28 Sept 21St–Sept 27th, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | music | cafe | film | culTuRe | NighT+Day | feaTuRe | NeWs | OPiNiON | feeDBacK | cONTeNTs | ultimately lead to a better result if you don’t let it destroy you.” Sprague was able to overcome some of those sentiments because, by her own admission, she had built that little family unit since the first record. “There was a lot more collaboration on this one,” she said. “Especially going into the beginning stages with Chuck, who lives in my house and has a studio, so he helps me a lot with just recording things, and he’s got really good ideas. And then Sebastien [Deramat], my guitar player who we met making the first record, was much more of a part of the process. So it was really cool to have more brains to bounce stuff off.” She also built another kind of commu- nity on the road via TikTok. Sprague regu- larly posts tiny vlogs while touring, highlighting the band’s daily routine and general adventures. “I try to think about it like it’s a silly little outlet,” she says of TikTok. “The music and the bands that I was a fan of when I was younger, and the ways that I learned how to promote your music, were a little more mysterious and a little more cryptic. Like, you’re curating what you’re sharing with the world versus just like vomiting on the phone every day. I definitely struggle with that, and I’m still trying to figure out what the balance is ‘cause I don’t want to overshare.” The collaborative process and online connection did more than just lend Sprague the confidence to write these deeply personal songs; it potentially helped her grow and experiment sonically. “I got pretty weird with the way I was starting songs,” Sprague says. “Instead of writing with a guitar, I was trying to learn how to make drum loops and play with synths and be a little more playful with it. A lot of the songs, I would say, are a good bit heavier. That just comes from finally having a band that I love playing with and wanting to, like, rock out much harder with them. There’s songs that are a little more stripped back and a little more electronic-based, and then there’s songs that are much heavier.” While the two records are quite distinct, they do share some thematic tentpoles and the like. That connection drives home the very journey that Sprague’s found herself on in recent years. “I didn’t really see it this way when I was making it, but now that like I’m listening back to it, it really does feel like a continuation of the first record or almost kind of a sequel in some parts of it,” said Sprague. “There’s a lot referencing to the first record and like callbacks to things that I talked about in the first record. The last song on the new record is pretty much a direct response to the first song on the last record. So there’s definitely a through line.” But for all the change and many adven- tures that Sprague has experienced in the last few years, the future will very much look the same. That starts with her very first headlining tour in the fall. “I’m very nervous and very excited,” Sprague says. “You know, there’s just no information about how that’s going to go. I have no reference point. It’s a big adven- ture. I’m excited about that.” From there, she says that the band are “hoping to tour just like as much as physi- cally possible next year.” Plus, she just may try and squeeze in writing and/or recording a third album during all that traveling. It’s still early on in the process, but Sprague already has some idea of how this latest record will take shape. It will be just as deep and personable as ever, but after all this talk of apocalypses and hell, Sprague may have learned to finally have a little more fun. “I think it might be like a middle point between the first two records,” she says. “I feel still really drawn to the sounds of the first record that I made and the texture of it. But I think continuing on the path of songwriting that I’m on now, but just adding a little bit more of a sense of humor and make it a little bit lighter.” Sydney Sprague will perform and sign copies of “somebody in hell loves you” at 2 p.m. on Saturday at Zia Records, 1302 S. Gilbert Road, Mesa. Call 480-668-3749 or visit ziarecords. com. Sydney Sprague performs at Innings Festival in February 2022. (Photo by Neil Schwartz) Sophomore Success from p 26
