Athlete | This Is What I Sound Like

"If you can’t stay on top of the egos or how the four of us rub off on each other, then that’s almost going to be the beginning of the end, and that’s when the music stops coming."

 

If you’re a casual music fan, you probably haven’t heard Athlete yet. Even if you are in tune with industry, you’ve probably only been exposed to hit single "Wires" and possible one of two other U.S.-released singles, "Tourist" or "Half Light." While this band hasn’t quite made the dent in the music scene that everyone anticipated, we’re lucky that they’ve avoided such a fate. Had they gotten such acclaim, it might have led them to slack off on their third album, Beyond the Neighbourhood. Constantly compared to Coldplay, the four members of Athlete took a note out of their musical playbook and brought out a third album that is a bit more electric, a little more eclectic and definitely more commercial, but unlike Coldplay, Athlete didn’t lose themselves or their sound.

This album is clearly a work near and dear to the band’s heart. Stepping into their brand new, self-designed studio, Athlete took over complete control of the album by producing it themselves. When asked about the difficulties of producing an album by one’s self, keyboardist Tim Wanstall shakes the notion that it was the hardest part of the album-making process. "More of the change was recording in our own studio than actually producing it," he says. "We’ve always been the kind of band whose thing would be to record on their own; to work in their own studio. Victor [Van Vugt, producer of Vehicles & Animals and Tourist], right from the beginning, encouraged us to think about it," says Wanstall. "It was more like the engineering side of things that we were worried about. It was more about, physically, what microphone sounds best in this room with this guitar and things like that. That’s we were fretting about."

What resulted from this first try in the producer’s chair was a clean, crisp effort that solidly shows off their affinity for the tinkering sounds that recall bands they admired, like the now-defunct Grandaddy, while maintaining their signature lyrically strong and solidly crafted pop songs.

Athlete was amazingly able to go into their studio and emerge as friends once the whole process was over and done with. "We were able to keep the separate relationships [with each other] going. If you can’t stay on top of the egos or how the four of us rub off on each other, then that’s almost going to be the beginning of the end, and that’s when the music stops coming," says Wanstall. "We love just having fun in the studio. When we recorded our first demo for ‘Westside,; the studio we recorded it in had all sorts of random things inside to tinker with. That’s why it takes so long to make albums. You can try stuff out for ages. When it comes to making records, we don’t want to stray down the obvious route; we want to play around."

With not having a producer sitting in on the recording sessions, Athlete invited friend and fellow musician Jonny Pilcher to come visit them in the studio and serve as a fresh voice when needed. "We thought we’d get him down a day a week; just an unbiased, neutral pair of ears to say to him, ‘Hey, mate, what do you reckon at this point?’ It was nice to have someone around we respected, to have an opinion. We sort of used him like that when we needed to." In fact, Pilcher contributed more than just a unbiased voice during the recording process; he’s actually featured on some of the album, adding extra guitars when needed. With the band knowing prior to recording that Pilcher was going to be added to the tour as a second guitarist, it allowed for even more flexibility in the studio without the worry of trying to translate the songs live.

Road testing the new songs this summer, Wanstall expresses his excitement for a full-on, proper tour to support the new album. "It was odd to play a whole bunch of songs before people knew them. I’m looking forward to going on tour after the record is out." When approached about the obvious question regarding U.S. vs. U.K. tours, Wanstall found that American audiences are less cynical and actually want them to succeed, whether it be as a headliner or a support act. "One of the things I love about America, at this stage, is that there’s a few big towns where you play to like, 900 people, but there’s lots of places you play to a couple of hundred people. As a people, [Americans] are a lot less cynical. Even when we were a support band, people were on our side, wanting us to be a good support band. I love that kind of openness, and it makes it a lot easier, and a lot more fun, to be this underdog band."

The standout track of the album will easily be "Best Not to Think About It." The same heartstrings that were tugged on by previous single "Wires" will undoubtedly be broken after listening to the heart-wrenching tale of two people. At first listen, one might come to the conclusion that it is in reference to two lovers struggling to keep a relationship afloat. "When I first heard the song, Joel [Potts] hadn’t told me, and all I could hear was a kind of relationship that was having a bit of trouble," says Wanstall. "Both parties are desperately fighting to keep it together. That’s what I thought it was about, and that still hit me kind of hard."

Potts later revealed that the song was inspired by a documentary seen by the singer that traced the moments after the World Trade Center had been attacked and the resulting choice by some people to jump out the windows. Wanstall continues, "With songs like that, it’s sometimes hard to know when to let people know. Like with ‘Wires,’ we tried not to talk about it but inevitably people ask questions. Part of the beauty as a listener is, you sort of let it hook you a little bit, and it can be a nice discovery, the meaning of the tune. With ‘Best Not to Think About It,’ should we say what it’s about? It’s important to me, because you give the lyrics some more substance. There’s two stories at play there."

Along with ‘Best Not to Think About It,’ Wanstall appreciates some of the other more abstract and less obvious songs. "You can go through the album to pick which songs are the more obvious singles, but creatively, as artists, you get a greater satisfaction from the tunes that kind of have that subtle, certain something, which keeps you striving as a writer. They all have certain moods, where one of them might pass people by, but then one of them might become this massive deal."

Beyond the Neighbourhood is a stark change in terms of content than that of their previous two albums. Their debut, Vehicles & Animals, was filled with light-hearted stories of what life was like in Athlete’s hometown of Deptford, a suburb of London. A drastic mood shift came when Tourist, their follow up, addressed the rigors of touring and the harsh realities of not seeing family and friends for prolonged periods of time. "The second record, for us, was working that out of our system. It’s a lot of longing…but I don’t think it’s something that we need to return to. It’s just something we’ve gotten used to as a people, and we’re kind of comfortable about it," says Wanstall. "The third record, suddenly like, we’re settled about life and got that sorted, and part of it as well, is growing up; start considering the world outside yourself. It’s a bit wider and outside our little thing."

It’s definitely a more mature outlook on life. The album is filled with strong tracks that could easily stand on their own, but together, they provide an intense, yet enjoyable listening experience which should appeal to listeners new and old. Wanstall feels that this is an accurate portrayal of their life as a band, right now.

"We’re committed to the idea that the album is a picture of where the band’s at at a particular moment in time. Our record, as a whole, tells that story." | Kiernan Scrima