No Need To Be Lonely

on the new record and encouragement.

HAPPY SPRING! I don’t normally use this space to exclusively talk about band stuff BUT The day is finally here, No Need To Be Lonely is finally out in the world. It’s still never lost on me how wild it is to release music into the world. In the days leading up to a release, I always feel like a nervous wreck, but also a huge sense of relief. As scary and vulnerable as it is, it’s also the absolute coolest thing to make something with your friends out of thin air.

This record feels particularly meaningful to me for many reasons. A lot of the things I was thinking about while writing the lyrics for these songs were relationships. The ones we have with people in our lives, ourselves, and the world we live in. All of those different types of relationships, while beautiful, can also be hard as hell sometimes. A big antidote for that struggle and isolation to me is encouragement. It’s a thing I’ve been thinking about a ton lately. Sometimes it really does feel like we’re all just out here floating through our own private hell. Just me? When someone can break through that limbo and make you feel seen, it can make all the difference.

So much about how this record came together embodies that to me. I think about being up at the bunk demoing with Evan, Miles, Matt and my late perfect dog Benny. Matt and I were sitting on the porch texting the songs to Jeff asking for advice then he just called us and asked to be a part of it. Jeff has become a really close friend the last few years. Not only do we all laugh our asses off when we’re hanging out but he is someone I deeply admire for how he moves through the world. I can confidently say no one personifies the word encouragement more than Jeff. He brought fresh ears, excitement, and producer magic to the record. We flew out to Oakland to meet Jack Shirley for the first time at Atomic Garden. Honestly, it was kind of a big leap for us. We’ve always made all of our records at home so having a strict time limit of 7 days kind of scared the hell out of me. Jack’s energy from day one immediately wiped away those fears. He has a warm and kind nature while also getting that job done. There were moments while recording that I was watching my bandmates with a particular awe. Everyone absolutely crushed their parts. It was also nice for me to get to see Matt just get to play and not have to record at the same time. (Matt deserves an award for how much work they always do) Not to be a total sap but there were aspects of recording that felt very movie montage-like. Collaboration without expectation is a beautiful thing to witness. Even if not one soul likes the record, that experience would have still been worth it to me. (but I do hope people like it haha)

If I’m being frank, sometimes I still feel silly being out here writing songs. BUT I PROMISE THERE’S A BUT I truly believe with my whole heart that music is a fucking gift its honestly one of the only things in this fucked up world I love. My relationship with music is one of the most important relationships I’ve ever had and will ever have. In my heart, I identify more as a music fan than a musician because of that I feel so lucky I’ve gotten a chance to make “No Need To Be Lonely” with the best people MATT EVAN MILES LIZ JACK AND JEFF. Also super happy to be working with Get Better Records for this. I’ve known Alex for a long time and am so glad to work with a label that shares the same politics and ethos as all of us. This world is objectively hard, and it is really special to get to work on songs with people you love. I hope if YOU listen to it you like it and if you don’t that’s fine too… DONT YOU DARE TELL ME.

love you,

Gus

Reading lately: The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai (shout out book club)

Listening to lately: I’m drinking coffee right now and listening to the new Hurray For the Riff Raff live record that also came out this morning. I love this band!