Colum
Nick: My great friend Stephanie Tyburski helped me write this song. It was my first attempt to use a lot of new gear I had acquired, and took a long time to get off the ground for that reason. I wanted it to sound like it was choking for the first half, and then it ‘breathes out’ in relief as the drum switch from filtered to open.

Art: This one was challenging but rewarding for me. Nick started the track before we met, so I was reluctant to suggest anything revolutionary. We worked carefully to strip out notes to give the song a minimalist tension. The ending worked out to be quite haunting.

Autobarn
Nick: This was the first song we wrote, and launched from Art’s bass part. I was nervous when I contributed my parts (lyrics and guitar), and the song always reminds me of that a little. My old friend Kevin Herlin lent his voice to the song, because my voice, when we tried it, just didn’t have the nervous energy we wanted.

Art: Fun to make. I had no idea my home demo, meant only to test button-pushing on a new drum machine I borrowed, could have inspired this. Though the form remained identical, we turned it into a song and brought the piece to another level.

Duet
Nick: It’s probably the most experimental song on The Spire. I wanted to see if we could build a track around a single guitar hook looping throughout the song. The central bass chord is, I hope, jarring but just under control – the only real break in this hypnotic guitar line.

Art: This music is meant to be played LOUD.

Dead Calm
Nick: Lots of this track was recorded at Wellspring Sound, Acton, Mass – the acoustic, and the vocals for example. It’s actually a very old track at root though. The underlying guitar part was the basis for a song called ‘Feeling Worried’ which I wrote with my old band mate Matt Sheather around ’96. The song has been completely overhauled except for that guitar part, so it has gone from furiously racing all the way through to a really ‘builder,’ which moves from calm to angry, gradually over time.

Art: First one we started working on. It formed itself gradually over months, and I remember it was very satisfying to finish. Certainly one of our more varied pieces.

Coming Past Song
Nick: This seems like a very sad song now I listen to it after it’s all done (particularly the mournful trumpet part, played by my friend Josh Olivier Mason), but it wasn’t really meant to be depressing initially. It was about finding the best part of long past memories, and feeling – enjoying – the poignancy of those great, beautiful moments.

Art: Story similar to Autobarn. Tried to bring a lot of nuance to this track. Hope you enjoy it again and again.