#ortliebs

Photo by Rosie Simmons

Philadelphia’s Slo TV are gearing up to release their debut album, Incomplete Structures, which was produced and recorded at True Level Studio by Tom Conran and Holly Smith. Additional recording was done at Sound Acres Studio by Conran. Guest vocals on this album feature True Level Studio owners Casey Cavaliere (The Wonder Years) and Adam Ackerman (Honeyjar). We caught up with Tom Conran for a Q&A session to talk about the band, the release, and their future plans! Check out the interview below and don’t forget to check out Incomplete Structures, due out May 6, 2022. Pre-order it here! 

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Pleasant Mag: Thank you for being here to talk with us today. We’re so excited to interview y’all. So tell us, where did your band name come from & how did your band form?

Tom Conran: Working as a producer the past few years, I started experimenting with recording and mixing techniques as a sort of release or escape just trying to detach from the stress of life and make something.  When it got to a point that I wanted to realize some of this stuff I just started fully recording tracks before even deciding they would have lyrics.  It went from a few songs to an album quickly and I went to some friends for help.

I had been thinking about slow tv(marathon style broadcasting) as a format and idea during this time and it was the only name that felt right. We wanted to play with the contradiction of media and nature, another escape and influence for us.  

PM: What was the process like bringing on UnWoven’s Charlie Singer, CaraCara/Steady Hands’, George Legatos, & Darla’s Brendan Monohan?

TC: When I was writing the tracks I knew i wanted Charlie to record drums so when he was down to join the band I was stoked. He beats the living shit out of the drums and it really comes through in a beautiful way on the tracks. On the record Adam Ackerman lent his talents to the bass and some background vocals, so when it came time to translate that live, Honeyjar drummer Richie Straub, linked me up with Brendan and It was a perfect fit from the get go so I eventually got him to find me George as well.  First practice we had with George, he knew the songs better then me. Again a perfect fit.

PM: Can you tell us a little bit about what was the writing process like for your debut album? Was it collective among the band members?

TC: These tracks started out as ambient synth demos that were totally free form and were scoring some of Holly’s old art school video workfilms. Slowly the tracks built up into full band arrangements. After all the instrumentation was tracked, the songs just called for more. So Holly and I started to write lyrics with the focus of bringing some pop and poetry to them. It’s wild to reflect on the transformation of these songs since their inception.

When I got together with the band we focused on the emotional story we wanted to tell with each song.  Im still always working on l demos so I’m am excited next time around to bring them to the band and get their influence early on.

PM: Why did you choose a full length album to release first rather than an EP? Any reason in particular?

TC: I was really using this process to, process, if you will, a lot of events in my life and it was a large span of time so I ended up with 20 songs. I edited that down to 8 and felt like that’s what it needed to be.  

PM: Do you have a favorite song on this album? What is it and why?

TC: One of my favorite moments, sonically, is the second chorus of “Free Hands”. The overall composition of the section always guts me. It‘s a perfect photo of the exact emotion I was trying to explain.  This is the one song on the record that was actually about the past unlike the others which were reactions to the these two years. It is also the one Holly pushed me to write about, and her favorite on the album

PM: What was it like recording this album at True Level Studio, which you co-own with Casey Cavaliere of The Wonder Years?

TC: It was great, I was able to experiment and sonically carve out exactly what I wanted to portray. It’s such a a privilege and a pleasure to say that the entire record is made in spaces myself and Adam have acoustically designed, tuned, or made. True Level is co-owned with Casey, Adam and myself. We went to Sound Acres to track drums and then brought it back to True Level Studio to track everything else. Holly was able to step in on vocal production and recording, and as co-writer that led to really vulnerable tracking sessions.

PM: What are you most excited for now that the album is out?

TC: I am ecstatic to show people how these songs translate live. Rather then a direct redo of the sonic experimentation and exploration the record goes down, we went for a more emotion based translation of what the songs felt like. This creates an experience that has a relationship to the record but is also completely new and has room to expand.

PM: What are you hoping to get out of this release?

TC: I wanted to put it out there as a way to heal myself but if it helps anyone else get through anything that would be a cherry on top

PM: Any plans for touring this year? As a studio owner and a band with band members who are involved in many other projects, will that make touring challenging, if that’s something you’re interested in?

TC: As of right now, we hope to play locally as much as possible, and our release show is May 11 at Ortliebs! No tour on the books as of yet, but I’d never count it out! We’re all getting good at working from where and when we can these days so hopefully we are able to take any opportunities that come our way.

PM: Are there any bands you’d like to tour with? Dream tour lineup?

TC: Dream line up for me would be opening for Pedro the Lion, Broken Social Scene, and probably Radiohead headlining. Wild.

PM: What are some artists you’ve been listening to lately?

TC: Right now it’s the new Orville Peck, Soul Glo, and Wet Leg records with some old Willie Nelson records mixed in there.

PM: Anything else you’d like to add?

TC: Our record Incomplete Structures comes out tomorrow (5/6) and our record release show on (5/11) in Philadelphia at Ortlieb’s!