A decade ago, Bay Area musician Greg Andresen asked his brother Tim if he was interested in playing on some songs he had been messing around with at home that had a bit of an odd bass configuration, using it like a traditional six-string guitar. Curiosity piqued, Tim was onboard, and Greater Sirens was born, developing as a new wave/post-punk inspired hybrid.
Ten years in, and with the recruitment in that time of bassist Matt Whitbred, guitarist Steve Taylor and keyboardist Bobby Savre, the band is prepping the release of their full-length LP, Unnatural Causes, due out later this year. “The First Big Number” was the lead single, which came out this past spring.
Next week, that’s followed up with “Growing Thin,” which can be heard below ahead of it’s release. The song is a bit of a quirky sounding track at first, but quickly burrows deep into the brain with a staccato lead, begging for repeated listens.
“‘Growing Thin’ is about aging and falling apart, physically and mentally,” Greg Andresen tells Vanyaland. “It’s about avoiding inevitable change and wanting to hold on to familiar things that were never really there. Whereas most of our songs cycle through a series of ‘parts,’ this was the first one we wrote that’s based around one repeating chord progression.”
Another part of the appeal might be the sounds that can’t quite be pinpointed, but are somewhat familiar. That’s because it was created with some unconventional instruments.
“It has more space than a lot of our other songs,” Andresen says, “But we also experimented with a few sound effects including synthesized static, and a screwdriver pressed against bicycle spokes.”
Next Saturday (July 29) Greater Sirens will celebrate the single’s release with a show at Make Out Room in San Francisco.
Featured Greater Sirens photo courtesy of Public Display PR.
