The band’s debut album Gorilla Manor (2009) was famously named after the sharehouse in which the guys first kicked about and cut their musical teeth, and after it was released by FrenchKiss in the States, the group was compared to the likes of Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend. New album Hummingbird (released in January) still bats these forces around but there’s a growth there which invites listeners to engage with a healing process, proffered with full but not frenetic choruses and haunting, lilting background vocals. And, necessarily I guess, it all happens in the most weirdly democratic way.
“Especially when we’re writing, we all just kind of play whatever we’re inspired to work with at that moment,” Hahn explains over the phone from LA. “There’s songs that I play drums on, and Kelcey plays guitar, or bass. We just switch often. It’s fun… you can’t have an ego about it, you know. We all just try to contribute what we can.” To make sure a particular message isn’t diluted, they try to ensure fidelity to the original lyrical idea: “We try to keep [lyrics] as personal and from one perspective as possible. We always bounce ideas off each other and if there’s something that’s not clear, or if something is like, kind of cringe-inducing, then we pick it up and iron it out that way. But oftentimes it is from just one person’s perspective.”
First single Breakers was released in late 2012, and features this fantastic trilling guitar which makes you think of marimbas but played on clams, and rising and falling vocals in the background like a bunch of whales. Hahn’s description of the band’s approach to singles and their own ways of listening seems at odds with the single-serving Spotify way, but it obviously hasn’t hurt them any. “It’s a weird thing selecting singles or whatever, for a band like us,” he says. “I guess we’re not really into that game. I think we’re just more concerned with making an album as a whole, just because that’s the way we tend to listen to music. We just want a collection of songs that we’re really proud of – and if a few can be played on the radio, then, cool.”
Other stand-outs on Hummingbird include Heavy Feet, which features a very tom-heavy drum pattern, and as you listen through it becomes apparent that distinctive drums and especially auxiliary percussion (like handclaps) are a giant component of Local Natives’ sound. A tom or snare on all four beats of a bar, followed by total breaks in percussion while guitar or harmonies burst through unaccompanied, is part of that ‘Afro’ style which the boys have also been linked to. “Matt’s our drummer but I love playing drums,” Hahn says. “When we write songs we’ll demo them out before we bring them to the other guys, a lot of the time. For me, for my songs at least, I like showing my drum ideas when I show the guys. I feel that’s just like the nature of our band, and being multi-instrumentalists.”
One of the tracks Hahn penned is Black Balloons, which he describes as one of the “angrier” on the release. It’s a beautifully written lament with a driving hi-hat pattern, and the airy and slightly unusual harmonies typical of the band singing, ‘Black balloons form/into a poison cloud’. It’s immediate but not rushed. “That one kind of came from a place of frustration, maybe with a person in my life,” says Hahn slowly. “A person that I just found to be – ” and he laughs before continuing, “ – pretty loathsome. Just interacting with this person. When I was just toying around with the song, and toying around with the melody, those lyrics came to me really quick.” Unfortunately he can’t say exactly what kind of keyboard is playing the deep fuzz notes that go with the bass’ minor thirds in the wicked second half of the song, and that’s because Aaron Dessner is the Grand Poobah of fantastic gear and you couldn’t possibly recall every little thing the guy fired up during recording.
The tale of how Local Natives landed Dessner as producer for Hummingbird is one Hahn seems to enjoy telling, and you can hear the awe in that sweet surfer voice as if it had just happened yesterday. “We were already writing quite a bit [for the album], and then we got this call from a booking agent, that The National was asking us to go on tour for a bit,” he says. “They were just one of those bands that I think we just couldn’t say no to. We went out and we had an awesome time; Aaron really went out of his way to welcome us. And we kind of just became buds.” Dessner put it out there that he’d like to work with the guys on their album, and they of course gladly accepted. “In a lot of ways, he definitely became like this older brother-type figure that we could be honest with. In the studio, we could be really up front about ideas. It was just a really good working relationship,” he says.
About that keyboard: “Honestly, I wish I could answer you, but we had so many keyboards! Aaron … had vintage keyboards and awesome organs and stuff, and certain things we hadn’t even considered. So we had the song, we had instrumentation, and then it was like okay, let’s plug a few of these in and see what happens if we layer a few of these.”
Considering the group was so tight and that they’d made Gorilla Manor happen almost entirely on their own, Hahn reckons that they were initially “sceptical” about bringing anyone else in. “Our first record we really basically did in a garage, and then this time we got to go to Montreal to a full professional studio and [also at] Aaron’s place, he had some really quality gear. And it felt like in some ways we’d become professional musicians,” he laughs, and adds, “…a few years after the fact.
“It felt like Aaron was just more personally invested [than other producers they’d considered]; it just felt like much more of a personal thing,” he says. “And sometimes it’s good to have an outsider maybe tell us when we’re going too far into our own heads. It’s good, to sometimes have that outside voice.”
To kick off the Hummingbird launch, Local Natives got a coveted spot to play in-store at Amoeba Music, in Hollywood. “It’s like one of the last remaining awesome, awesome record stores,” Hahn says warmly. “It’s pretty massive; there’s one in LA and there’s one in San Francisco. They have bands play on this tiny stage and then people basically stand in the aisle next to all the records and CDs and stuff. It’s just a really cool thing that they do and I’ve seen some really cool bands play there.” Some of the really cool bands that have played there recently include the Milk Carton Kids, Cold War Kids and Yo La Tengo.
When they get to us, though, you won’t have to stand next to CD racks but can bask under the stars and stony statue gazes of the Forum Theatre. It’s going to be super interesting to see how the boys decide to present their tunes live, when they don’t necessarily stick to one instrument each while recording: will they be leaping around, swapping things, picking things up, putting things down? “Yeah we’re trying to, as we speak, figure out how to play some of the songs live,” chuckles Hahn. “There is a kind of trading off. Last time [in Australia] we played Laneway and it was the first time playing in Australia period. It was honestly – I guess it sounds like I’m just pandering to you – but it was just such a fun tour. And I think we’re really stoked to come back and play Australia again.”
BY ZOË RADAS
