Think About Life Are A Family

05/22/09 3:56pm

by Erik Leijon (CHARTattack)

Montreal trio Think About Life symbolically became a family during the making of their appropriately titled sophomore record, Family, which is due in stores on May 26.

"I think the name Family officially came to [drummer] Matt Shane in the shower," jokes keyboardist Graham Van Pelt.

"The name made sense, because we were way more collaborative this time — the three of us working at once in close quarters. We were a lot closer when we made this record.

"On the first record, we had just all met each other. And by the time this thing was finished, we had spent so much time together we had become this weird unit."

While Van Pelt worked with Shane and vocalist/beatmaker Martin Cesar in between jaunts with his other group, Miracle Fortress, Think About Life had been naturally evolving into more traditional party-oriented hip-hop production since the release of their self-titled debut three years ago. Family is rife with eclectic samples and chipmunk vocals on the refrains, and generally seems like a hodgepodge of musical influences ranging from old-school rap to indie pop.

"The first record had mostly Casio beats and we had kind of moved from that after a couple of years," says Van Pelt. "Martin or I started bringing a weird batch of samples and loops and then we would start figuring out how to play it live and how to add our own stuff to it."

Utilizing samples for the first time on a record posed a potentially thorny copyright issue, as the group struggled to find the original artist who recorded the extended vocal sample used on "Havin' My Baby." It took some sleuthing, but the group preferred to delay the album's release by a couple of months instead of risking a potential lawsuit.

Although their self-titled debut was lauded for being inspired by their respective childhoods, Family's effervescence and hyperactivity was less calculated. The group drew less on waxing nostalgic about their youths and went about writing without a specific plan, which resulted in a fragmented album based on a couple of years of studio experimentation.

"It was a chaotic process without a firm idea or plan at any moment," says Van Pelt.

You can see Think About Life here:

May 22 Toronto, ON @ Polish Combatants Hall w/Tune-Yards and Bayonets (Over The Top Festival)
May 23 Ottawa, ON @ Babylon w/Tune-Yards
May 28 Montreal, QC @ Theatre Plaza w/Tune-Yards
July 16 Saint-Hyacinthe, QC @ Le Zaricot w/Royaume Des Morts
July 17 Quebec, QC @ Le Cercle w/Khiasma
July 18 Sherbrooke, QC @ Le Telephone Rouge
July 19 Laval, QC @ Maison Des Arts w/The Carps