Grand Archives - "Sleepdriving"

This month, we speak with Mat Brooke about “Sleepdriving,” a single from Grand Archives’ debut EP. Brooke started the band after spending time with Band of Horses and Carissa’s Weird, keeping an ear toward sunny melodies and an airy, backwoods atmosphere. The new album, The Grand Archives, comes out this month on Sub Pop.

Q: There are obvious A/B parts to this song, but neither really outweighs the other. Was that part of the plan going in to writing this song?
A: When we formed this group, this was the first song we wrote. We weren’t even sure if we were going to start a band. We were just messing around and this was the melody we came up with. It’s really probably the result of an experiment in taking a few guys with fairly separate musical tastes and backgrounds and seeing what kind of musical mutt is created. The song ended up with a real ebb and flow kind of feel, mainly because the verses and choruses are the same chord progression, but with the choruses holding every chord one measure longer. It’s a trick that doesn’t always work but in this song it seemed to be the tasteful choice. After that, the song employs a tried and true “verse/chorus/verse/breakdown/big/ending breakdown“ formula.

Q: How did you approach this song lyrically?
A: “Sleepdriving” is one of the only songs I’ve ever written that didn’t go through a million and one lyrical rewrites. In fact it didn’t see any rewrites at all. When I wrote it I was having a hard time with it and ended up spending the evening with some old scrapbooks, journals, photobooks, and a bottle of wine. When the wine was gone, the song just wrote itself.

Q: Did this song go through any stylistic changes throughout the process?
A: We put it all together and took it in to a studio and overproduced the hell out it! The “Row, Row, Row Your Boat” style of singing in the end of the song was a product of studio experimentation. Whenever I record anything in the studio, the song ends up with so many tracks that it ends up with this big music beard that, in mixing, needs to be shaved. Sometimes you can leave some sideburns or maybe a mustache. “Sleepdriving” got to keep the sideburns, mustache, and goatee. We just kind of shaved its cheeks a little.

www.myspace.com/grandarchives