Crying
After some reflection, I genuinely feel that Crying made one of the greatest records of 2016. As previously depicted & discussed in various Impose articles (Week in Pop, photo features, interviews, etc) & magazines & culture websites everywhere, Crying had the formulas & blueprints from the get-go with Get Olde/Second Wind and would ultimately channel their chiptune electro-power pop into the Run For Cover masterpiece that is Beyond the Fleeting Gales. This is the sound of a group transformed, as the trio casts all cisgender & normative roles to the wind, reclaiming autonomy with expressive affirmations as those previously heard Game Boy synths are upgraded to a sound & sentiment you have waited years to experience.
The Purchase by NYC trio of Elaiza Santos, Ryan Galloway & Nick Corbo take their SUNY Purchase infinite friendship pop to the max in ways you knew the trio always could but needed the time & means to do so. And BTFG deliveries & hits your ears with everything that three can hurdle at you in terms of illuminated & lit up notes. “Premonitory Dream” soars like an invigorated few flying against the flocks of the sky as joyous rebels, met with fall sounds of fondness & sentimentality chrystalized in pure pop bliss as heard on the mesmerizing near perfect execution of “Wool in the Wash”. The previously heard single “Patriot” is a perfect example of the middle ground glue that bridges Crying’s beginnings with their unstoppable & dazzling progressions, as “Origin” keeps all this in mind while rising to ecstatic heights, to experimenting with the wild arrangement & awe-striking “Well and Spring”. Crying let’s the wild winds blow with an absolutely unrestrained (yet somehow firmly in clever control) on “A Sudden Gust”, to Elaiza’s spoken word bars & energetic chorus bursts on “There Was a Door” (a single released on National Coming Out Day), where the momentum only continues to build like on one of your dad’s Journey records with “Revive”, to the beautiful balladry on Crying’s anthem “Children of the Wind”, right before you are brought to the big bright firework show of “The Curve” that will absolutely overtake your senses before leaving you stunned. Crying has proved themselves to be something of a fullfilmment of prophecy from the DIY old school days of The Pastels to being on a whole other level where genuine feeling, passions & emotion are found on every heard note, instrument & Elaiza’s earnest & on-spot deliveries. Crying’s Elaiza & Ryan took the time to catch up with us while on tour in our interview featured after the following listen to Beyond the Fleeting Gales:
Beyond the Fleeting Gales is the most dazzling & ultra high def production to come from Crying yet. Describe what the jump was like from the much-beloved EPs Get Olde / Second Wind to making your big debut album.
Ryan: Hello! In terms of production, I think we grew up a little. The first EP was really just thrown together in a basement. The second one was an small improvement over that one. We were still learning a lot. I had never been in a live band before and as a result, was only just learning about amps and guitar tone and how to sound good. We used all of our free time figuring out what we thought sounded good and what we wanted to take inspiration from. On this one, we tried to embrace the sounds thought to be classic.
Ryan from Crying playing at Union Pool; photographed by Edwina Hay.
How did you all go about upgrading the Game Boy MIDI synths as featured on the previous EPs?
Ryan: When writing this album, I was originally using a Game Boy. At some point, I realized I wasn’t getting the bass sound that I heard in my head. Why restrict ourselves to a specific instrumentation? I went and bought a bunch of software synthesizers and used them as well as some samples to make the non-live sounds. Before Crying and LSDJ, I was making songs using piano roll my whole life, so it kind of felt like a return to form.
While there hasn’t been any new Crying material over the past few years, the three of you have been busy with the new album along with tours with Laura Stevenson, Somos, Modern Baseball etc. We want to hear all about some of your favorite recording memories while making Beyond the Fleeing Gales & any cool tour stories that you all feel like sharing.
Ryan: On this specific tour, I made a t-shirt design that went viral. It mashes up three different influences in almost a grotesque way. Not visually, but mentally? It prompted us to put together a webstore since the shirt became more popular than any piece of music we’ve released. Another good memory or actually bad memory was when we recorded all of the guitars in the studio and then decided that the guitar was intimated too poorly to put on the album. I ended up having to rerecord all the distorted parts in my parents’ house over the course of a few months. Wild and frustrating, but now I can record guitars!
Crying at Union Pool; photographed by Edwina Hay.
What is a normal brainstorming/sketching/rehearsal/practice sesh like these days for Crying?
Elaiza: Practice is rare. It barely happens! Or it mostly happens right before we need to be ready for a tour. The process of making a song involves a volley of ideas, usually starting with a simple synth and guitar skeleton from Ryan. Sometimes it’s more complete for me to fill out with lyrics and vocal melodies. Other times, we work on a song piece by piece, over e-mail because we live in different places. Lots of slow cooking.
Crying playing Union Pool; photographed by Edwina Hay.
You all were one of the early groups to put east coast DIY imprints like Double Double Whammy on the map. What are all your friends from the DDW scene and surrounding up to these days?
Ryan: We actually have no idea what everyone is doing! Everyone that’s still active is probably touring.
Elaiza from Crying singing at Union Pool; photographed by Edwina Hay.
What are the three of you listening to, watching a lot of reading obsessively, etc right now?
Elaiza: Our friend Peter Schranz made a podcast called Flight of The Fifty Fancies, in which he interviews himself as different characters. We’ve listened to “Jackal” so much that we can recite lines. It’s brilliant!
Ryan: This new band called Bulldada and this semi-new band called Work of Art. I’ll second Elaiza’s Triple F answer. I’ve been reading sci-fi lately/for the first time because I didn’t realize how much I loved it until recently. Currently reading Mort(e) by Robert Pepino. Excellent pacing!
Elaiza from Crying playing Union Pool; photographed by Edwina Hay.
Winter/2017 survival tips?
Elaiza: It’s easy to withdraw in the winter/in general. Find power in solitude, but also recognize the value of collective healing. Don’t let negative feelings fester. Talk about it! Holiday time whips up a lot of imaginary nostalgia and it’s so easy to feel left out or feel like you are missing something. Create new traditions, even ones that you share with just yourself, like making your way through an entire book series or learning a new skill. If your support system is bad at giving advice/is prone to also going through a bummer time, just make each other laugh. It’s so much easier and probably more effective!
