The Sees Interview
Brooklyn-based band, The Sees, recently unveiled an album named Conversations With My Future Self. Offering a mesmerizing blend of captivating instrumental breakdowns, standout guitar riffs, and a rich tapestry of sonic textures, the album delves into the intricate nuances of time, global reflection, oneness, and even ventures into the romantic concept of time travel.
We got to chat with the band about their artistry, new record and upcoming plans.
- Can you please start by telling us the story behind The Sees?
I wish I could say the band together with some level of 17th century romanticism but alas I cannot. That being said, The Sees came together in the fall of 2022 after Alex (bass), Tim (drums) and I jammed together in a rehearsal space in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The vibe was positive, and I immediately felt a musical connection. As someone who has put together/played in numerous bands over the years, I knew we had something that could work.
Alex and I have been friends for over a decade, and he has supported all my musical endeavors, yet we never played music together. He spent prior years living in London touring with bands and immersing himself into the music lifestyle. Tim and I have been friends the past few years and he also spent a previous life drumming in bands.
I had a backlog of material I wanted to work through with a project and became immediately inspired following our session to write fresh songs. The band was born.
- Tell us more about your latest record Conversations With My Future Self. What inspired the name and the themes explored?
Conversations With My Future Self is an album that negotiates the realities we all experience going through life; loss, love, sadness, happiness, how quickly time has been moving since the world drastically changed in March 2020 due to COVID.
The name comes from a lifelong fascination of time travel; what exactly happened in our pasts, how accurate are our memories or are they a fabrication of truths? If given the opportunity to have a conversation with yourself in 20 years, what would you talk about? Who is that person? How has their life been? I always ruminate on these things, and it seeped into an overall album arc.
- In what ways do you think the album's themes of hope, love, and the future resonate with the challenges of the present day?
It is quite easy to lose hope and look at the future as bleak and sad especially during these trying past few years. For me I found strength and love living in Brooklyn during COVID because I felt a new level vibrancy in a city that was rocked hardest since street. The community banded together when it was safe to finally head outside and the level of appreciation doing the simplest of things was invigorating. When things were tough, I looked to my guitar to help process and wrote some of the songs (Voices, Turn the Lights Out) that appear on the record.
- What's your creative process like as a band? Do you all work together from A to Z or each member has a specialty when it comes to making music?
The creative process comes in different way but mostly I will have a riff, chord progression or a melody that I record on my iPhone and bring to the band in rehearsals to see how it feels. We will workshop different ideas and I will use them to finalize the songs. At times there are songs that are pretty much complete upon bringing to the band and others where the song needs work. I love the process of arranging and producing the material and luckily work with amazing bandmates that enjoy the work as well.
- Are there any particular moments or challenges that stand out during the production of this album?
When producing “End of Scene” after we tracked the drums, guitars, and bass, I felt the song needed a little oomph to it. It is already a very heavy sounding song but why not make it even more heavy!
I had this idea burning in my brain to add some dark synthesizer sounds when introducing the 2nd section of the song after the vocals end before the segway into the bass part. I am obsessed with 80s horror films, especially the soundtracks composed by Tangerine Dream and John Carpenter. “The Thing” is one of my favorite films and had the idea of adding a simple note that is a handoff to Alex’s bass line. We all immediately loved it, so I decided to add the synthesizers to the introduction of the song.
- You had an album release party in New York a few days ago, how did it go?
It was a huge success. We sold out the room, shared the stage with some great bands, played an excellent set of music and got to see/ meet our incredible fans, friends, and family. What better way to release your music.
- With the release of this album, what are The Sees' plans for the future? Any upcoming projects or goals you are excited about?
We are finalizing our touring schedule for 2024 as I am typing this which is exciting. Playing live is the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and cannot wait to announce our tour schedule. We have studio time planned at the end of January to record a couple cover songs which I cannot wait to unveil. I am already knee deep working on new material so hopefully sometime in the summer or fall we can begin work on the next record.
Keep up to date on all things with The Sees on their social media accounts!
