Couch discusses 'Sunshower' EP after headline tour stop at The Atlantis
By Jess Daninhirsch
The seven-piece funk-pop band Couch reached their halfway point on their headline tour at The Atlantis last Saturday. Trumpet player Jeffrey Pinsker-Smith and saxophone player Eric Tarlin dove into the makings of their newest EP, Sunshower, which came out during their tour on Nov. 3.
Pinsker-Smith was the one who thought of the name Sunshower while the band was on tour in the West Coast in the spring before they had even written any music for the EP. In an interview, he described a nice day the band members had playing basketball together, when it suddenly started raining while the sun was still out—a literal “sun shower.” After the name was born, the band spent the summer working on the music.
With six songs, Sunshower is full of bright poppy lyrics, jazzy chords, groovy drums and bass, and a bit of rock and funk thrown in the mix. The EP flows like it’s telling a story—or, a collection of stories—about different types of relationships and outlooks on life.
“A lot of these are more melancholy songs, and it's partly just because of where we are in life,” Tarlin said in the interview. “Early to mid 20s is a strange time.”
“Most of us have good friendships and things going on,” Pinsker-Smith added. “But then … this is a scary stage of life with a lot of decisions that we have to make now that will impact the rest of our adult lives. And that puts a lot of stress and can kind of cast a shadow over a lot of the good things … That subject matter weaves its way into a lot of the songs.”
Regardless of how well the tracks flow together, each song on Sunshower stands strongly on its own.
(I Wanted) Summer With You
The first song on the EP feels like the opening to a movie. It has a soft opening that leads to a jazzy chorus, but there are a lot of lyrical nuances about a relationship that did not work out.
The song was inspired by an experience that Couch’s lead vocalist Tema Siegel had. Tarlin worked with Siegel, keyboardist Danny Silverston and guitarist Zach Blankstein to write this song, and described it like writing an essay.
“We sat down and we were like, alright, let’s zoom in on a particular moment that captures the comfort of this relationship, and then let’s introduce the conflict,” Tarlin said. “It was a really fun one to put together.”
L.A.
“L.A.” starts with unique drum sequences performed by Couch’s drummer Jared Gozinsky that blend various styles. Pinsker-Smith described a dynamic between Silverston and Gozinsky, where Silverston vocalizes a complex drum rhythm he wants to hear, and Gozinsky matches it effortlessly.
The song is an ode to Los Angeles, but also describes a dichotomy of the sunny city. The Boston-based band is no stranger to the cold, so it’s nice to experience a nicer climate every once in a while. But they say anyone can feel like they own the city if they live there, although you have to “sell your soul” to do so.
Siegel and Blankstein wrote this song with just the guitar and vocals, so the band experimented with different layers of instruments to make it feel good for Couch.They settled on a lead-in focusing on drums. Tarlin said Gozinsky played his sticks on the shell of the snare drum rather than the drum itself for this song, and also recorded the song with a towel over the snare drum to make it sound tighter.
Let Me Hold You / Let Me Hold You (Reprise)
This melancholic, pour-your-heart-out song, written by Siegel and Blankstein, is a bit of a tone change in the middle of the EP. Pinsker-Smith said that the concept for this song and its reprise emerged a while ago, around the time most of the group had just graduated college and they began to schedule more regular gigs.
Pinsker-Smith referred to a lot of Couch’s other music as “everything and the kitchen sink,” meaning there are a lot of big chords and funky instruments that lead to a moment where they “let it all out,” but “Let Me Hold You” has a slower build to it. It is more pensive, thoughtful, and nostalgic.
Tarlin said this song is very personal and special to Siegel.
“The way she intended it to be understood is not how I first understood it,” Tarlin added.
The way Siegel intended it, according to Tarlin, was to describe a relationship that didn’t feel right at the moment but taking the good with the bad to enjoy the present. “The sun and the rain, if you want to compare it to Sunshower,” Tarlin said. He believes most fans will interpret the song as a sweet love song, but others will find a second meaning to it.
Jessie
Arguably the grooviest song on the EP, “Jessie” has become a fan favorite.
“People have been liking ‘Jessie’ more than we expected them to,” Tarlin said. It’s a good transition leading out of “Let Me Hold You (Reprise)” before the EP’s final song.
The relationship described in this song is not a romantic one, but rather a long-lasting friendship with an abrupt ending. The friend in question—the proverbial Jessie—just up and left the friend group, leaving the narrator to wonder where they went and why they left in the first place. It seems like a wistful topic, but the song is still upbeat and a little sassy to show that the narrator can still have fun without Jessie.
Couch had some trouble putting this song together at first; Tarlin referred to it as a “big puzzle.” But with their impending deadline for the EP’s release, the band kept workshopping it until they had a product they were happy with in both a recorded and live setting.
“It pays off because now when we play live it’s consistently one of, in my opinion, the hardest hitting songs in our set now,” Pinsker-Smith explained. “What this has taught me is that if you just stare at something long enough and just keep working, you almost always make it work in a musical way.”
Alright
The final song on Sunshower certainly feels like a finale for a movie or show where the whole cast is singing and performing together. It is a strong, optimistic ending to the EP. It serves as a reminder that no matter what life throws at you, things will eventually be alright. In contrast to “Let Me Hold You,” the view of this ended relationship is more uplifting. Members of Couch often think of their songs as movie moments as well. Tarlin said that there was no intentional storyline in Sunshower, but it was certainly intentional to end with what they believed to be the most “anthemic” song.
Although the band didn’t intend for Sunshower to follow a chronological storyline, “Alright” still feels like a conclusion of someone’s emotional story. Looking back from the top of the tracklist to the bottom, it’s clear that there is some sort of emotional healing happening—and that’s truly the beauty of music: its healing properties for both the listener and the artist.
The band produces their own music and will work together in various combinations of group members to do so.
The choice to make an EP versus a full length album had a few factors, including the fact that Couch would be on tour during its release. Tarlin also feels that an album should follow more of a storyline or at least have some sort of theme.
“The EP format is the best strategic move,” Tarlin said. “Songs on smaller releases are more likely to do well … I feel like it maximizes how people engage with our music.”
“It’s balancing dreams with reality,” Pinsker-Smith added. He said they don’t want to spend hours upon hours on an album’s song that they know statistically won’t perform as well as a single. He and Tarlin both hope that one day Couch can release an album, but for now they would rather focus on performing and maximizing the energy on the songs they do have.
The band does think about how their music will sound in a live setting, but that consideration comes after making it “sound as sick as we can,” as Pinsker-Smith put it. Occasionally, they perform songs for a while before they even record it, so when it comes time to record, they want to find ways to make the songs more interesting. But the live environment is still important to the band.
“I think my favorite thing about performing is sharing moments with individual audience members. I love it when people in the crowd are singing the words to the music that I helped create, and they're getting energy from watching me,” Tarlin said. “Music is ultimately a social phenomenon.”
Tarlin described the live setting as a reminder of what music is really about: community. It’s about creating connections between the people you’re making music with as well as the listeners–especially those who come to see the band live.
“When people participate in the concert experience, that is just so fulfilling, and it’s such a rush,” Tarlin concluded.