The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
Long-distance courtship
Rock act Local Natives begged Cardigans vocalist to help out on a song and, eventually, got their wish
Still, the band’s management got in touch with the “Lovefool” singer; however, the clock started to run out as they waited for a reply.
“We didn’t hear back from her, so while we were mixing the record (vocalistguitarist), Taylor (Rice) lastminute sent her this long email, basically pleading for her to just listen to the song,” Ayer said. “She listened and recorded her vocals in her Swedish studio. We didn’t even meet her.
“It’s pretty surreal to look back on how that all came to be. Just the fact that she’s on one of our records at all, it’s pretty insane.”
That record is the band’s third album, “Sunlit Youth,” which was released last summer. Unlike its predecessor, the project seamlessly jumps genres from the poppy “Past Lives” and “Masters” to the soulheavy “Coins” and anthemic “Fountain of Youth.”
The playlist vibe wasn’t necessarily intentional, but Ayer said it was an acceptable result, considering how Local Natives approached the songwriting and recording of “Sunlit Youth.”
Inspired recently by hiphop and electronic tunes, where the band dynamic doesn’t often exist, the band made the decision to write material for “Sunlit Youth” on their own.
“That fed into a lot of the moves we made,” Ayer said. “Like with ‘Villainy,’ we wanted to know what it would feel like to have no guitar at all on a song, which was totally foreign to us at that point. We just wanted to incorporate more produced sounds.
“We started producing tracks on our own, and had to trust that once it goes through the five of us, it will end up feeling like a Local Natives song, even though the origins of it ended up being so far from maybe our style of music. That ended up being a really awesome new way of writing for us.”
Looking ahead, it’s pointed out maybe the next step for Local Natives is for band members to further isolate themselves by each writing, recording and producing their own songs.
“Hopefully not,” Ayer said. “Right now, we’re excited about possibly doing a more cohesive record.”
Perhaps for the next album, Local Natives will get The Cranberries’ Dolores O’Riordan to make a guest appearance?
“Maybe,” Ayer laughed. “I don’t think the rest of the guys have such a touching nostalgic view of The Cranberries. I don’t know, if we take a darker turn, it might make more sense.”
“We started producing tracks on our own, and had to trust that once it goes through the five of us, it will end up feeling like a Local Natives song, even though the origins of it ended up being so far from maybe our style of music. That ended up being a really awesome new way of writing for us.” — Kelcey Ayer, Local Natives band member