Badge Epoch – ‘Galactic Whip’ from Scroll

I do U.S. Girls. Max [Turnbull] has Badge Epoch and Badge Èpoque Ensemble, but we do so many things together. I do all the artwork for all the Badge stuff. We kind of make one whole person. When we put our skills together, it's one superhuman. Making this U.S. Girls record, I allowed Max in slowly. On the record I made previously, Heavy Light, I shut Max out. I was like, ‘you're not coming to the studio, I'm recording this live with my people, I need to do this on my own.’ I made this stand that we can't do everything together and it shouldn't be just a given that we collaborate. I learned so much him not being there, but the big thing that I learned was that he has skills I need, just like I have skills he needs.

Max is the only other U.S. Girl that there is, if there's one. He's the other person I've let into the group. A lifelong member. We were collaborating 24/7, because we created life together. I was growing two babies in my body while Max was feeding me and doing all kinds of housework, and then we'd be working on music. It was a real full-on collab. This song – well, there's a ton of people on it. There are players that I've played with. I can hear them on it. But it’s as if they’re puppets that Max is directing or like a stage show Max put on, but he dressed them all in his style. It's incredible to hear his ability as a director, pulling the best performances out of people. He literally is a sound painter.