If it feels like a long time since you heard from You Say Party, it’s not just your imagination. The Abbotsford-bred band’s most recent album was 2009’s XXXX, which they released back when they were called You Say Party! We Say Die!; drummer Devon Clifford tragically passed away the next year following an on-stage collapse, and the group went on hiatus in 2011.
So what was it that inspired the ensemble to reform and create a self-titled fourth album?
“To totally sound cheesy, it’s the friendships,” answers singer Becky Ninkovic. “It’s the amount of experiences and memories we’ve accumulated through the last 10 years together — almost 12 years as a band. We’re past friendship — we’re kind of like a family now, at this point.”
Ninkovic is sipping tea on a cozy-looking couch in her New Westminster apartment that’s laden with her young daughter’s toys. She speaks softly, often addressing her answers directly to keyboardist Krista Loewen, who sits beside her. Loewen, who had temporarily quit the band prior to their hiatus, explains, “There’s a certain ease that comes from having that long history. As soon as we got back into the room together, things fell into place.”
Although the band briefly adopted a new lineup with a different drummer, they’ve now settled on a core formation that includes Ninkovic, Loewen, guitarist Derek Adam and bassist Stephen O’Shea. They have opted not to replace Clifford, and instead use a drum machine.
“We wanted to honour the space that Devon left. It didn’t feel right when we tried to fill that space,” reflects Ninkovic. “For us to get back into the writing room again, it had to feel right every step of the way.”
The four-piece worked slowly and without an agenda. One of their first new compositions was “Friend”, an aching lament for Clifford that’s filled with moody synths à la the Cure’s Disintegration and haunting refrains of "I can see my friend no more / He's gone for good, he's gone for sure.”
Ninkovic explains, “That song was written during the months following Devon's passing. It definitely came from a raw place.”
Eventually, the group had eight new songs, which they recorded in a scattering of sessions, with most of the work taking place at the Noise Floor Recording Studio on Gabriola Island with producer Jordan Koop. The results are a big change from the hard-charging dance-punk that they were initially known for. Gone are the explosive rhythms and brashly shouted vocals, replaced instead by sprawling dreamscapes filled with icy post-punk guitars, swooning synth ambience and soft vocal coos that sit low in the mix.
“Everyone was more concerned with hanging back than standing out,” Loewen says about the understated sound.
But while the album isn’t quite as assertive as past efforts, its restraint is riveting. Opener “112” gradually swells from ominously thrumming bass to a cathartic new wave finale, while “Ignorance” soars with sweetly cinematic melodies and percussive guitar strums taken from the Edge’s playbook, and seven-and-a-half-minute closer “Heading in the Direction of the Rising Sun” closes the album with breathy chants and spooky, gothic drama.
Now that the LP is finished, the future is uncertain for You Say Party. The band members are all busy pursuing new careers, and they have no intention of ever playing live; they will throw release parties in Vancouver and Toronto, which will feature projected visuals and pre-recorded music. They are eager to write new material, but have no immediate plans for where it might lead.
For now, they are basking in the beauty of their new album, which Ninkovic sees as a creative rebirth. “I needed to be able to listen to this album over and over again after we had made it,” she reflects. “And I can — I love that I can put on this album and listen to it and feel moved by it every time.”
