BY: Claire Borgelt

Psymon Spine is a Brooklyn-based five piece group who has perfected a unique blend of psych pop, dance and post-punk. Their most recent album, Head Body Connector, eschews tradition and temporality, highlighting the hypnotic energy of their live performances. We caught up with the band in Austin shortly after the album's release to chat about their creative processes, influences and collaborative spirit. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

So, you all come from very different musical backgrounds. How would you describe where you're coming from when you approach this project? And how do you go about balancing everyone's different influences?

Noah: Our goal is to make pretty accessible music, I think. Because we all like a lot of really weird music, and because we'd like a lot of really different weird music, we end up naturally in a kind of in-between place. When we come together, we all just want to write things that feel good. It just happens naturally.

Are there any other artists who inspire your approach?

Sarah: I think about Joni Mitchell a lot. She's someone that writes from the heart, and just does it out of necessity, almost. You know, sometimes when I journal or write a song, I'm doing it in the heat of a moment of emotion. I think that that kind of energy can be applied to Psymon Spine even though Joni Mitchell's not really someone we sound like.

Zeb: I will say, It's hilarious when we're writing songs that we'll have the most disparate list of references ever. A lot of these guys are DJs, as well. They're really good at curating sounds from a lot of different spaces in the music scene. This is my first time writing with them so it's cool to see that process from the ground up.

Noah: A big thing with us is that our live shows get really intense and cathartic. Long term sustainability for our mental and physical health is a really important thing. I think artists that have been doing what they do for a really long time without getting so swept up that they lose themselves are really inspiring. I mean, we got to play with Hot Chip, who we love, a couple years ago and a lot of them are in their 50s. They're just locked in and have good relationships with each other, but they do a lot of other projects outside of their band. For me, that's definitely a touchstone.

How would you describe your typical writing process? Is that something that starts collaboratively? Or do you come to the table with your own ideas and kind of fill them out as a group?

Zeb: With this album that just came out, there were a bunch of demos that were put in place already. Everybody kind of brought in their own skeleton of a song and then dissected and took it apart to build it out. I think it's great to see that people can be so inspired by each other's ideas. I mean we just did a writing retreat a week ago. We would just jam out for a while and do something weird. That was really fun, too. I think a big direction has just been what we can do live and in the moment. I mean, it's about how our performance dictates or impacts our writing, as opposed to how the writing impacts the performance. 

Peter: I mean, actually, because of the South By we went to two years ago, we've taken on more of a live-oriented writing process. We kind of stripped down our set to make it more easy to play in DIY setups. We started writing more for the band's instrumentation instead of individually on our laptops. 

Yeah! I know you've mentioned that you put Head Body Connector together with the idea of making it sound like a live performance. What did you do in the recording process to bring that sound to it?

Brother Michael: We have the blessing and the curse of being a band that has studio knowledge. For Charismatic Megafauna we used a lot of non-human layers that kind of filled it out in a way that fit the songs. This time around, the live show was kind of like our bread and butter. That's kind of where we thrive – not needing to rely heavily on backing tracks and just kind of having it be more organic. I mean it's still quite synthesized and processed, but it is all human. It's Zeb drumming, it's us yelling, it's a lot less concocted.

Noah: Yeah, like Michael was saying, when we did Charismatic Megafauna, it was really production centric. We were coming in as producers and figuring out the live sound later. It was perfect for what it was. We're glad that we did it. But it required having samplers on stage. At one point we tried a laptop and we had synths and stuff. But like Peter said, last year at South By especially, it was such a distraction There were so many things that could go wrong. And we ended up kind of in our head. It felt like we were like trying to do cover versions of our own set! This time we wrote with the creative restrictions of two guitars, two synths, one bass and drums. We limited our overdubbing so that it would be more natural cathartic and relaxing to perform live.

I also know that this album marks the induction of two new members! What was it like to expand the way you went about your live performances and time in the studio? For you, Sarah and Zeb, what's it been like coming into this project?

Noah: I mean, Sarah and Zeb just make this f*cking band. Michael and I met when I was 15 and Peter and I met when I was 18, but it feels like these two have been in the band the entire time. It's really hard to imagine it before them. Zeb is a musical genius. He brings stability and humor to the band. He's really, really smart and funny. Sarah's incredibly talented and they're so connected to their emotions. They're so charismatic. It really comes out in their vocal performance. We're super, super, super lucky.

Sarah: The coolest thing about being in this band is that at the end of my first practice, everyone said, ‘okay, love you. Bye!' I was like, ‘oh! Oh, I love you too!' I felt instantly loved and welcomed. Listening to these guys talk about the writing process, they're right. It is so democratic. That extends to the band and the tour in general. I've always felt really supported. Like, my voice was important. 

Zeb: Well, I have a degree in jazz music, which was probably the biggest mistake of my life. But, um, I used to play in little sh*tty bars and restaurants. Peter called me, and was like, ‘do you want to play drums for our album release show again?' It was like, post-2020. It was just so much fun to play music in a completely different context. I just kind of shifted my priorities musically. I just love how granular this band gets and it really changed the way I think about writing and performing. Just to hang is pretty good as well.

Peter: Zeb's a jazz drummer, so he despises playing to a metronome. That's part of why I've been pushing to keep the set without a backing track. He won't be limited by machines and I respect that about him.

Noah: Something that's kind of cute to talk about is that we were fans of Zeb and Sarah's music before they were even in the band. They've both got incredible solo projects that you should check out. I know it made me feel pretty cool and popular when you guys wanted to be in our band.

Last question – what's everyone's favorite track to play live? 

Noah: My favorite is “Be the Worm.”

Sarah: “Bored of Guitar.”

Zeb: It changes! Right now, “A Day is a Long Time.” 

Brother Michael: I think I agree with Sarah. “Bored of Guitar.” 

Peter: Might be “Bored of Guitar” at the moment. It's fun rippin' with you guys. 

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