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“All the songs on the record were built upon ideas that started at home. I have a home studio, which isn’t very extravagant, but I have a tape machine and I have a console,” Granduciel says. He is content to let the songs take shape of their own volition and at their own pace. “All the songs on the record are built with that kind of idea: just me having an idea and working on a song for maybe a few weeks, sometimes, or maybe just at night.” When he’s satisfied with the frameworks he’s constructed, after the joists, the beams, and the rafters have been tested and proven sufficiently sturdy, he brings them to the band for embellishment. “I spent most of 2013 putting the band on it. It was kind of like going into the studio with this stuff already presented in bare-bones form and just building it up,” Granduciel says, “To me, that’s the most exciting time. … You give yourself a grid and you can kind of go in and shape it, throw paint around.” Ultimately, Granduciel still reserves his right to have the final say over his bandmates’ contributions. “I think that I have ideas for certain songs to where I can play to their strengths best,” he says. “At least for now, the best I can do as a bandleader is let people know that I think they’re perfect for something. … I love playing keyboards and synth. It’s not that I don’t want to give up control; I just love doing that stuff. I don’t want to, all of a sudden, just be a songwriter.” For all of the talk of the band’s timelessness — for all the allusions made to Springsteen, Petty, Dylan and the War on Drugs’ lush sound, which seems to be the product of a bygone era — Granduciel remains pragmatic in his approach, using every tool at his disposal, timeless and otherwise, to craft the perfect sound. At a certain stage in the process, “I transfer all the tapes into ProTools, which is cool,” he says. “I can record in my house in this weird little analog world, and get a really subtle beauty going, but then I can also just say, ‘Let’s just do one more bridge.’ You’re moving structure; you’re not just copying and pasting.” Granduciel’s consistent delivery is the result of faith in his instinct and in the methodology of his creative process. Granduciel cites that interim period — the time spent between framing the songs, then revisiting them — as the most crucial part of the whole process. He likens it to photography. “Sometimes I don’t know what I’m going to end up with. One of my favorite parts of taking pictures is when you drop it off at the photo lab and wait to get it back. [It’s] that moment where you look through the package for the first time to see how the shit ended up.” INF O @PGH C IT YPAPE R . C O M
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PITTSBURGH CITY PAPER 03.19/03.26.2014
GROUPLOVE TIGHTENS UP {BY JULIA COOK} Grouplove missed the sophomore slump with its latest album, Spreading Rumors, an emotional, accelerated piece that takes the energy of the band’s earlier work and compresses it into tight pop anthems that sound composed without being formulaic. Every track enters a unique world in terms of pacing and narrative, and like the band’s performances, every one is different.
{PHOTO COURTESY OF PAMELA LITTKY}
Cathartic grooves: Grouplove
Between rehearsals, Grouplove vocalist and guitarist Christian Zucconi opened up about how excited he was to revive the band’s buzzed-about live shows. “The feedback from the crowd is what dictates the show,” he says. “We switch it up and don’t even play the same songs every night. You never know what’s going to happen onstage. You need to be out of control, but so in control that it works.” There’s plenty of dancing, and the opportunity for stage-diving. “You don’t plan it; if it happens and feels right, we definitely go for it.” As far as the improved production on Spreading Rumors, Zucconi explains: “When we went to record this record, we were much tighter as a unit, so we wanted to capture the live energy that we bring onstage.” He compares the live performances to a big dance party, “pretty special, super cathartic.” Coming off an acoustic tour of smaller venues, he promises the shows will also bring a greater sense of intimacy. INFO@PGHCITYPAPER.COM
GROUPLOVE. 6 p.m. Sun., March 23. Stage AE, 400 North Shore Drive, North Side. $25. All ages. 412-229-5483 or www.stageae.com