Song Exploder - Poliça - Smug

Episode Date: May 1, 2014

Ryan Olson is a member of the band Polica. Though he doesn't perform with them live, he put the band together, produces the songs, and co-writes them. I interviewed Ryan in his bedroom studio in Minneapolis. In this episode, he breaks down the song Smug, from their 2013 album Shulamith. He also talks about two pieces of equipment that have helped shape the sound of Poliça, and how he was introduced to one of them by Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, and the other by DJ Shadow.

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 Hirwe. This episode contains explicit language. Ryan Olson is a member of the band Polisa. Though he doesn't perform with them live, he put the band together, produces the songs, and co-writes them. I interviewed Ryan in his bedroom studio in Minneapolis. Coming up, he breaks down the song Smug from their 2013 album, Ashulman. He also talks about two pieces of equipment that have helped shape the sound of Polisa.

and how he was introduced to one of them by Justin Vernon of Bonnie Vair, and to the other by DJ Shadda. My name's Ryan Olson, and I produce Polisa. The rest of the band is Chris Bearden on bass, and then two drummers, Ben of Askew and Drew Christopherson. Vocals is Chaney, Lena. I had a project called Gangs that I recruited, like 25 people I knew to play soft rock, basically, and Chaney was one of them.

We played shows together with other bands or whatever, knew each other in that way. But she asked me to do something. I had already been doing like five other projects I was working out at the time. I wasn't really trying to start new bands. No, I'm always trying to start new bands. That's like the funnest thing to do is just start a band. He said, all right, we need to get Ben and Drew on drums. Chris Bearden was over here playing bass on another project that I was working on.

It's like, you want to try playing on this? and he just slated it. And I was like, this might be an actual band. Because normally if I have someone come over to record at my house, I'm not trying to make a band for you or whatever. I'm just wanting to just make studio stuff. But after we got done tracking, I was just like, I might have to ask you to play this live.

We might have to actually do this a little bit. I didn't know how much they were going to have to actually go out and do it. Smug is a rare one where we're actually in Chenney and I were up here, actually writing. This is a song she had from a long time ago, I believe. I'm not really sure. So she had a keyboard part and the vocal, how she wanted the song to go, basically. She started playing a synth, and I processed the synth as she was playing it.

I messed around with arpeggios and stuff on it while she was playing it live. There's two synth parts in here, and they're both from the same take of Chani playing the keyboards. They're just both treated differently. One I made as an arpeggiated thing. More ambient-y. Soft-Synthi, these horrible things. After she played it, I wanted to work with it in that way, I guess. I didn't have a grand plan for it at all.

It was just like hanging out up here, getting drunk and playing around on keyboards. I just, like, made a boom bap. Really basic thing. And then the shaker part, actually, I ended up running that patch This is an 808 Ableton thing, and then I ran it through, like, my Pioneer. Pioneer EFX, EFX 1000, which is what I used to process almost everything. Yeah, we have like three of them in the band, all the pickups and smears and stuff that are happening are from the Pioneer.

I don't program it because that would be super boring and not as fun and not as fast. For this thing, it's just kind of loose, weird digital dub scene, you know. And it's stuff's best just like played out. I just think this is like one of the best delay pedals around. It's like one of the first pieces of gear I bought. Like it's when I started doing electronic stuff in like 2000. I found it watching DJ Shadow play once. He was playing with the old EFX 500 and this the kind of stuff he was doing.

In the same view of watching how he was doing his shit and... That pedal is kind of blowing my mind. I was like how that is insane. It's unlike any other delay pedal. I mean, it looks like a horrible DJ tool. And it is for the most part. But when it's taken out of a DJ context, it's a really fun delay pedal.

I go to it often for most everything, though. I guess I think in processing with the pioneer. Yeah, it's definitely a big player in how I process music, literally and mentally. mentally. We recorded the vocals and the bass and the drums all at April bass and Justin Vernon Studio in Wisconsin. The studio is called April Base. You have these dividers in there so we could play, have both the drummers play at the same time. It's a really a percussive band. The drummers took that beat and broke it up, alternating down and upstrokes on the

high hats, so it's just the same. They're both playing the beat together. Another instrument, You know, melodic instrument is the bass. Bass is a major player in what hell is happening, you know? So Chris gets to craft the songs just as much as we do, or anybody else really. Chris is just insanely talented in general, but his bass playing has got such a groove and he's just such a smart musician.

If we're gonna have one stringed instrument, it's definitely what I'd want. His pocket is so perfect for it. and his sensibility in general. When we first started recording gangs, Justin Vernon laid down a part that he's the first thing he did. It was just this song, Last Promen Earth. He does a super like bone thugs and harmony vibe thing

that's all autotuned. And I was just like, ah, fuck, I don't want to do this. I don't think. I just didn't want to be utilizing autotune at the time. But Justin kind of changed. kind of changed my grip. He crushes it, first off, so that helps. It's a pretty good sales pitch. Cheney wanted to keep playing with that pedal, so. The Helicon, T.C. Helicon, Voice Live pedal, she was using it for gangs on tour, and then has had fun.

You know, the idea of just having a weird, processed voice is otherworldly. I think she was just really drawn to that as a new tool to, like, play with. It has had a lot of depth to what Chani can do or how she thinks about how her parts work, you know, just using the harmonies and just different textures that she can add to her voice. It has helped her, I think, in songwriting. We're just having way too much fun with it. Usually I try to follow the fun compass as much as possible. That's been the divine rod for everything. It's like what is exciting for us right now, you know.

And now here's Smug by Polisa. Visit SongExploder.net to find links to Polisa and their music. 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, Rishikesh, 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 and 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. You can find all the past and future episodes of SongExploder at songexplor.net or on iTunes, Stitcher, or wherever you download podcasts. Find the show on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Song Exploder. Song Exploder is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX, a curated network of extraordinary, story-driven shows.

Learn more at Radiotopia.fm. My name is Rishi-Kesh Hereway. Thanks for listening.