KIN

Asa Taccone shared some thoughts on the making of KIN via an Instagram post:

We made this album over the course of about a year or so. The first song written was “Dollar” and the last was “I Got the Money.” We would start each song in my room and get the main parts and then head over to our friend Lars’s studio in North Hollywood to flesh the demos out. I don’t have A.C. in my house and Los Angeles is brutal in the summers so most of these songs were written during peak heat. My small home studio is also filled with old gear: vintage synthesizers, reverbs and amps which heat up when turned on. I have a little thermometer in my studio which often read over 100 degrees and a few times hit almost 120. I would usually keep a cold bath and intermittently jump in a few times a day. But the heat proved to be pretty uncomfortable for our friends who would come over to play on the record. Parts like the background vocals on “1 4 Me” or the live horns on “Dollar” were recorded at night, when it was cooler.

The music is both a nod to earlier times (when life seemed a little simpler) but with elements of today. We tried to blend both organic and synthetic elements but without doing it in a way where the listener would notice so that the end result is more of a vibe thing, a feeling thing. A lot of live guitar and bass but juxtaposed by programmed drums.

Lyrically, the album’s themes deal with: good old-fashioned love, self-improvement, the void of modern life and materialism, dealing with naysayers and narrow minds, the pain of being alive and the feeling that no matter what age we are, learning how to live is still an unfolding—oftentimes elusive—process.

Just like with anything one creates, it’s nearly impossible to tell if it’s terrible or good, and this album was no exception. I tried testing the waters by having parties at my house and playing friends the demos. Most of the time I thought the album was blah, but it was during these moments of watching our friends (most of whom were artists of some kind) dancing to the music and enjoying the songs that I reconsidered.

Making this album was fun as hell. We told ourselves if we weren’t laughing we were doing something wrong. It is called “KIN” because the whole process was a family affair.

With all of the anxiety and uncertainty that we face culturally and in our individual lives, we wanted to make an album that was joyful but acknowledged the struggle of being alive. The only way forward is through. And so it is…

We truly hope you enjoy it.

Asa, Electric Guest.