Sylvan Esso
After a hefty, 40-plus e-mail thread, a Skype interview time was finally organised with the highly in-demand Sylvan Esso. Knowing we’d already fallen hard for the duo of Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn’s snug, soulful electronic melodies, butterflies fluttered throughout.
They’ve been stealing hearts ever since dropping the infectious and tantalising Coffee a year ago. Coincidentally, as Amelia explains, Coffee is based on just that topic. “It’s about falling in love again after falling in love before, and how you do it over and over again in your life” she says. The duo capture the poignancy of this gloomy realisation of the replication of such a strong emotion, adding resonance and texture to a balmy pop track.
The creation of this sound came as a shock to the pair; the thought of collaboration never really occurred to them, though they’d known each other for over four years. While still a member of folk vocal trio Mountain Man, Amelia wrote the playful Play it Right and contacted Nick (who works under the production alias Made of Oak, among his other projects) “out of the blue” to have a go at remixing the track. Instantly, knowing he’d created something special, Nick thought “‘This could be cool, we could do a band like this’. But I figured she would be too busy to do it, so I actually started looking for other people”. Fortunately, the idea came at a ‘right time, right place’ moment for Amelia, and Sylvan Esso was born. Regardless of the ability to constantly surprise themselves with their work, their music presents itself as a seamless partnership to the listener. “Each of our strengths is the other one’s weakness, each of us had a part of a really good band. We both have niche audiences, and because we were in each other’s audience we could really understand what the other was doing.”
And both members’ respective musical history is as impressive as the other. Between them they’ve been members of and collaborators with a lengthy roll-call of acts including Feist, the aforementioned Mountain Man, Megafaun, The Love Language, Volcano Choir – there are more. Their tour dog days may not be over just yet, but their collective experience allows Sylvan Esso space to excel. “We’re both old enough to know now that we can’t drink light beer forever without feeling like were going to die – that really helps!” Amelia and Nick laugh as they recall their previous stints on the road. The impressive background and assured talent of Sylvan Esso is refereshing, especially amongst a plethora of manipulated instant successes. Their self-titled LP, released on the 2 June, will be anticipated with considered admiration rather than the artifice of hype.
After chatting for some time about where the name Sylvan Esso derives from (Sword and Sorcery, for all you gamers), we begin to feel more at ease. The duo’s down-to-earth nature, enthusiasm and Pez-chomping selves are as dreamy as the music they create. The excitement for the future of Sylvan Esso exudes from them proudly. “We get to do all the stuff we haven’t got to do as any other new band.” Nick explains. “Every night it’s like ‘holy shit, we get to be here now?!’”
As the conversation turns to the accessibility of music, and the transition from the pining folk of their past to Sylvan Esso’s electronic pop, it’s clear this project flowed naturally to both members. “Music is music” Amelia freely puts it. “I really wanted to be in a band that would make people dance.” Well they’ve achieved that. The chance combination of these two highly talented individuals is certain to get you moving.
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Words: Isis O’Regan
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