New York-based Triathalon haven’t slowed down since releasing their debut studio album Lo-Tide in 2014. Their fourth full-length album Spin, which was just released on August 19 through Lex Records, is a chilled out record full of densely packed production and arrangements inspired by Frank Ocean, drum & bass, Alex G, and ’90s jungle music.

Check out Culture Flux’s recent Q & A with the trio about the new album Spin and preparation for the band’s upcoming North American tour. 

Since the writing for Spin started in 2018, how much did the songs change stylistically over the course of several years? 

The songs changed more sonically than they did stylistically. Our demos started humbly, existing as bedroom recordings and informal ideas jammed out at our studio space. We started the final tracking and even initial mixing process, we sought to truly recreate the feeling of the demos, but found that the process difficult.

We had become comfortable with the demos and grew to enjoy their casual style. This is what sparked us to explore live recording methods, guided by engineer Lucas Carpenter, using vintage instruments and mics. This direction elevated the songs, adding life and warmth.

We took a break after tracking the album, due to the pandemic, allowing us time to individually explore new sounds and personal musical interests. Following up felt refreshing, motivating us to explore more as a group and processing songs with heavy effects, in a psychedelic manner. Track changes and additions even took place, with new ideas continuing to fall into place. In the end we were lucky enough to collaborate with Gabe Wax, who mixed the album, and Zero, who mastered the album.

Working with both added a professional and fresh touch, leaving the album with even more punch and impact. We typically get things released fairly quickly, but looking back, it has been very rewarding having slowed down, to let songs naturally find their finish.

Spin discusses a lot of emotional, internal feelings. Since they were written before the pandemic, do you have a new perspective on the tracks now? 

Looking back at Spin’s lyrics now, there is an appreciation and validation for feelings that in the moment felt very vulnerable, like a burden. 

Did moving the band to New York have a big impact on the Spin’s sound?

New York didn’t specifically have an impact on the overall album sound. The city created challenges in our workflow at first, but throughout the last few years we have been able to establish more roots and connect with friends. Spin’s sound was influenced more by our life experiences and getting older, regardless of where we lived. Our time together touring with and meeting other artists has greatly influenced our direction since moving, more than just the city itself.

It’s rare to hear about a band recording an album live in this day and age. How much rehearsing was done before recording the album live? Did you rehearse more than usual?

Over the years Triathalon has become more of a collaborative producing project, rather than a regularly rehearsing band. We slowly built the demos for Spin, spending carefree time together at our studio, recording and tweaking everyone’s ideas, mostly on the computer, but not necessarily rehearsing everything at first.

At the end of  2019, before tracking the album, we did practice quite a bit – especially focusing time getting the drums and bass glued together. Specific songs like, “Die,” were performed completely live as a group, with mics everywhere. Another song, “Good Morning” began with just a simple one take recording of vocals and guitar. However, a lot of the album began with drum and  bass takes performed live together to ¼ inch tape, creating an active and warm feeling base to build off of.   

Triathalon have released several music videos in the last few months. What is the process of creating them like? Does the band come up with the initial concepts?

We were really fortunate to reconnect with Peter B. Samuels who had worked with us in the past. Peter’s vision and easy going work ethic allowed us to take a more simple approach when figuring out concepts for this album’s vision. Luckily Peter had a lot of connections for different locations, inspiring the group as what we could film. Instead of creating massive narratives for each video, we decided to focus more on the natural landscapes that exist within each space, in a very subtle and laid back way.  

The songs released so far this year have a lot of lush arrangements and production elements. Has it been a challenge to translate them into a live setting?

As challenging as it can be sometimes, bringing new material into a live setting is a process we enjoy very much. We are always working to be as true in our performance to what we produced, while allowing space for spontaneity and interpretation. Every stage, room and audience is different and we don’t expect to recreate a studio production every night. But that doesn’t mean we won’t bring a couple extra samplers to try and get as close as we can.

North American Tour Dates

August 24—Brighton Music Hall—Boston, MA
August 25—PhilaMOCA—Philadelphia, PA
August 26—DC9—Washington, DC
August 27—Aisle 5—Atlanta, GA
August 28—Dog Days Presents—Savannah, GA
August 30—One Eyed Jacks—New Orleans, LA
August 31—Last Concert Cafe—Houston, TX
September 1—Club Dada—Dallas, TX
September 2—Parish—Austin, TX
September 3—Paper Tiger—San Antonio, TX
September 4—LowBrow Palace—El Paso, TX
September 7—Valley Bar—Phoenix, AZ
September 8—Constellation Room—Santa Ana, CA
September 9—Teregram Ballroom—Los Angeles, CA
September 10—Soho Music Club—Santa Barbara, CA
September 11—New Parish—Oakland, CA
September 12—Harlows—Sacramento, CA
September 14—Doug Fir—Portland, OR
September 15—Madame Lou’s—Seattle, WA
September 16—Wild Buffalo—Bellingham, WA
September 17—Wise Hall—Vancouver, BC
September 21—Turf Club—Minneapolis, MN
September 22—Empty Bottle—Chicago, IL
September 23—Blind Pig—Ann Arbor, MI
September 24—The Drake—Toronto, ON
September 25—Bar Le Ritz—Montreal, QC
September 28—Brooklyn Made—Brooklyn, NY