Quaery just released their latest EP, Dark Magic is Real. It’s uplifting in a very real life, slow sneak kind of way and very clever. We were lucky enough to catch up with members, Scott Christopher and Erik Schee in 2021 and we delighted to get some background on the newest release.
“Your new EP, Dark Magic is Real, could be the soundtrack to a cathartic solo disco. The songs inspire so many different feelings. What order would you listen to the songs? And why? I feel like order may leave the listener in different humors.
Cathartic solo disco was exactly the vibe we were trying to create! For us, these songs were all about finding joy, delight, and moments of freedom even when you’re not feeling at your best. Our hope was that we could give that experience to our listeners as they made their way through the EP. We love the arc that the songs are listed on streaming platforms: 1) Melon in Our Melancholy, 2) You Could be You, and 3) Don’t Say it. We think it has a nice musical progression, but there’s also a storyline through the songs- “Melon in Our Melancholy” is all about asking questions and opening your mind to new perspectives, “You Could be You” encourages the listener to shift how they see themselves and their situation, and “Don’t Say it” has a certain resolute quality of self-assuredness that we really like as a closing track.
What inspires you to write the songs? The lyrics or the sound?
Each song on this project started in a different way, but we almost always start with a general topic or concept that we want to explore. For instance, the song “You Could be You” was inspired by an out of body experience I had that I wanted to capture and explore. Erik and I tried out some chord progressions together and drafted a few verses, but nothing was really sticking. One day we were improvising and I came up with what is now the electric guitar riff in the chorus, and Erik shouted “that’s it!”. We put it on a loop, and the simple phrase “You Could be You” came to me. From that one basic progression and lyric, the rest of the song just fell into place rather quickly
Melon in Our Melancholy is a song that strikes me. The lines are clever and the vibe is upbeat but it’s not with edge. Can you tell us more about that song?
We had wanted to make a song that discussed mental health for a long time, but we were struggling to find the right tone- it can be so easy to get into territory that sounds “preachy” or “woe is me”. I was doing a free writing exercise and came up with the title “Melon in Our Melancholy”, which really set the tone for the rest of the lyrics. We are big admirers of Minimalist composers, so the underlying progression was inspired by Philip Glass’ piano etudes. We loved the progression right away, but it took us quite a bit of workshopping to settle on a melody that we loved. As we were building the track, we decided early on that we wanted a breakdown on the ending of the song. We wanted the loose, intimate quality of a jam mixed with some of the more polished production elements from the first half of the track. Overall, I think we did more experimentation and improvisation on this track than anything we’ve ever done before!
As I recall, you reunited to make music during the pandemic (leading to Until the Sun Stopped Glowing) has anything changed with your process since the world opened up?
Erik and I have been playing music together for 10 years, and the things that have helped our collaboration last have largely stayed the same- we believe bands that have fun together stay together, that the best way to show up for your work is to take care of yourself, and that saying the hard things to each other is always better than holding our tongues. Musically, however, this project represented a huge change for us. We crafted a sound that is more electronic and gritty for this EP, and the lyrics explored new and challenging territory for us.
You wrote, performed, produced and mixed this EP yourselves. What were the ups and downs of total control?
It was incredibly gratifying to take each of these songs from start to finish. We learned so much about the technical and artistic elements of production, and how to manage that process without outside assistance. We were able to take as much time as we needed to craft each element of each song, so we feel like this was the most intentional and personal release we’ve made so far. With it being so easy to record and tweak things, it would have been easy to fall into an endless loop of “oh, I think I could play that better if we re-tracked that part”. We had to impose some deadlines on ourselves, otherwise we might have been tweaking these songs for the next decade!
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