THE DECEMBERISTS I’LL BE YOUR GIRL

New producer, new studio, new sound. For their eighth album, the band draw on their love of glam, Roxy and New Order to freshen up their aesthetic. MELOY: I had to recognise how much I get into habitual choices when working and writing. The idea was to create an environment where we’d be forced to make different decisions. One of the key things was working in a different studio, with a different producer. We had performed some of these songs on the road in more traditionally Decemberist arrangements. In the studio, we totally rethought it. John Congleton [St Vincent, Lana Del Rey, Blondie] helped with that. We’d been working with Tucker Martine since 2006. Tucker makes blankets of organic sound. John’s tastes are more abrasive. He’s not afraid of making broken music. That’s what we were working towards.

FUNK: At the very least, a new producer brings you different stories at lunch! There’s a long history of us using synthesisers. We’re record nerds, and we’ve never been afraid of jumping into different corners of our record collections – the glue always being Colin’s songs. This just feels like a different palette to frame those songs. Like, how many more times can we use the banjo or hurdygurdy? Let’s try that thing over in the corner collecting dust.

MELOY: We were pushing our comfort levels, which had to be reckoned with as a band. But it’s been good for us. My vote has more weight, but we’ve never been interested in doing something that everyone isn’t invested in. Although we’re a benevolent dictatorship, we’re egalitarian enough. I'll Be Your Girl is released on Rough Trade on March 16