodigy going. Also lots of organ on it.
6. “House + Universe”
The name of this song was taken from a chapter in the book Poetics of Space by Gaston Bachelard. The challenge of this track was finding a way to play fast a song that is very traditional in pop sound and structure without it sounding pop-punk. So the drums were inspired by a closed hi hat Ramones beat and the choruses were kept more restrained with a floor tom beat, rather than switching to a big epic moment. The vocals aspired to a kind Yo La Tengo-y feel—subdued, never yelling. This song has basically no low end, making it lighter than most of the other songs. There’s a secret, almost Phil Collins drum fill coming out of the instrumental part. Throwing in the twist of a breakdown-y moment at the end adds the chaos layer we enjoy and saves the song from being too basically pop.
7. “Elvis Comeback Special”
This song came about through a forgotten old voice memo brought back to life. It deals with the feeling of being caught up in someone else’s world (“visiting”) and that feeling of uncertainty in yourself when you realize the connection can’t remain the exhilarating fantasy it once was. Coincidentally, around the time of us putting this song together, Randall had shown us live videos of Elvis performing near the end of his life. I remember being kind of struck by the darkness/beauty in those performances where you can tell he’s struggling but still putting everything he has into the performance. And the name sounded cool, so we just started calling it that. This song has lots of fun rhythms, basically each instrument is taking a turn adding to the rhythm of the song. The sixteenth note snare drum fill in the big chorus moment was inspired by My Bloody Valentine. They were always good at restrained but memorable drum fills. We wanted to avoid sounding overly grandiose during the biggest moment of the song.
8. “80s”
This song was kind of confusing to put together because the guitar riff doesn’t repeat in an easily understandable four-count kind of way, and the keyboard melody follows that. On top of that, Garrett is playing basically a breakbeat over everything. But when the chorus hits and it resolves into a straightforward 4/4, two-chord moment it feels like it becomes more undeniably catchy.
9. “V”
This track was improvised in Garrett’s living room, with clarinet added a few days later. We were messing with a binaural mic setup for the percussion, trying to make the listener feel surrounded by shakers. Garrett’s mom says it should be in a nature documentary. When Jake Portrait mixed the song he put it through a couple boxes—AMS RMX16 old reverb and a Manley tube EQ and limiter. I looked them up on eBay and they’re both very expensive.
10. “Bell”
One of our most bass-heavy tracks. The synth bass line doesn’t land on the one, giving a counter rhythm underneath the song. The rhythm of the chorus-y section of the song was inspired by a Nirvana track. I laid down a real, proper guitar solo. One of our only tracks written in a minor key, giving it a darker feel.
11. “Paradise”
One of the first tracks written for this record, inspired by the desire to shred. We wanted one tasteful saxophone moment, so our friend Mac played and recorded himself slamming through it in one take. The lyrics are borrowed from the last section of Cookie Mueller’s autobiography, Walking Through Clear Water in a Pool Painted Black. It’s a letter from one of her close friends dying of AIDS, telling her she’ll be one of the first people he writes to when he gets to paradise.
