Lunar Vacation

Photo by Hudson Mcneese

Yeah, I’m getting older.

I’ve come upon this moment of space and it’s like sitting on the floor with my knees pulled in. It always feels like morning. It’s kind of cold here and I can’t find reassurance. I look outside and I see the same thing across the way. The blinds are split like a gap in my teeth and I can see another cold soul mouthing the words of a song. It’s about kicking yourself for not appreciating this space you’re in. There’s a verse about how you thought this is what you were waiting for but once you got there you found that it meant starting over. And the hook is about clenching your teeth at the fact that you’re so much younger than everyone and asking yourself what right do you have to feel old in a land of deserted oceans and exploding quasars and Joy Division. And the bridge is clouded with walls you can’t see o’er. But all the while the chorus is going along. I can’t make the lyrics but I’d like to think it’s about harmony. The blinds drop and close their gap, and the door opens across the way. I see the cold soul with jangling keys and visible breath. I fancy a walk myself. As I’m putting my father’s jacket on and stepping out to greet my neighbor I see that we’re not alone. The block is full of cold souls with jangling keys and visible breath and knees pulled in and tacky dinnerware and nicotine and dead house plants and bad haircuts and pit-bulls and infinite jest. We’re all headed down the block and down that block is a way that takes you far the fuck away from the slow cold and the doubt. I ask one of the souls warming up next to me where we’re headed. And they respond with some smart ass remark like:

“I think we’re all in need of a vacation.“

So fly me to the moon. Drop me on the sun through a pez dispenser. Buy me a one way ticket to Kearny, Nebraska. It don’t matter anyhow. Just make sure it goes fast and has heat.

And Lunar Vacation is:

Grace Repasky: Guitar/Vocals

Maggie Geeslin: Guitar

Matteo De Lurgio: Keys

Ben Wulkan: Bass

Connor Dowd: Drums

Photo by Violet Teegardin

***********************************************

How does time and space affect an album? That is to say-how does the moment in which you’re creating an album and the setting that you’re occupying affect the creation of the music?

Maggie: I feel like, for this album, both time and space did a lot. We made it in July of 2020. Everyone was in lockdown mode so physically it felt very limited and the environment of the whole world confined us to sit down and make something. And the studio itself was pretty small too-Big Trouble in Atlanta. It almost squeezed us to get things out. Would you agree Grace?

Grace: I think so. Also compared to our past recordings, the two EP’s were recorded in small houses or a really stinky room and that’s not really ideal. I mean, it kind of is but it wasn’t really ideal in the momo.

Maggie: We never sat down to be like ‘this is the record. And we’re gonna spend this amount of time on the record.’ So I feel like all of the limitations definitely lent us to hone in more on particular themes and sounds and textures. And also push ourselves. Since we were relocating ourselves to an actual studio and working with and actual producer and an engineer instead if doing it all ourselves on our own time, I feel like it was an unfamiliar environment which made us more comfortable in taking risks.

Grace: And working on a time restraint that wasn’t self-imposed was really cool. It was a complete one-eighty from what we’ve done. We were definitely a little nervous going into it because it’s very daunting. Even though we’ve been playing a long time and writing music, we still are very new to the album recording process. Which is pretty funny because we’re like six years old. It’s kinda fun, like learning to ride a bike.

Do you believe your creative space, be it mentally or physically, needs to be cleansed in order for you to create or can you thrive on a chaotic mindset and environment?

Grace: I think that we’ve grown to be able to wrote in chaos. We’ve written with different people and also different settings and there’s always some kind of beneficial outcome, whether that’s a finished song or just the experience. But I think when it comes down to refining and honing in on the lyrics and stuff, that’s more of a cleansing thing. I usually have to be in my own personal vibe or go somewhere like my room or my closet and sort it out there. That’s the only thing I can’t do-yet-in chaos.

Maggie: So much of this record was pieced together. The songs were bits and pieces sown together from the five years we’ve been a band. And some were created in the studio. And I feel like those bits that were birthed were probably from a more cleansed and calm environment. And then orchestrating it all together can feel a little chaotic, in a good way though. We really like working with a lot of people. At some points we had like six or seven people in the studio and we really trusted each other and we really trusted just throwing out ideas and seeing what stuck. I don’t think it was a streamlined process. But with Grace I feel like the lyrics were kind of the last thing that were finished for every song. Grace had to go get in the zone, which I think is really good.

Grace: Even though I trust everyone and am comfortable around people, I still get nervous to be super vulnerable and lyrically creative, because I don’t think that I’m that good with words. So I usually like to go off by myself and spit out whatever, then refine and bring it to everyone and be like ‘What do you think about that?’.

Do you feel the need to create in familiar places?

Maggie: I personally like making stuff in my room, which is a very familiar place. I feel like that’s where a lot of my ideas are birthed. And also I always have a journal with me. That’s a familiar place even though I can write in it from anywhere. Having all of my ideas in one place is nice. I think because we’ve been in high school and college the whole time we’ve been in this band, we’ve kind of been tied to Atlanta. We could never really go off for months and write in other places. So I feel like we’ve always been in a familiar place.

Grace: I find that whenever I move back to my parents house after living somewhere for a few months or a year I always can write pretty well. I think the whole record was started and finished in my childhood bedroom. Even though we were living in two different spaces. We’ve lived in dorms and a house and now we live in an apartment. I also went on this one week thing to go write and it kind of worked but not that well. But when I have an empty house and it’s just my childhood room, I feel pretty safe.

Maggie: I feel like every time you’ve moved back home you always send me bangers.

Grace: Maybe there’s an energy there.

Maggie: That’s where Lunar started.

Grace: That is where Lunar started, but I have to channel that energy inside me rather than in the space. That’s for down the road

How would you go about that?

Grace: Honestly just making more music in more spaces to get out of my comfort zone. It’s a process of learning how to be vulnerable from the genesis of your ideas. It’s not about going off and getting the stupid ideas out by yourself then coming back with something acceptable. It’s about trusting whoever with the first thing that comes out of your mouth.

Violet Teegardin

Inside every fig is a dead wasp; this is your debut album. I’d like you to speak to it’s creation. And now that’s it’s had time to breath I’d like your honest feelings about it, no matter how simple or complex.

Maggie: I think with the creation part, it changed the way that I approach things and the way I make music with people. It really helped all of us to wholly collaborate with each other. Not just meaning that we sit down and contribute equally every time, but knowing each other intimately enough to really give and take from each other and acting as a unit instead of just playing. That’s how we operated before. It taught us how to feel while making things. We were very much a live band before. Our studio time was fragmented that the process didn’t feel as sacred until we made this album.

Grace: I agree with what you said. Probably because we talk about it all the time. I think we all grew a lot as people, friends and musicians. It helped me sort out a lot of loose ends that I had for the past couple years. In a weird way it feel like a big weight has been taken off my shoulders. It was like a chip I’ve been carrying of bitterness and sadness got released into this record in a good way. It holds a lot of feelings from everyone. It’s like a big pot of feeling… a big cauldron… soup….

But now that it’s out [gestures camera to Science Breakfast, One of the greatest cats of our time] WE are really proud, and we’re kind of ready to go be a band again. I have like one week left of college I’m ready to graduate and get my life started. Do more band stuff.

Maggie: It’s definitely weird releasing it now. The only feedback we’ve gotten has been in the digital world. We’ve played two release shows, but we’re not really in band mode yet. We’ve been doing school and working. I think there will be some laden excitement. Because right now I have to fit in interviews between writing papers. Or a show after I finish class. So I think it will be really nice to go out into the world and play it.

You’ve been releasing wide as an outfit since 2017. With two much-loved EPs to show for it. Did you maybe feel like your music was meant for more concise releases in the forms of singles and EPs? And now with Inside Every Fig being the first full length after creating for five years, what has changed in the music for it to deserve a full offering?

Maggie: I think the band dynamic changed. We’ve had some member changes. And I honestly think we didn’t feel secure enough as a unit to put out a debut album and say ‘This is us’. Obviously one album doesn’t define people but we’ve always cherished albums growing up and we wanted to wait until everything felt strong to release a debut album. And we put out EP’s and stuff just because we were scraping for material to keep playing shows. But we never sat aside the time to craft a whole album.

Grace: We tried to make our first album in early 2019 and it was a DISASTER. It really boils down to us as people and how our group interacted. We never really talked about it until we made this record, how we had not-the-best band dynamic. Now we’re all besties, would die for them. We’ve reached a whole new level of love appreciation. I think partly because we were so young and unsure if ourselves as people and musicians. It was really hard to make stuff because it was so personal and self-serving. We didn’t really have the one goal of what’s the best for the song, what’s the best for Lunar. All of us are here. Lunar’s up there. What are we doing to serve the song?

None of us had that mindset. We just didn’t know and we were trying to figure it out. So it made trying to make a record so difficult and taxing. I remember we went to this one AirBNB in Richmond somewhere on a farm and we wanted to book three days and make the album and record. And it was so awful. It was not fun and it was hostile and it sucked. We weren’t listening to each other’s ideas and I honestly think it was a big ego thing for all of us. We were just young. I don’t know. That was it.

Maggie: We didn’t have any friends making albums. We didn’t know how to go about it.

Grace: Over time when we met the right people and we really solidified our dynamic it felt right to make a record. Before it didn’t feel right yet because we’re all very feelings based. As you can tell we use the word ‘feel’ or ‘vibe’ or whatever it’s all about ‘How does this feel?’. The music just didn’t feel right. It was disappointing and not really us.

But then we took a year-long break and all went back to school and figured our life out. And then we got back and made the record. Now it’s smooth sailing. That was a really long answer.

Maggie: Short answer: we were young and didn’t know.

You once donned your music as swimming pool pop? Do I have that correct? This is no-doubt a subgenre of bedroom pop. Do you believe this is a sound that the artist grows and matures from? This is not to discount the genre nor the music that comes from it-which I value greatly- but would you say it’s a jumping off point for artists who have more to give?

Grace: Oh yeah. I think it’s definitely a starting point, but it gets a little muddy if you stay in that world. If it’s just continually like jangly guitar and synth and reverb vocals for like five years, seven years, ten years; it kinda gets old. But I think a lot of people start off that way and get their foot in the door with shows and genres and even just meeting other friends who make music. I think that’s when you really find-not your sound, because that’s really definitive to say-but I think it’s good to go outside and explore. There’s a lot of good music in that world, but I don’t think we’re in that anymore. We’re trying go more into rock.

Maggie: I feel like when that boom really happened-which I feel like it’s not really happening anymore or maybe we don’t really care about it-it showed who the cool songwriters were. You could make a song with such limited resources. It’s a good starting point but it’s never really the music we ever looked up to.

Grace: I feel like it’s past it’s time. It had a moment. Now it’s all singer-songwriter solo artist. I don’t know what the next moment is gonna be but it’s gonna be exciting to find out.

Maggie: I feel like all of the good songwriters sort of cut through any genre.

Running along the same lines, is the scene that birthed you something you will inevitably grow beyond as your musical career progresses or is there way to keep a perspective and presence in the scene irreverent of your present sound?

Maggie: I feel like the term ‘Scene’ is kinda hard because it makes me think of the Atlanta scene, but we were also playing in other states so young that I feel like other bands from other scenes influenced us. Obviously we have friends in the Atlanta music scene, but to be honest we ever really felt tied to it. We didn’t really grow up and even know there was a scene until after we’d been playing for a while. Because no one in our high school played in a band. We had to discover it after the fact. It was so nice to play with the same people and there’s definitely some influence in your environment. But we never felt tied to any particular scene.

Grace: And when we first started playing shows it was usually with other men, which is fine, but there was a very limited amount of young women playing shows. So it was always Maggie and I that were the token two girls on the bill. And we were sixteen and getting shit from the door people. I feel like that also has something to do with it because there was not a lot of people that I could really relate to. People like to discount you when you make music and you’re a girl. I just think, when we were playing shows, there weren’t a lot of bands or musicians that had girls in them. Which I think could have been very vital for us being tied to. But also we could have just been not in the same scene as other women playing shows.

Is there anything y’all would like to end with? Anyone to shout out or anything you wanna plug?

Maggie: Make sure you eat today. Drink some water today. Look up. Look down. Look all around.

Grace: Everyone stay safe and happy and healthy. What’s another mom-send-off thing to say?

Science Breakfast: Meow

***********************************************

Can you get to that?

We’re all trying to in this new year. I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for. I’m searching for a haystack in a landfill. If I don’t die and my favorite pair of jeans are still in tact maybe I’ll give you a call and we can talk about it. Or maybe we can just sit around and do nothing. Just like last year. And the goddamned year before that! We’re just kids after all.

Hudson Mcneese

Published in Record Plug Magazine January 2022