The indie synth movement is littered with keyboardist creating sounds that people from the days of yore swore would be the soundtrack of the future. The ethereal, earnest, and existential sound of synth combined with introspective lyrics are what separates Brooklyn’s The Britanys from the masses in this movement.
Their work in the musical, and video side of the creative process have garnered them high praise from pubs like NME, and Rolling Stone MX, and tour spots with Foster the People, Hinds, and Public Access TV.
We recently caught up with the band to talk about their latest mixtape 1-833-IDK-HTBA, human existence, and their wild music videos.
Your new mixtape, 1-833-IDK-HTBA, dropped on October 5. How do you feel this differs from your 2017 release, Five a Side.
In every way. Five a Side was recorded live using no technology, not even a metronome — the seeds to what is now a rooting plant that knows which direction to grow.
What are some of the themes you guys tackle on this record?
A lot of these songs were written in times stuck in a dark mental state. It was the writing of these songs that we found A loss of self and a finding of self. Overall, the main thing we kept in mind, was the line between technology and nature and where is humanities place in all of it.
In the same vein, how do you feel you as a band has evolved from that first release in regards to being songwriters, and as performers?
No more than before, I believe we have a great sense of who we are, what we want and where we want to go.
You developed a pretty unique idea to promote your single ‘Yer Out of Control’ – developing an interactive game for people watching the video to play. It’s a ton of fun. Talk about you guys came up with this idea. And who did you turn to to develop this game?
Again, places for humanity in a cyberspace. The first three songs had a capsule, safe places in cyberspace away from casino algorithms cookies and ads. The song always reminded me of driving at high speeds, or would be best listened to while going fast. The original idea was a multi-player racing game with a scoreboard, but we had to work within our limited funds. An old friend from high school, Kevin Wong, has been developing games since I knew him. He was kind enough to do the almost he could within our budget.
What do you love about being in this band?
I’m an only child, I always wanted brothers, the band are my brothers.
What are you most excited about for in the remainder of 2018, or upcoming in 2019?
We’re doing a once a month residency in Bushwick called “The We Are Human Experience.” This show has seen the full mixtape is coming to fruition and it feels like the beginning of the next chapter. The goal is to take the we are human experience on tour in 2019. I still don’t know exactly what it is, but the feeling is there and that’s exciting.
