The other day I came in to the kitchenette at the Tiny Mix Tapes offices to grab myself a little snack. While there I noticed ditzy cutiepies Sam Haar and Zach Steinman, the two guys from Blondes, painting the walls a really nice shade of puce. This in and of itself isn’t actually too weird. We pretty regularly let artists come in and perform tasks for us here at TMT in return for more positive coverage (hate the game, not the players!). What was weird, however, was the fact that the guys were both wearing two winter coats at once! In the middle of summer! Out of politeness I let that drop for a minute and asked them instead about their new record.
Haar spoke up first, and I was surprised to see that he had somehow covered his entire face in a thin layer of paint, the silly guy! He said, “Well, the record’s called Swisher, and we’re pretty happy with it. It’s out on August 6 from RVNG Intl. as a limited-edition double LP and CD. We actually totally re-hauled our setup and went into a new studio space before working on it, and it turned out a lot more expansive than the self-titled record (TMT Review). We tried to draw more from German synth sounds of the 70s while sticking with a really percussive backbone.” He also used the phrase “mini-epics” to describe the flow of songs on the record, but before I could ask him what that even really means, Steinman, in turning around to join in on the conversation accidentally fell off his ladder.
After Haar and I helped him, Steinman contributed his two cents. “Sam actually totally forgot to mention that the digital release of the album just came out, you can buy the files from the RVNG site right now! You can also listen to the whole record on YouTube backed with visuals by Greg Zifcak if you’re one of those smarties who knows how to work the internet.” He might have hit his head a little too hard though, because he totally forgot to mention that they’re also touring in Europe this summer. No worries, bros, I’ve got your back!
After all this talk I finally felt comfortable asking the guys what I was really most curious about. I said, “Dudes, why are you both wearing two winter coats? It’s the summer!” They looked at each other for a second, then Haar brought one of the paint cans over to me and pointed to a spot on the label that read, “For best results, apply two coats.”
Swisher tracklist:
01. Aeon
02. Bora Bora
03. Andrew
04. Poland
05. Clasp
06. Swisher
07. Rei
08. Wire
09. Elise
Dates:
08.02.13 - Katowice, Poland - OFF Festival
08.03.13 - Olganitz, Germany - Nachtdigital
08.09.13 - Barcelona, Spain - Razzmatazz
08.16.13 - Berlin, Germany - Panoramabar
08.17.13 - Bergen, Norway - Ostre
08.22.13 - Edinburgh, UK - Sneaky Petes
08.23.13 - Bristol, UK - Start the Bus
08.24.13 - Manchester, UK - Soup Kitchen
08.25.13 - London, UK - Bussey Building
09.01.13 - Stradbally, Ireland - Electric Picnic Festival
• Blondes: http://blondeblondeblondes.tumblr.com
• RVNG Intl.: http://igetrvng.com
More about: Blondes
