Sophie Allison makes music under the name Soccer Mommy. Her debut album came out in 2018, when she was 20 years old, and the New York Times named it one of the best albums of the year. Her second album, Color Theory, comes out this week, and it includes this song, “Circle the Drain.” In this episode, she takes “Circle the Drain” apart and explains how it was influenced by songs from her childhood.

You can buy or stream “Circle the Drain” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
“Torn” – Natalie Imbruglia
“Soak Up The Sun” – Sheryl Crow
Gabe Wax – producer
Hologram Infinite Jets guitar pedal

Dan Snaith has been making Caribou records since 2001. He won Canada’s Polaris music prize in 2007, and this month, he’s releasing the seventh Caribou album, Suddenly.

In this episode, Dan breaks down the song “Home.” He talks about how he managed to get past several moments of creative uncertainty to figure out the final track.

You can buy or stream “Home” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
“Home” – Gloria Barnes
Kieren Hebden aka Four Tet
Igor – Tyler, the Creator
Colin Fisher – saxophone

When Laetitia Tamko started making the second Vagabon album, she really wanted to produce the entire thing on her own. It would be a new sound, and producing was still a relatively new skill to her, but she wanted to tackle it head on, and do it all herself. On this song, though, “Water Me Down,” Laetitia actually has a co-producer, Eric Littmann. It’s the one exception to her otherwise entirely self-produced album. In this episode, she breaks down how she and Eric made the song, and why it was worth making that exception.

You can buy or stream “Water Me Down” here.

For a transcript of this episode, click here.

Illustration by Carlos Lerma.

footnotes
Korg MS-20 synth
Korg Minilogue synth