A Time for Rebirth: Alt-Pop Duo more* Release “Another Change”
Alt-pop duo more* made up of duo Kane Ritchotte and Malcolm McRae, navigate life’s constant state of flux in their new single “Another Change” and their EP release Another Change. The latest release ushers in a new era, locking the duo into an insatiable and undeniable ultra-melodic groove that’s paired with glitchy beatcraft and glossy guitars. This dreamy backdrop underlines an acceptance of a need to“Start over with another change” before a confession on the chorus, “If you say I need this, then I need it.”
Another Change marks a time of transformations and rebirths in the duo’s lives – both personally and artistically. Both the track and the EP, showcase collaborative creativity and an openness to evolve as artists interlacing many genres and aesthetics with genuine desire to progress.
“It's not a mystery how that title appeared while writing that song,” McRae says. “It’s always the times where you’re in the midst of going through something that you want to write songs that are more general, because there’s a whole movement of confessional lyricism going on. But I miss the songs of the 60s and 70s that were super pre-packaged and capable of being mapped out on anybody.”
“We're always trying to think of ways to change up the process so that it will result in a different sound or a different aesthetic,” Ritchotte says. “It’s more exciting for us to look at the process while we’re recording and writing and to try to make tweaks here or there to change it up, and then count on the fact that it’ll result in a new sound.”
[UNPUBLISHED]: Thank you for sitting down and talking to Unpublished Magazine. Our readers would love to get to know you and your music more. Both of you come from very different artistic backgrounds. How did you know that you would be compatible?
[MALCOLM]: We didn't, that’s what was surprising – especially in Los Angeles. You have a lot of people telling you that you should meet this person or that person, and that was the case with the way our relationship started. We had a mutual friend who kept telling me that Kane had to play drums on my stuff and that we had to link. We met up and realized that our friend was right. A collaboration to create a collaboration; way better than what we were experiencing doing it alone at the time.
[KANE]: We agreed to meet up and try writing together pretty early on in our acquaintanceship. We had no idea what it was going to be for, and after that day, it wasn't clear that we would be a good combination, but it was a lot of fun, process-wise.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Congratulations on the release of your latest EP Another Change! I would love to learn more about the inspiration and the creative process behind it.
[MALCOLM]: We did our first two EPs with a guy named Tony Berg out of a studio called Sound City in Van Nuys, California. That's a pretty storied place; Nirvana recorded Nevermind there, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Weezer to name a few. We definitely had quite an experience doing our first recordings. For this EP, we started recording there, but we ended up in this little home studio in the valley, and so we wanted to see what it would be like to do it ourselves.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How has your experience been working with Tony Berg?
[KANE]: It's been great. We reached out to Tony very early on in our joining of forces and he has been really helpful in putting our first two EPs together and introducing us to our current manager. He even put us into a whole community of musicians that he's close with that have been very influential to us.
[MALCOLM]: He’s an incredible guy.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Is there an underlying story behind Another Change or a specific message you're trying to convey to your listeners?
[MALCOLM]: Nope, you never want to write the same song twice, or you end up getting close. Maybe you're still exploring what that is. On the first two EPs, we were figuring out how to write and now, on the last one, something just clicked. It's not something for the listener necessarily, but you can sense the progression. You don't know if it's better or worse, but it’s definitely easier.
[UNPUBLISHED]: If you could describe Another Change in three words, which would you choose and why?
[MALCOLM]: Nothing changed again.
[KANE]: I was going to say it’s another change. We ended up with that title because that was the name of the song that came out last on the EP. We had that title for a long time, even before the song was completely done. We realized that after we had written the rest of the songs, that was the overarching theme.
[MALCOLM]: Hm, or maybe, tectonic plates shifting. It was a very big shift for us.
[KANE]: Tectonic plates shifting is Malcolm’s final answer. My answer is it’s another change or it could be tectonic plates shifting (it’s another change).
[UNPUBLISHED]: I would love to touch on the final track “Another Change.” What was the inspiration behind that single?
[MALCOLM]: We were both going through periods of significant change. It's not a mystery how that title appeared while writing that song. At that time, I had just broken up with a long term girlfriend. Kane and I started this track together with a few chords hammered out, and then I went back home and wrote all the lyrics out. It’s always the times where you’re in the midst of going through something that you want to write songs that are more general, because there’s a whole movement of confessional lyricism going on. But I miss the songs of the 60s and 70s that were super pre-packaged and capable of being mapped out on anybody.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Have you guys taken any new approaches or experimented more sonically or lyrically with Another Change since your previous EP release?
[KANE]: We’re always trying to experiment, especially when we know that we're jumping into some sort of new cycle of music or a new batch of music. We're always trying to think of ways to change up the process so that it will result in a different sound or a different aesthetic. It’s more exciting for us to look at the process while we’re recording and writing and to try to make tweaks here or there to change it up, and then count on the fact that it’ll result in a new sound.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Do you guys have a favorite song from the EP that you love that stands out the most to you?
[KANE]: I don't know if I have a favorite song. Once we put a song out, I rarely listen to it ever again, and it's not because I don't want to. It's just that we work on the songs, we labor on them pretty relentlessly. By the time they're out we're just thinking about the next song or the most recently released song. Typically, my favorite song is the one we're writing so it's always changing.
[UNPUBLISHED]: In your opinion, where would be the perfect environment or place to listen to Another Change?
[KANE]: This is on brand with our cover, but I think it's good to listen on a long subway ride.
[MALCOLM]: That’s a good call. I see the listener sitting on a metro in some European city.
[UNPUBLISHED]: In terms of aesthetics, I saw that you guys largely produced just black and white imagery with Another Change. What was the creative choice or inspiration behind that?
[MALCOLM]: Returning to the 90s a lot of gaudy saturated colors were used. We said, “What’s the exact opposite?” We haven’t solved that though. Setting yourself parameters creatively is always helpful. It was all black and white, all one single space for all videos, and neither of our faces were shown.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How are you guys feeling in this current era of your career? What does the upcoming year look like for you guys?
[MALCOLM]: It's always nice being in writing mode because it really gets our creative juices flowing and that the reason why we started doing this in the first place. Next year, we're going to live in London for a few months and play some shows and meet some folks and that's really exciting because we gravitate towards bands from that area.
[KANE]: At the moment we're in this period of prepping and planning for next year. It’s hectic but it's also beautiful because we can be creative and write every day. We have a couple of months set aside for that but we have no idea what the next thing will be and it's exciting. We haven’t been back to square one since we first got together. Even with the latest EP, a lot of those songs were songs that we'd started writing while we were doing the first two EPs, so it felt like an extension of that process.
