Going into this project, I was inspired mainly by two sources – Tame Impala, and then a synth company called Make Noise. The Tame Impala influence was because he’s an artist that Dominic and I both love – it’s a shared reference point for us and making that a primary influence made it easier to agree on the sound of our songs, and what we thought worked and didn’t. I’m not sure what specifically draws Dominic to Tame Impala, but for me, it’s his production – it’s immaculate, to me at least. The bass tones are deep, but cut through the mix. The drums pump, but also manage to be punchy at the same time. Kevin Parker (of Tame Impala) finds a way to meet in the middle production-wise in an extremely satisfying way, and it really hits my bliss point when it comes to listening to music. So in the spirit of the contrasts he creates, it’s fitting that the next influence be Make Noise.

Make Noise is a modular synth company that specializes in products designed with experimentation in mind. Whereas Tame Impala’s sound is immaculate and calculated, Make Noise products are, to my ears, built on randomness. the sounds you can get out of their instruments are not calculated, when I use them I tend to get different, unexpected results each time. I thought that this contrast would be interesting to explore production-wise, but also when it came to song structure. “Taking Time” starts with guitar as the central feature, but quickly moves into a more electronic passage. Like how I turned to contrasts to influence myself, they also appear in the music Dominic and I crafted.

Gus