Modern Baseball dropped their third studio album this year, and in some ways ‘Holy Ghost’ feels far removed from the sound and sentiment of their first two albums ‘Sports’ and ‘You’re Gonna Miss It All’. Then again, Modern Baseball still look and sound like the ‘don’t give a fuck’ emo teenagers when they first released back in 2012. Bassist Ian Farmer says: “’Holy Ghost’ is about loss, it’s about losing something within yourself, or a relationship or any part of life really. It’s about the way you deal with that loss”.
Loss is a common trope in all types of music but in the case of Holy Ghost, it’s interesting to look at loss from a different perspective; the demons the band have faced have been well documented, and the loss recounted in the album could refer to the end of a long-lasting and poisonous relationship, beginning with drugs and ending with recovery in a psychiatric treatment program. When asked if it’s important to have an overarching theme or narrative within an album they are decidedly ambivalent: “It really depends on the record or the band. It’s dumb to say all bands should do something one way, for example not all bands should use vocal tuning. Some bands it works one way, for others it works another way. I think the same applies for lyrical styles too. Some bands will write a whole record based on one concept while others aren’t so into that and will just write a bunch of pop songs. Both are great as long as you execute them well”.
Talking of execution, their approach to making the album was unusual to say the least; in a move most famously made by Outkast on ‘Speakerboxxx/The Love Below’, they decided to split the album in two, with Jake Ewald taking the first six tracks, giving Brendan Lukens the other five. Brendan explains the idea in more detail: “It was kind of a fun idea, like a science experiment. We had the idea of each writing our own part of the song and seeing what it was like and it was a lot of fun. Jake or I would write the rhythm or the vocals, then we would bring it to the band and work it out. It wasn’t as though Shaun was writing drums on his own while Ian wrote bass lines on his own. We did some work outside of the studio, writing the shells of the songs but then we wrote the rest and hammered out the details in the studio. We probably spent about three weeks in the studio altogether”.
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Splitting an album is no easy feat and it’s certainly a bold move from the Philly-based foursome. Asking for their thoughts on opportunities for bands to experiment, they found positivity in an often-maligned issue; “I think with the Internet and the way things have gone there’s been an increasing amount of support from all kinds of people, especially with bands supporting each other. It becomes less about ‘where are you from?’ ‘what are you doing?’ ‘I hate that, I love that etc’. It’s just about having a band in general”.
Having said that, the ‘where are you from’ question is at the heart of Modern Baseball’s identity; starting out in a basement in Philadelphia, the band and the city are well intertwined, they may even owe something to one another. Jake is effusive about their early days: “Growing up we were heavily influenced by the bands around us and the bands we played. There were so many different kinds of music there, and everyone was really supportive of each other and us, so there’s a really strong community beyond the music. Even the way we run the band came from seeing the way other people did it.” Even after all those years, it seems the band haven’t lost touch with their roots: “We definitely still hang out with those guys, actually I just moved in with someone we used to play with, in fact it was one of the first bands we ever played with! So yeah, we’re all still pretty tight”.
Reading your own reviews is a dangerous business, especially in the music world. In a galaxy of sensitive narcissists, daring to read what someone says about you, your band and your music can, for some people be damaging. In the case of Modern Baseball particularly with their recent past, it could be especially difficult. However, when asked about reading their own reviews, they have a charmingly honest answer: “We’ve always had the band as an outlet to do what we want to do and if people like it then that’s awesome. Having conversations with other bands, getting people’s thoughts on things we do well and things we don’t do so well, that’s the best form of feedback there. Also from our parents, they’re big influences”.
Our parents as our biggest influencers? What a refreshing thought. Take note, touchy narcissists.
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'Holy Ghost' is out now.
Words: Milo Wasserman
