We had a chat with expansive alternative pop duo SORRYNOTSORRY about their endlessly creative and personal new album THE OTHER SIDE
With the release of their new album THE OTHER SIDE, creative Brooklyn-based psychedelic rock duo SORRYNOTSORRY have continued to expand upon the confines of their ambitious and daring sound, incorporating elements of psychedelic rock, trip-hop, ambient and indie pop styles to craft something that feels captivating, memorable and entirely their own.
From their already released singles like ‘Foggy Like a Bladerunner,’ ‘Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs,’ and ‘Disappear’, to deeper cuts like ‘I’ve seen a lot’ and ‘Death/ Obselete’, the album has a flair for the experimental and daring, brought upon by founding members, Venezuelan multi-instrumentalists Samantha Dagnino and Andrés Cottin. Authenticity and their distinctively personal, honest approach are the most lifeblood of their sound and every creative decision that they make, and we had a chat with SORRYNOTSORRY to find out a bit more about their process and about the background of the release.
Hey! We love your new album THE OTHER SIDE, what more can you tell us about it?
It’s the first album Andres and I composed together, and it was a beautiful process because it allowed us to get to know each other on a more personal level.
In a way, it perfectly showed us forming our band and really paying attention to the message we’re sending to the world.
What was the process like putting it together?
A lot of focus on lyrics and duo vocal arrangements. We found while we were writing the album that we really liked the way our two vocals sounded together, and looked for ways to have songs without a “lead vocal”.
There was also a lot of sound design choices later into the process, really scrutinizing the sound effects we used on every instrument.
What were your biggest influences when creating it?
Khruangbin, Tame Impala, Low, The XX, these were all influences we knew we wanted to incorporate even before we started making the album.
While making the record, we listened to a lot of Massive Attack, Thundercat, Radiohead, The Smile, Billie Eilish, and B-52s.
How do you feel that the album differs from your previous work?
Our previous albums The Meaning of Life and Internet, Web Surfing and Email were influenced by grunge, and the lyrics focused mostly on social commentary and heartbreak. THE OTHER SIDE is about hope and the path towards healing. It’s precisely the opposite side of the subjects and style that we have explored before.
What else do you have planned for the near future?
There are a lot of songs that didn’t make it into the album. We want to revisit them and maybe make a special edition of the album, or maybe they will only be heard by the fans who come out to see us play.
For next year, we are writing a fresh batch of songs in Spanish, something like Turnstile meets Gorillaz, but in Spanish.
