Ashley Osborn
Taking Back Sunday.
“I do agree with that statement,” says singer Adam Lazarra via phone from his Charlotte home, where he was getting ready to rehearse for a tour that brings Taking Back Sunday to House of Blues on Tuesday, June 18. “I’m proud of a long list of things that we've done, but one of the main things is that each record is a snapshot of the people we were at that time — sonically and lyrically and musically. When we would go into the studio in the past, there would be this voice in your head that you don’t want to alienate anyone or go too far out to left field. With the approach with 152 and just where we are in our lives, I feel like all of us were able to quiet that voice better this time around than before. This is who we are.”
The group started to write the songs for the album during the height of the pandemic. After continued lockdowns thwarted a few in-person songwriting sessions, the group finally got together about two years ago to begin working on the album in earnest.
“When we did get back together, there were some ideas we had started kicking around in 2021, but we were throwing things at the wall,” says Lazzara.
A call from DJ Steve Aoki would set the wheels in motion.
“[Aoki] was putting this record out that was all collaborations, and he reached out because they wanted me to do some [vocals],” says Lazzara. “Instead, I suggested he work with the whole band."
Aoki happened to have a show in Charlotte, and the Charlotte studio where TBS recorded its last album, Tidal Wave, was available.
"At that session, we met Tushar [Apte] who wound up producing 152," says Lazzara. "It was fascinating seeing how those guys work in that world. We’re used to recording as a rock band. You go in and mic up the drum kit and do the whole thing. That’s still how we recorded 152, but the speed and efficiency of how these guys work rocked our world. From that point forward, we realized what we were chasing and how we could get there.”
Album opener “Amphetamine Smiles," a Bowie-esque ballad that commences with acoustic guitars and tender vocals, showcases the album’s rich sonic textures from the get-go. The soaring strings turn the track into an evocative power ballad.
“Those are live strings on the song,” says Lazzara. “That song was originally a completely different thing. [Apte] pulled the rhythm section out for almost the first half of the song, and it was amazing. From there, we inserted synth-y sounds. The bulk of the lyrics came from [guitarist] John [Nolan]. When he first brought it to us, it was like a folky kind of tune. Then, our drummer wanted to speed it up to 200 bpm. We brought it down, down, down from there. It was one of the few songs on the record that was brought in and the bones and structure were pretty much realized.”
The album shifts musical gears with "Keep Going," an intense track that features accelerating synths and gang-style vocals.
“There’s one chorus where it’s all of us singing and one where it’s John [Nolan] and I and one where it’s John and Tushar [Apte] and I," says Lazzara when asked about the layered vocals. "It was all gang vocal style. I like the energy about it.”
A shimmering ballad with '80s undertones, “I Am the Only One Who Knows You" shows off Lazzara's powerful voice. The band drew inspiration for it from an unlikely source.
“It originally had a different chorus,” says Lazzara. “We recorded at a few different studios because we were doing the album in bursts. We could sit with certain decisions. We were at this one studio in Los Angles and trying to figure it out. We talked about how much we love ‘Sailing’ by Christopher Cross, and there’s this idea of slowing it down and changing the chords around, and once we did that, there was this ‘aha’ moment. We just added a bit more distortion to it.”
While 152 isn’t quite a year old, the TBS guys have already started thinking about the next studio release.
“On days off, we started going into the studio, and there is a lot of material there,” says Lazzara. “The plan for us — and we realize this now — is that you have to change with the times, like Bob Dylan said. We come from this mindset that it always has to be all analog. It’s so dumb. I see that there is another way and a middle ground with that other way, and it’s not only efficient way to work but some of the most fun I've ever had.”
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