Joe Capacete and Brian Perry created Threads Electric in the pandemic afterlife. Their sound is emotional, dreamy and danceable. We look forward to their upcoming releases. And if you want to check them out you an see them November 21 at Palmer’s Bar and December 9 at Acadia Cafe
Tell us about Threads Electric and how you guys started playing music together.
Brian and I met in 2017, playing in a band called Phantom Heart. The rise of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 effectively marked the end of that band’s season. Then, in 2022, Brian and I started workshopping some new music together after a long break from creative work. During the early stages, we invested considerable time in defining our musical identity and experimenting with various ideas, before deciding to share what we’ve worked on with people through shows and official releases. We’ve been more patient and deliberate in our approach compared to other projects I’ve been a part of.
The Tide, your debut single, has a dreamy dance quality to it with deep and shallow movement like the tide. Can you tell us about the deeper side of your music?
Thanks! We intentionally crafted “The Tide” to have multiple layers, and I’m pleased to hear that came across! We wanted “The Tide” to be a song that would fit right into a backyard BBQ playlist and also a song that a listener could feel a deeper connection to in the right context. Lyrically, it’s a mess of feelings, capturing a moment of grief while on vacation. My heart was broken, but I was so full of love. I was stuck in my own head, but also enjoying an ice cream cone on the beach. Musically, we sought to reflect these varied emotions. It starts as a pop song with a dance beat and some hooks. But when we get to the bridge section, it opens up to a cascade of emotion. There are no lyrics in the bridge by design. It’s meant to represent the unspoken feelings that are lurking just beneath the surface. For the first time in the song, we focus on root chords to evoke catharsis (enhanced by colossal production from Yoo Soo Kim). We picked “The Tide” as our debut single, because of the broad range it covers musically and thematically.
You have a series of singles coming out. Can you tell us about them? Will they be more dreamy? More dancey? Something different?
We’re planning to release a new single every month or so in 2024. These tracks will be recorded in Brian’s basement and produced by our friend Yoo Soo Kim, a Chicago-based producer. Each single contains the same basic elements of “The Tide” (ethereal synths, ringing guitar chords, pounding drums, sing-along hooks) but in varying measures. Some lean more towards a dreamy and whimsical vibe, some are more straight-forward pop songs, and some delve into heavier/noisier territory. The range of styles is definitely a product of us taking about a year to write music and explore our sound before we even played our first show. If you like flor and Michigander, and still have Now, Now and Death Cab For Cutie t-shirts in your closet, we might have something for you!
What inspires your songs? A sound? A lyric? A vision?
Typically it’s a sound or melody that acts as a seed for our songs. I’ll have an idea in my head and try to sketch out the basic parts using programmed virtual synths. Then, we’ll play along to the synth demo, with Brian on drums and myself on guitar, to try to flesh out more of the vibe and the melodies. If the elements start to gel then we’ll refine the structure and lyrics to give it more direction and eventually wring out a song. If it doesn’t quite come together, that’s ok. We’ve been trying to treat the songs in our writing process as more like cattle than pets. Each idea is given space to roam and grow organically, but ultimately we don’t feel pressure to make everything work. We also have a few songs that started from structural requirements. We wanted to have a song that covered a lot of dynamic range that we could use to quickly sound check our live setup. That song is now the opener of our set and has become one of our favorites to play live.
Where can folks see you play live? I know you have some shows coming up.
Our next few shows are 11/21 at Palmer’s Bar and 12/9 at Acadia Cafe. The Palmer’s show is a new band showcase that we’re playing with Lake Davi and Mean Magic who are both fantastic. The Acadia show is with some old friends of ours, Jimmy Barnett and Bethany Larson and the Bees Knees. We also have some shows lined up in early 2024 with bands and venues that we’ve been eagerly trying to book and are super excited to announce those soon.
Mostly Minnesota 