Listening to song exploder, where musicians take apart their songs and piece by piece tell the story of how they were made. My name is chase. Airway song explorer is sponsored by Dave's killer, bread actually Lovedays killer bread, but they gave me a script reads appeared as attention choppers. We now have taste in the bread I'll Dave's can bread. That's right! An organic bread, that's no longer sedative for your taste, buds, Dave's killer. Bread is on a mission to make the most of the loaf to rid the world of Gmos, high fructose, corn syrup and artificial ingredients and plant the seeds of good and all the vague killer, taste killer, texture, always organic Dave's killer, bread, bread amplified so

exploiter is brought to you by progressive. Have you tried the name, your price tool, yet it works just the way it sounds. You tell progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance and I'll show you coverage options that fit your budget. It's easy to start a quote and you'll be able to find Wait that works for you is just one of the many ways you can save with progressive get your quote today, a progressive dot com and see why four out of five new auto customers recommend progressive, progressive casualty, insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law. This episode has some explicit language. What are you listening to the shins? You know this one's, not change your life. I swear. That's Natalie Portman and Zach Braff in the movie garden state, which came out in two thousand and four and this song, the song she says, will change your life is new slang by the shins. songwriter and producer. James Mercer wrote it when he was living in Albuquerque New Mexico

It came out as a single and then he re recorded it for the shins debut album. Oh inverted world, which came out twenty years ago in two thousand one after garden, state came out that album went gold and the soundtrack to the movie. A Grammy nowadays James Mercer lives in Portland. I spoke to him from his home studio tell me how the shins actually first started as a recording project, a side project while he was in another band, called flake music. and then this episode James breaks down new slang and looks back at how song rating as early Recording skills came together to make this iconic song. The mind

image, James Mercer. I can, I guess, eighty nine I moved here from the UK. hey my dad was stationed at a aria base over there. I just moved back to the states at eighteen and just by default, went to you in em, and I met this guy Neil Langford Neil and I were listening to the same sort of music. So Neil and I decided to start our own band, the weird fuzz pedals and it was loud and it kind of had some relationship with the Grunge vibe of the early nineties, so that was flake Inflate music because another band was called flake. I was introducing certain songs that I had written to the band and it was aesthetically different. You know It was just different enough that the guys weren't that into it, I could just sense it

I started to realize I think maybe I should really learn how to record maybe get some equipment, and I can just kind of put these things together. So ninety six really is. When I came up with the idea the shins I asked. Jesse are drummer in flake to join me and the early Shin stuff was upbeat and kind of noisy, the very first stuff I put out that I self released. It's pretty rock and roll and groggy. I guess I say and I dont know where I got the gun. tion to do sort of a folk song. I just kind of got

people into recording and then the songwriting started to change. I was experimenting with the acoustic, a tar and I think it about ninety eight when I happened across this chord progression that I really liked. So I just created this, both set of cords and a melody for it, the EU I remember showing it to Jesse standing in the kitchen at sixteen twenty Silver Street in Albuquerque

I didn't have lyrics, though, so I was just scouting for him, but he was cool. He liked it and it gave me some confidence in the song, but I didn't know what to do: so it kind of floated around for more than a year with me just being frustrated. But I had gone and bought a Hewlett Packard, really not a super powerful computer. And then a buddy of mine gave me a copy of a program called cool edit pro and I started messing with it and it was just so fun. There were just many things you could do and basically I had an sm, fifty seven sure microphone. It was the most expensive, nicest microphone I could afford at the at Simon starting this up. So on the demo the phone and fidelity is sort of predicated on that

when you notice you die on Panama in the owner of Subpod. He in a love the demo and in put out the demo as a single on sub pop. But when I was recording the record, he just felt that if you could get something that would give it more clarity, you know he was pushing for that and I was hesitant to attempt it I didn't get much feedback from the singles release, but one thing didn't know was that the girl

was around town tat. He would come up and talk, being tell me like that's just a great song, and I was like oh now, you're talking to me so John. Since I d of re recording it combined with the fact that I was getting this new attention from people in our key aegis they liking song. I just felt man. I should put whatever efforts I can into this. You know and just get. It is well recorded, as I can accomplish here at my tiny micro studio and my little studio apartment. You know so I too soon microphone microphones from the US fifty seven to erode Anti one. You see fidelity on the guitar. I think I was really just experimenting, figuring it out as I went along, but I recorded just the first bear vocal for this town,

calling my mouth only. I don't know how good do. But send doubling the vocal is a no brainer I always soon. As I figured out. I could do that as great. Let's do that, every song girl T send occurs when his town- awesome only I don't know how dear it's sort of a song about the frustration that one feels when they don't have their finger on exactly what they are aiming for everything in my life was uncertain. At the time ending in your late twenties. You can hardly take, Psychedelics anymore, because there's this stress on you now you can feel thirty coming where supposed opposed to have your shit straight, trying to come of age and not succeeding and

it's partly just addressing some omnipresent social culture that I was immersed in. all my friends. All the people who were in other bands there's a line in the song that says Godspeed all the bakers at dawn. May they all cut their thumbs. and bleed into their buns until they melt away that was based on this, imagined rivalry that I had with this woman Amy Linton much better songwriter than me, who's, also from Albuquerque she started. A band called stress there was super here. It was just so cool. You know. Great songs and cool sounds They were cooler than us.

I dunno like She- gave me hope, but at the same time I was like God damnit onto that too. You know Amy was just a big inspiration and There was also this sort of angst that I had about that and she was a baker. So I kind of My mind thought that's at least honest for me to use that phrase, we are the big as it down the architect. I pleaded I had a keyboard something you buy. Maybe for the kids, you flip a switch. and we've got all kinds of sound effects. So there was a kick drum on. There sounded way better than anything I could engineer with near and and a real kick. It really did so It's me on a keyboard in a tambourine,

Dave Hernandez who put together that baseline and performed it on the demo. He had moved to Portland and so I had to sit down and learn his baseline and performance and record it there were harmonic moments in his perform. that I loved and I just couldn't get It lose the base during certain parts of the song. So what I did my solution was used. The cheesy bass sound on the keyboard, ooh and tuck it in with it hmm did you go in the car As I am thoroughly this sort of lonely pining vibe into the song,

It seemed like that was the moment where you need to give some vulnerability. jobs and to use and dance. I, the king, the ices and the rest of our lives It was a difficult Saunders saying I mean I hadn't put that much work into my vocals before that there's just a lot of learning when you start recording, you're, just really putting the magnifying glass on all of these. arts and your own playing your own ability. In a for me, it was little bit embarrassing. You know and just daunting. But what it was was just my recording skills developed enough and you know you get a chance to look in the mirror a little bit when you listen to the song back, and so I think it facilitates the creative process.

To be able to sort of examine your work instead of just sitting and writing you know you can throw it down, and then I think you get a little. we're adventurous. All the time this song? You know it has a bit of a there's, some texture to it that feels western. So it's an inspired. My lips, I just didn't, have a would block and I probably thought it's kind of cute and I'm doing it with my mouth here. it sounds pretty cool when you record it, add a little you q passes you know and then why created the guitar solo. It starts with a little like a guitar trick that I had learned like the Euro, or so I started there and oh I'll, walk around the house whistling all the time, and even

like hearing a song on the radio. I have a tendency to fill the gaps between the vote, goals with some sort of little line. You know you should they there really cheesy idea I used to do it all the time whistling or humming, so I it's. in built and Sudan it's me just kind of filling the gap. In the in the EU so the tambourine the final hit and what it was. I took the last one and you open up a whole new sort of interface for cool edit pro,

and then you can start manipulating it, you know you can shift it up. You can speed it up. It's really cool. I mean I miss it. This aspect of that program, I think, recording for me. You know it. it's become something you get better at like an instrument You know. Adding the sound effects and stuff is integral to the quality of the song of this song. Looking back on this song and its origins and the time of my life that spawn it. That is a particular moment in my life, where This song was expressing The unique I hope is and in my life, because I was just totally miserable about so many things that were going on. I was driving

do something somewhere else. I wanted to quit my job. My relationship wasn't quite with it Kovan, and I had regrets about that and it's just Iris just I needed something new and that's I'm begging for it. Song, my dear. it's interesting to look back and think about those times and just how things have changed I think a lot of bands have that one song that stands out and it becomes a bit of a thing. You know. Thank you just that band who did that. song or whatever, and that may be the case. with us, but it doesn't change affection for the song and my understanding of its importance in my life

the. And now here's new slang by the shins in its entirety, the

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the. To learn more visit, song, exploder, dot, Dotnet you'll, find links to I or stream new slang and you can watch the music video thanks d the space for sponsoring the show scarce bases in all in one platform that lets you build a beautiful website for your business or your art or you banned. If you want to sell stuff, they ve got a commerce templates. If you want to make a blog may give you buttons see your audience can share your posts on social media and you can have multiple contributors seeking work on your site together, checkout square space, dot com for a free trial. When you re the launch go to square space dot com, slash explode her to save ten percent off your first purchase of a website or domain,

only explorer is sponsored by borrow a new kind of furniture company. Everything they make is designed to make life easier. The furniture is easy to assemble the fabric, sustain resistant, the shelter to install and the delivery is free right now you can get me five dollars off your first order at borrow dot com, slash song exploiter; that's borough, be U R, R, o w dot com, slash song exploiter for seventy five dollars off borrowed dotcom, Slash saw exploder. This episode was made by me with editing help from Teeny Lieberson and Casey deal artwork by Carlos Lerma and music clearance by Kathleen Smith Song explorer is a proud member of Radio Tokyo from PR acts and network of independent listener, supported artist, own pike, you can learn more about our shows at Radio Tokyo, DOT Fm You can follow me on Twitter and Instagram at Rishi. Here way.

And you can follow the show at song exploder. You can also get a song exploder t shirt at song, exploder, dot, net, slash shirt, I'm Rishi case your way. Thanks for listening, radio. There's a brand new show joining radio Tokyo called or products every week, hist brains, Leah, right, rigour and Kelly Carter. Jackson are gonna dive deep into the cultural significance of the upper when Free Show- and you may know, Kelly Card Jackson because she's the host of another radio Toby a show this day an esoteric political history on over damage. The two friends Gonna talk about why Oprah matters to culture and how open made so much of the culture from diets to book club to celebrity interviews to make overs and our spin offs. If you love Oprah

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