I’ve heard Relayted is a good bedroom record
From the beginning I’ve had folks saying "we’re going to get pregnant to this shit". There’s a lot of that stuff going on. The album is definitely inspired by my sexual ordeals, but I don’t think it was an actual point of "yeah, we’re going to make some shit to fuck to". If my experiences go and inspire other people’s experiences, then that’s awesome.
The bedroom record has gone out of fashion
It can backfire, like the yawning to put your arm around a girl technique or something. It’s like a cinematically dorky thing to try to pull off. But if that inspires people and they can pull it off without it being hokey, and if people need a new fuck jams album I’m totally down to be part of that.
Bon Iver can’t go around selling sex
I think there’s a nice extra feature that we’ve made a record about sex. We didn’t set out to make an indie rock album in terms of genre at all. I definitely liked the fact that the sex totally works thematically with the album. I know some folks at Jagjaguwar were concerned about the fact that we aren’t like a folky politically correct act – Bon Iver can’t go round selling sex, it’d make no fucking sense, but with Gayngs we really can.
I know a lot of the musicians in Gayngs loved that this is a sexy record
They got to do a load of the things they wouldn’t normally get to do, like playing arpeggios, they can’t normally do in their bands, so they’re freed up to what they want. They got to try shit, and it’s just fun, and that comes across.
I love the woodsfolk on my album
They’re all good boys. They might have beards, but they’re not cramping my style. Most of them are married, but the guys that aren’t are pretty hilarious with their ladies. I probably shouldn’t go into that shit.
The symbol on the cover or Relayted perfectly sums it up
It’s a combination of a marijuana leaf and a vagina, yeah. It’s entirely what the album’s about. It’s about fucking girls, and fucking girls. The artist came up with 20 ideas of symbols with different back stories, and that one was instantly obviously the one. Weed is a good ingredient for sex, though some people freak out on it and some fall asleep.
Tension and release, pushing buttons, that’s what makes good sex music
It especially works with electronic music, music that just goes on forever, that has that pulse. That’s the zone for me. Relayted was made at 69 BPM, but Deadmau5 is more appropriate – the 69 is a working man’s position, you have to focus on two things at once, totally multitask. James Blake, too, he’s blowing my mind. I wanted him to play in Gayngs actually, but I have yet to contact him, I don’t know how to do that kind of shit. They way he blends melodies and hard stuff is just so gorgeously done, it’s so well manipulated, really good tension and release, it’s really pushing every button I have right now. Or I’d like some of that new Sade, for sure.
Abbey Road needs a bedroom edit
I’ve enjoyed the Beatles’ Abbey Road before, that’s a fuckin’ bangin’ fuck album… but then ‘Maxwell’s Silver Hammer’ comes on, or ‘Octopus’s Garden’ and you’re like, dear God, way to fuckin’ destroy a situation entirely. I’ve had to run at the stereo and kick it in the face because of ‘Octopus’s Garden’. Everything else is on that album is perfect for it. ‘Come Together’? Fuck yeah, it’s onnnn…
Our double vinyl album is not conducive to the bedroom
Maybe you could get four record players set up. We had to do it to fit 55 minutes of music onto a record, and keep the sound quality. I don’t have a record player for some fucked up reason, so I’d never experience that.
Nor would I try and finger anyone while listening to my own album
It’d probably be a turn off. I don’t think I’d do that. There might be a situation where I’d play it for somebody and we’d start making out, but I don’t think so. Has that happened? No, I think I’d change the music, I know every nuance of it, and it’d be distracting rather than a workout for me.
I’ve yet to reap the benefits of this situation
I’ve been in relationships for 12 years and I’m trying to avoid that right now. I’m hoping to move to Berlin next year… or maybe when we’re touring in England.
I need to put these things to use
I’ve been stuck in a New York basement for too long, and in this town I fall in love every fucking five minutes.
