Surfer Girl shares a glimpse into the creative process behind the “Midnight” album
Daily Reggae caught up with Surfer Girl’s Carter Reeves to learn about the creative process behind the amazing new album, “Midnight”.
What does Midnight mean to you and are you creating more at midnight or in the morning with coffee and guitar in hand?
Midnight is the 4th and final chapter of Surfer Girl's first day. Sunrise, Noon, Sunset and now Midnight. This title also gave us the freedom to dive deeper into a darker, sleeker, moodier space opposed to just the sun-soaked, feel good, bright bangers of the previous few albums. Admittedly, my brain works in a bunch of random ways. I tend to sit down in my studio from normal 9-5 hours in order to show up, and open up space for inspiration to strike. With that said, I do often find my best ideas coming to me later at night, maybe after a spliff, or as I'm floating between being asleep and awake.
How did you approach songwriting on this album and what is a cool way a song came together?
The songwriting process on this album was the same as any other, with one big exception: Jack Pavlina. Jack plays guitar for Surfer Girl, but is also an incredible artist, writer + producer in his own rite. Some songs I had nearly to completion, but needed a little extra help getting it past the finish line, some songs we came up with 50/50 from scratch, and other songs I followed his lead. Jack reignited a love for writing and soul in music, that I had maybe lost a little sight of over the years. Not only did Jack step in, but Bobby Krak and Sam Callahan, who play drums and bass in Surfer Girl, also contributed spectacular creative direction, and played their instruments all over the record. This is truly one of the most collaborative projects I've ever been apart of.
I'd say Winter In New England was one of my favorites coming together. I was at home in New England over the holidays. Dark, dreary, snowy, and cold. I wanted to write something wet, psychedelic, surfy, but cold and dark. Enter: WINE pt. 1. Once I had it all mapped out and nearly finished, I knew it needed to GO somewhere. It was sorta like -- cool idea, but whats the point? Where's it going? Enter: WINE pt. 2. Jack and I were jamming on the chords, and decided to do a crazy tempo change. Jack started messing around on the bass, and boom. We landed on the second part of Winter In New England, which is sort of that moment of winter becoming spring, becoming summer. The sun comes out, the lilacs start to grow. It's time for the sunshine.
You’ve got a lot of amazing collabs on the LP. Any fun studio or collab stories you can share?
Oh man, each one has it's own little story or spin. Jack Pavlina's feature on the album came very very naturally. We were writing it together, and when it came time for a second verse I was like "go write something bro, you're hopping on this one." The rest is history. Dylan Cotrone's feature came after a few months of touring together and falling in love with his sound, his style and the powerful performances he puts on. Easy Tiger has a bit more of a beach rock, southern twang thing going on with it, so I knew Dylan would be the perfect fit. With Wiz, I wrote and produced "Smoked Out" with him in mind, years ago. I jokingly sent it to the label to see if they could get it in front of him, and much to my surprise: they did. Fast forward two years and it's officially my favorite single on the album.
