What Now is what’s now for electro-pop sensation
Sylvan Esso is Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn. Formed in 2013, the duo released their debut album a year later. Meath’s warm vocals and pop melodies and Sanborn’s computer-generated instrumentation made the band one of the breakout acts of 2014, and recently prompted the New York Times to declare that the North Carolina-based group “keeps electronic pop human.” Their sophomore album is What Now. We talked to Sanborn about the new record. Q: Did you put a lot of pressure on yourselves with the followup to your debut?
A: That’s the interesting thing. One half of you is like, ‘Oh shit, we have to do a followup.’ And the other half is, ‘Awesome, we get to do a followup.’ There are these two halves of yourself arguing with each other; one part is telling you it’s fantastic, it’s all you ever wanted to do. The other half is saying that was a fluke, you’re worthless any anxiety-ridden thing your mind would tell you in the middle of the night. Was there a moment during the writing or recording where you thought, OK, we got this?
I think there were several moments. It moved in fits and starts. When we wrote the first song on the record (Sound), that was a real breakthrough moment. It felt like we’d found a new way of working together, that felt more together than anything we’d done before. It was one expression rather than two people combining. That was a big moment. But then we started holding ourselves to that standard, to make something we felt that passionate about. And that discouraged us about other things that we were working on. The last time you played in Vancouver was in 2015. Do you remember that show?
That was a fun tour. That show was near the tailend of a bunch of touring. Touring is exhausting and wonderful work. After it’s over, when I go home and flop down on my own bed, I don’t think there’s a better physical sensation than the entire world. So yeah, we were very worn out. But we just love Vancouver, and we love that venue so much.