Song Exploder - Natalie Prass - Short Court Style

Episode Date: February 28, 2018

Natalie Prass released her debut album in 2015. That year, Time Magazine called her an Artist to Watch, Pitchfork gave the album Best New Music, and Stereogum named it one of the Top Albums of the Year. In this episode, Natalie Prass takes apart a new song form 2018, called "Short Court Style," her first track to come out since that debut album. songexploder.net/natalie-prass

You're listening to Song Exploder, where musicians take apart their songs, and piece by piece, tell the story of how they were made. I'm Rishi Kesh Hirway. This episode contains explicit language. Natalie Pras released her debut album in 2015. That year, Time Magazine called her an artist to watch. Pitchfork gave the album Best New Music, and Stereogam named it one of the top albums of the year. In this episode, Natalie Pras takes apart a new song from 2018 called Shortcourt Style. It's her first track to come out since that debut album.

My name is Natalie Press. My first record came out in 2015, and I toured on it all of 2015. And then it was time for me to start writing for the next record. One of my favorite collaborators, this is Guy, Kyle Ryan. We blocked out a week to write together. And during that time, I got an email from my friend, Teddy Blanks, asking if I would be interested in writing music for his short film.

Oh, Jerome, Jerome, No. My name is Teddy Blanks. O' Jerome Noe is a short film about a young man who says, I love you on the first date, and he has to try to figure out how to stop doing that. Since the short is so much about this oversensitive man and his nervous adventures in the dating world, we thought it would be really interesting to have the music all be very feminine and done by a woman. Writing for film has always been a dream of mine, and I've known Teddy Blank since I was. was in high school. Our bands used to play together. I was in college and she was in high school.

And so we approached Natalie because my co-director, Alex Karpowski and I both loved her album. At that time, I was particularly obsessed with the Bee Gees and especially this one song, Children of the World. The keyboard bass in particular was like what really hipes me up whenever I hear that song. I showed that song to Kyle's like, what do we do something kind of like this vibe? And Kyle started playing on the piano just these two chords. Like, that's it. And then I was like, how about this is a kind of bass sound. So I just started with that line.

So that's me playing that Juno bass. And from then on, the whole process of writing short court style was one of those magical moments that you always hope to have when you're a songwriter. It all just started unfolding so easily. So I first sent them to track And Teddy was like Do you think you could add some

Like a vocal like an ooh or something Just to show that like it's you, Natalie I was like, got it My favorite background vocal word To sing is nah nah nah I love all those classic Things that people don't really use anymore I think it's fun

And I thought of a little melody We were just bowled over It was exactly what we were looking for without really knowing what we were looking for. So short court style is like the hold title for the song, just placement title. Honestly, it's kind of embarrassing how I got the name because it sounds really pretentious,

but I had like a quartado in my hand, which is a fancy espresso drink, equal parts espresso, equal parts steamed milk. And it was just funny. I was like short court. I was like short court style, but spell it you know

C-O-U-R like basketball I don't know and actually I'm in that short film like a character in it so I posted on my socials and I got such a reaction to short court style

like where can I get that track is this something I can download somewhere and so I was like to Kyle like yeah man we have to finish this song it's just so much fun maybe we should write lyrics to this, you know. This doesn't have to be just for this short film. It could be like an actual song. At this point, I was like, okay, I'm ready to record my next record. The track that

appeared in the short film was just Kyle and I, but I knew I always wanted to have that song interpreted through a band because I love those old recordings like Sheik. That's just drums, bass, guitar, and vocals. And that's it. But that shit will make you. dance. So I wanted to take that and just make a really celebratory, groovy band record where like a band could play it and people would dance. I live in Richmond, Virginia, and I always wanted to record my second record in Richmond. But the label I was with at the time, they saw me as a different kind of artist. I think they wanted me to record in L.A. with like a big pop person or something. They really pushed back against me working in Richmond. And when you're working in the

creative arts, you know, you have to stand your ground for sure. But you also have to be open to other people's suggestions. So I was like, all right, let's go out to L.A. and record. That's when we did the second version playing it live. The band out in L.A. was Beck's Peeps, Gus Seifert on bass, Roger Manning on Keys, Joy Warren Kerr on drums, Dream Team. And I was just singing, but I didn't have lyrics yet. I had just gotten into this relationship at the time, and we were figuring each other out. When you're new in a relationship, you have to learn about each other, and that can be so difficult sometimes. And, you know, it takes at least a good handful of months. You're in that honeymoon, like, oh my God, everything's amazing, two months in, and then

third, fourth month, and you're like, wait a second. And then you start fighting over what you want for dinner. And then things just start coming out. You start seeing like the little nuance things thinking to yourself, I don't like how this person talks to the cash register at CBS. I don't know if this is going to work, you know, which is so silly, but like you're figuring each other out and trying to make it work. And then you realize, oh, wait, yeah, this person. is amazing and I think everything's going to be okay. So that's basically what the song is about the ups and downs and just working it out kind of love and just not giving up kind of love.

And it's celebratory like, we did it. We're still here. So the chorus is round and round. We've had ups and downs, but I can't be without the love that I have found. Round and round. I use and downs No, but I can't be without My love that I have found

I use breath a lot as a percussive thing I'm so into that stuff And I feel like that's just as important In a melody Like this would be a good place to have a Oh I can't be without My love that I have found So the band out in L.A. was the most sick band ever

But I just, I didn't feel completely comfortable out there. When I meet new people, it's hard for me to come out of my shell immediately and just didn't feel like my best self was being heard. So that's when I put my foot down. I'm like, you know what? I want to stick to working in Richmond. My home, I want to like go home at night after I'm done tracking. I want to be with my friends.

And there's nothing anybody can do to like make that any different. So Natalie left L.A. and went back to Richmond, started over with a new band and a producer she'd worked with before. My buddy, Matt White, we both grew up in Virginia Beach together. Matt and I just worked so well together because I'm very particular about what I want, what I want the instruments to sound like, what kind of feel I want. And what I love about Matt is, like, he could then take everything that I'm saying and organize it and get all the musicians on the same page. and the guys that are playing in the band, they are, yeah, I'm biased, but I think there's some of the best musicians out there. Richmond has a really special music scene.

So short court style, that song is all about the bass and guitar riff. And what was so beautiful was they took my original demo riff and developed it into something so cool. And it sounds like it repeats, but it really doesn't. So we got Cameron Ralston, the bass player, Alan Parker, the guitar player. I love in the chorus, Alan's riff, where he goes, the riff is so catchy. I remember when he played it, I was like, man, that's the catchiest part of the song. Like, that's why I love collaborating so much, because it's like,

I have this idea, but I never would have thought to have put a guitar melody there, and it's really cool. And then we got Pinson, Shansom, cell on drums. When you have a drum take and you're doing a dance song, adding in some shaker and a couple snaps and claps, really take it to the next level. Pinson rolls into the studio with a big suitcase, and he's got all kinds of fun, percussive stuff.

Those are glass bottles that were set up on the floor of the studio and the live room. It wasn't really planned out. It was just like, hey, how about you do that? I mean, I was like, oh, that's perfect. That's Devon Harris, aka DJ Harrison, who plays the piano on all the tracks. The CP 70, it's like an in between, like, a piano and a roads to me a little bit.

Hamos has like a nice little bell quality to it. It has that real 70s, shiny, sparkly piano sound. It's just very crisp. Very magical sounding. Matt was like, I really want there to be some kind of sample. in this song like someone going yeah you know hey and i was like all right uh cool and divan was in the room and devon was like oh i have a bunch of sound effects on my keyboard i have this quika sound the quika is that Brazilian instrument you play it with like a wet rag and you rub this stick and you make

the sound it's a percussion instrument it's on a lot of like paul simon tunes so it was that sound it's like a hilarious, like digital version. Once he started playing that Quica sound, we were all just like, that's it. And like, yes, keep going. And he just played that Quika the whole way through, I'm pretty sure. Like, he just sat there the whole track. It just brings me so much joy. Like, I will never get tired of that Quica sound.

We probably recorded Short Court style nonstop from 7 p.m. to midnight. That band probably played that track. At least, I'm going to say like 30 some times. I feel like you hear this a lot nowadays, especially like, oh, we recorded that live. One take, we're done. And I think that's really cool. But I also, my mind goes to like, but where could you have gone if you had just done it like five more times or 10 more times? Like, you could have really developed it into something special if you just thought about it a little more.

Matt knows my love for layered, closely stacked 90s background vocals. I just go nuts over that stuff. Oh, and it fits. It should stay like this. Oh, I can't be without my love that I have found. I have a lot of fun recording my vocals in that way. And that was Matt's idea. He was like, we should start the song with the...

The person that I wrote the song about. We've been together for like two and a half years at this point. But it was hard work, and it's still hard work. And we still have her... ups and downs, but at the end of the day, you're like, oh, I can't believe I found you, and you're the person that I'm going through all this stuff with. Like, this is great. I played it for him when we were done tracking.

You know, I put on our Bose speaker in the kitchen. I didn't have to tell him that it was about him. Like, he knew right away. And he was like, I love it. And we just started dancing together in the kitchen. And it was really sweet. Now here's Shortcourt Style by Natalie Prass in its entirety. More about Natalie Press, visit songexploder.net.

I have a new album of my own coming out on April 24th. It's been about 15 years since I last put out a full length, and this is the first one that'll be out under my own name, Rishi Kesh Her Way. I started making Song Exploder when I was feeling lost in my own music career. And then for over a decade, I've gotten to have these incredible conversations about the process of making music, talking to other artists, and it made me completely rethink my relationship to music, my way of writing songs. And this album is the product of all of that. It features contributions

from some of my favorite artists, including some folks that you may have heard on this podcast, like Iron and Wine, Kevin Morby, Vagabon, Fenlily, and the producer Phil Weinrobe. I'm going to be on tour playing in cities across the U.S. starting in April, and I'm trying to bring the spirit of the podcast with me. So every show that I'm playing will begin with a conversation about the album with a different amazing guest moderator in each city, like Adam Scott, Samin Nasrat, Jason Manzukas, Josh Molina, Minjin Lee, Ken Jennings, John Roderick, Austin Cleon, and more. They're all going to be my conversation partners on stage, and then I'll play with my band.

The album is called In the Last Hour of Light, and the first couple songs are out now. You can listen to the music and get tickets for the shows on my website, rishikash.co, or just go to songexploder.net slash live. That's songexploder.net slash live. Thanks. Song Exploder is produced by me, along with Christian Coons, with help from internal Olivia Wood. Carlos Lerma creates original illustrations for each episode of the podcast, which you can

see on the Song Exploder website and Instagram. Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a curated network of creative, independent podcasts made possible by listeners like you. Learn more at Radiotopia.fm. If you like the podcast, you can leave a review or a rating on Apple Podcasts, and you can find the show on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter at Song Exploder. I'd love to hear your thoughts. My name is Rishi Kesh Hereway.

Thanks for listening. Radio-topia.