How big is too big?
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TV Heart Attack is not an ’80s band. Frontman and principal songwriter Jason Corbett even bristles a little when he talks about his bands being compared to revivalists like The Killers.
Sure, he’ll cop to liking David Bowie, but so would 90 per cent of people in bands these days. Admittedly, when you listen to Lost in the Sway, the new EP from TV Heart Attack, you’ll hear bass-heavy hooks, synth accents and emotional vocal delivery that are usually ’80s signposts, but there is something that sets this Vancouver band apart from the music of two decades ago — the sheer size of its sound.
When you crack out your vintage vinyl, you’ll hear stripped-down arrangements, hyper-compressed production and impossibly wet drums. None of that finds its way onto Lost in the Sway, and that is by conscious design.
“In the studio it was like, how do we exploit the hooks?” says Corbett. “Let’s put in a gang vocal here, so it’s more call-and-response.... How do we make this chorus bigger? How do we make this verse more atmospheric? How do we make this intro more exciting? Where should the keyboards come in? Where is the percussion coming in and coming out? That’s where we experimented. We put baritone guitars on there, drop-tuned guitars, regular-tuned guitars, four guitars here, six different amps there, three different tracks of bass. It was so we could get the tones you want and have it thick.”
With an arsenal of instruments in the studio, the result is undeniably massive. There are layers upon layers of sound, massive gang vocals, epic builds and huge choruses — and that’s just on the lead single, “AO.” The other five songs on the album are just as impressive, and that’s because the band has no interest in letting time, money or indie status get in the way of its ambition. And while ambition is a good thing, it does pose a question — how much is too much?
“For me, this record was bordering on too big,” says Corbett. He’s ecstatic with how good the album sounds, but admits he has no interest in simply banging out barre chords to achieve that. “I just love when you can hear the two guitars, left and right, and there is an atmosphere going on in the interplay between the two.”
That texture isn’t lost on the album. “Mean What You Say” rises and falls with wonderful dynamic range, while “Here and Now” shimmers with atmospherics. The sound is full, but it never sacrifices the intimacy of Corbett’s songwriting.
“That’s as far as I’d want to go with production,” he says. “When a band comes out with a sophomore album and they come out with a horn section and a choir and keyboards and pianos and grand pianos, it’s like, that’s enough. I want to hear an album.”
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