bedbug have released their fourth album ‘pack your bags, the sun is growing.
The album is the first recorded by the group as a full band in studio.
Speaking of the album, Dylan Gamez Citron: It was a pretty big learning process, but more than anything else, it’s a product of its influences. I set out to write an indie rock album in the vein of some of my favorite albums growing up, especially in regards to production and really push my songwriting!
To celebrate their album release, bedbug shared with us 5 tracks that influenced ‘pack your bags, the sun is growing’.
Modest Mouse – Talking Shit About A Pretty Sunset
This song was kind of the blueprint for ‘pack your bags…’ It’s a perfect song! The lyrics are beautiful, but to me the real treat is the composition. I love how it starts off as a mid-tempo acoustic-ish song, then takes a hard turn into Modest Mouse’s signature non-emo-but-still-twinkly guitar. One of the coolest sounding songs/riffs ever written. And when the strings come in? Transcendental! I demanded strings on the record because of this song.
Built To Spill – In The Morning
There’s for sure some overlap in how I feel about this song and how I feel about ‘Talking Shit About A Pretty Sunset’. To me, this is such a quintessential indie rock song. It’s prototypical. It’s lazy, effortless and cool as hell. And yet the songwriting is pretty interesting! There’s no real chorus until the ending, and it never repeats, which is one of my favourite songwriting tropes. I love when songs have non-traditional structures. Importantly, the guitar at the end comes out of nowhere and hits like a truck. It’s mixed twice as loud as everything else, and it’s awesome. The only genres today with wild, so-bad-it’s-good production decisions like that are Brazilian Phonk and Soundcloud Trap.
Algernon Cadwallader – Look Down
Algernon is known for sounding a lot like another huge influence, Cap’n Jazz, so this is kind of a two-birds-one-stone entry. I picked this song because it was a really direct inspiration for my favourite song on the new record, ‘leave your things, the stars are returning’. I love the interplay with the band in this song, and how the guitars meander. I also love the space it occupies, somewhere between screamy-emo and mid-tempo indie rock.
Broken Social Scene – KC Accidental
This one is easy – it has a perfect mix! The drums are compressed in such a satisfying way. The guitar is clean and crisp. There’s a ton of dynamics, which was really important to me. I’ve talked about this a few times, but I generally dislike flatter mixes, where all the instruments hit you like a muddy wall. Sure, it’s louder, but at what cost? This is one of the rare few that strikes that balance between powerful and dynamic, so perfectly.
Skirts – Always
This was another song where I felt like the mix influenced a lot of choices me and my engineer (Nick Dussault – Big Nice Studio) made. I know the term “lush” is overused, but it’s the most apt term I can think of for this mix. I know the two of us are huge fans of Skirts, and Great Big Wild Oak is such a beautifully mixed album. It feels both expansive and focused at the same time. It stands in stark contrast to the indie rock that was popular at the time of it’s recording, which seemed primarily influenced by 2000’s pop punk. I really think this record could be a blueprint for indie rock recording going forward!
Listen to bedbug top musical influences below:
Stream bedbug ‘pack your bags, the sun is growing’ via Spotify below: