Sylvan Esso, My Favorite Band
Amelia and Nick on their new single "Hot Slob," and a decade of soundtracking my life.
For kids, friendship forms instantly over the tiniest things in common. You both like pepperoni pizza. Or pink. Boom, best friends. Easy. As I got older, taste in music became that magnet. And when I met someone else who loved Sylvan Esso, we were instant friends.
My life has been punctuated by Sylvan’s music. I was 18 years old, scooping ice cream at Amy’s Ice Creams in Austin, TX, when my best friend (and, technically, my boss) Lou sent me a link to “Coffee”. I did something rare — I bought the full album on iTunes, sight unseen. (Sound unheard?)
It ended up being my first “no-skip album,” and it was worth every scoop of Mexican Vanilla I served. Lou and I saw them at Emo’s in 2015. I distinctly remember Amelia ending the show with, “That’s it! We’re all out of songs, dudes!”
Around that time, I met Ryan, a potential roommate for freshman year. He had the CD in his Honda the day we met — looking back, that sealed the deal. We’ve been best friends for over a decade.
When Ryan and I interned in NYC in the summer of 2017, we scored day-of tickets to see Sylvan in Prospect Park right after work. We met up, our work totes tucked between our feet at the show. As “Radio” played, I remember thinking, “can life really be like this?”
I got to tell Amelia and Nick these sweet anecdotes; they listened so kindly. This shoot was a dream. They’re a dream. Their new single, “Hot Slob,” out yesterday, is a dream too — video here.
Can you tell me about the new single “Hot Slob”?
Nick: We’ve been saying the phrase “hot slob” for, like, a decade.
Amelia: It means you’re a fucking weirdo. You’re trying to scrabble your little life together and figure out how to be a person as the world melts around us. And it’s about rage and joy.
That’s what I love about “PARAD(w/m)E.” It’s about the world ending, but it’s so happy. How do you blend those two things?
Amelia: It’s so easy, because it’s exactly what’s happening all the time. If we’re going to write a song, we usually have to figure out how to talk about the nature of existence and the nature of being alive right now — trying to find the joy you can while also acknowledging everything’s on fire. The general, actual chaos of the whole wide world.
Nick: Every moment has a very specific cognitive dissonance. For us, it’s always been about one more holistic thing. If we made stuff that was just “everything’s great,” or conversely “here’s the pain of the world in your hand,” something would feel dishonest. We kind of have to have both.
How do you want people to listen to “Hot Slob”?
Amelia: Really, really loud. While they’re leaving a party or going to a party. Or when they’re really mad. Or when they’re really sad.
Nick: Leaving a party in tears.
Amelia: Weeping at the grocery store. I feel like we all know that moment.
Nick: Hard crying. Listen to it on the train.
What do you think about music that doesn’t really have much to say?
Amelia: There’s a time and a place for everything. I love a song that’s just about “I’m going out tonight and I’m feeling myself.” I’m really into that.
Nick: But there’s so much music that might not be saying anything explicitly, and the artist is still coming from a certain place. It allows you to fill in your own emotional experience. Even with techno — one person could hear it and think it doesn’t have anything to say, and another person could be like, this defines my entire life.
Tell me about when you first started the band. When was the moment it felt like, oh, this is going to work?
Amelia: When I first got Nick’s email with the beat he made for “Hey Mami.”
Where were you?
Amelia: In Red Hook, in my apartment. I’d written that that week, I think. You responded really fast.
Nick: Yeah. I’d made “Play It Right” before that, but we weren’t talking about being in a band yet. Technically it was a remix when I made it. But “Hey Mami” was totally the one where I was like, oh — what if maybe there’s more?
What’s your favorite song you’ve ever written?
Amelia: My favorite song we’ve ever written is “Numb,” on Free Love.
Nick: “Uncatena” on the first one, “Rewind” on the second, “Make It Easy” on Free Love. I love the ballads — “Coming Back to You,” another ballad. And a new one, “Plastic Sword.” It’s the closer. When you were talking about “PARAD(w/m)E,” I was thinking that “Plastic Sword” is kind of the flip side of the “Parade” coin.
How was making the “PARAD(w/m)E” video? I watched the video again on the way here.
Amelia: It was in rural New Mexico. We found an abandoned building and made it a gas station. It was so fun.
Nick: We cast all the dancers out of Albuquerque. All locals.
Amelia: And we shot it in winter, so we were very, very cold.
How do you all feel about photo shoots?
Amelia: I love photo shoots.
Nick: This has been very easy, but I don’t love them.
Amelia: I like them. I think they’re fun.
Nick: I don’t hate them. I just feel like I want to be good at them.
I’m a photographer, but I haven’t really had many photos taken of me. I did a shoot recently to launch the column, and I didn’t think about how much trust people have to have in me.
Nick: Oh yeah. It’s a lot.
Amelia: It’s very intimate.
That’s why I started this column — the interview and the photo blending together. You learn so much about somebody, even in a five-second shoot, when you’re telling them how to stand or move.
I’m going to the Lily Allen show tonight.
Nick: Yesterday I was talking about a TV show and described someone in it as “the bad guy from the last Lily Allen record.” I love how the album is her saying exactly what happened.
Amelia: It feels like Vulnicura.
Nick: Yeah — Björk. That one is just her being really, really heartbroken.
Amelia: I’ve been thinking I’m going to give up on rhyming. Fuck rhyming.
Developed and scanned in partnership with Nice Film Club
One Hour Photo Creative Production: Carly Kane
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