02 - Almost Human

Website: thenewup.com
Genre:    ElectroRock

The New Up’s Tiny Mirrors came to life in three distinctly charmed spaces: a self-built studio in the group’s “band house” in San Francisco, an intimate Marin home surrounded by redwoods, and a secluded barn in a seaside Mendocino town. Equally the result of an exacting, metamorphic songwriting process, Tiny Mirrors reveals itself as a gorgeous paradox: a collection of songs that give a bracing glimpse at the state of the world but still feel fiercely intimate; an album that’s supremely life-affirming despite all its apocalyptic overtones.

Politically charged yet intensely introspective, raw in emotion yet cinematic in scope, Tiny Mirrors explores the notion of overcoming disconnection by “looking at our own reflection first and seeing more than just tiny, disjointed fragments,” according to Pitcher. With its buzzing synths and serpentine riffs, indelible melodies and sprawling arrangements, Tiny Mirrors also marks The New Up’s first collaboration with an outside producer: Jack Frost, a DJ and longtime musical cohort whom the band credits with encouraging their move into more electronically crafted terrain. Throughout the album, Pitcher’s sultry vocals cut through that richly layered sound to capture endless dimensions of feeling. On “Future Is Now,” the song’s hazy soundscape and graceful melody meet with an unnerving narrative about “people not being willing to stick with what they know is right when everyone else is trying to influence them otherwise,” as Reid explains. Stark yet shimmering, “Black Swan” gives a boldly detailed portrait of loneliness. And on “Almost Human,” with its snarling guitar tones and jagged beats, The New Up deliver a powerful meditation on the longing for connection. 

Forming soon after Reid and Pitcher serendipitously met in the parking lot of a music festival, The New Up have turned out three self-released EPs (Gold, Better Off, Broken Machine) and one full-length (Palace of Industrial Hope). When it came time to start working on Tiny Mirrors, the band decided to launch an Indiegogo campaign to obtain the gear needed to create their own recording studio, which was essential to realizing their creative vision. After surpassing their crowdfunding goal, The New Up used those funds to construct the studio at their home, the “Pleasure Pad” (which included converting a closet into an isolation booth and executing some innovative microphone placement), as well as to transform the aforementioned barn in Gualala, California, into a state-of-the-art recording facility and finish up the producing and mixing process at engineer Sean Beresford’s redwood-ensconced home in Woodacre, California.

That renewed sense of purpose brought its share of daunting moments to the making of Tiny Mirrors. What’s more, the band endured many personal shakeups in the last year and a half of working on the album, including the death of several friends and the birth of Pitcher and Reid’s daughter. “Having these heavy and contrasting experiences really allowed us to go deeper into the process of this album—to make music that’s a little more meaningful in a world that can sometimes feel very surfaced or superficial,” says Pitcher. But as a result of their determined perseverance, The New Up ultimately gave life to an album that wholly embodies their mission as a band. “It touches on what it truly means to be human,” says Reid. “And that’s the most important aspect of everything we’re going for with this band: embracing the absolute truth and living with it and really making the most of it, no matter how painful or ugly—or beautiful—it might be.”