San Jose’s Funny Face gets sorta serious
Despite sounding very much like a live band, the album was recorded in true COVID-era fashion: piecemeal over the internet. Songs began with scratch (temporary) guitar and bass tracks recorded on a laptop in Szyndrowski and Petty’s dining room. From there, they went to a drummer in LA, the rhythm man for Strokes guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. and indie-pop group the Drums. Then, songs came back to Szyndrowski and Petty, who went about drenching them in fuzzy guitars, thick slabs of bass and layers upon layers of atmospherics.
“I think we got 40 tracks on one song, just doubling guitars,” Szyndrowski says.
Finally, everything was sent to San Jose’s District Studios for mixing, giving the whole project a significant jump in fidelity and sheen. While the project passed through many hands, Szyndrowski says the bulk of the album’s sound comes from its mixing.
“I would attribute a lot of that to Ryan at District,” Szyndrowski says.
Bits of San Jose appear all throughout Dog in Hell, from the “East Hills” to the “98 Civic” seen zooming down 880 and 87. Explosive opener “Seventeen,” meanwhile, features plenty of things that would be familiar to any teenager in America.
“Reckless rebellion, going outside, not giving a fuck, hating school—it’s the culmination of what we all went through when we were seventeen.”
Booking Contact: Atomsyn@gmail.com
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