Bay Area duo Effie Zilch (Steve Wyreman and Evanne Barcenas) has unleashed “Prayin’ Amos,” the latest single and accompanying video from their forthcoming EP, Multitudes, out on November 8th via Redtone Records. “Prayin’ Amos,” a promised song written on the fly for a friend about their hometown bar in the north woods of Wisconsin, is an homage to slow days, long friendships, and good old-fashioned fun. “During the last 15 minutes of our recording session, I started messing with a Rhythm Ace drum machine, which instantly brought a JJ Cale/Tulsa Sound inspiration,” Steve explains. “I plugged in a beaten Telecaster and immediately Ev sang the first verse off the top of her head. There was a room mic recording and that’s the sound you hear. We made it lo-fi and late night so that mid-tempo, swampy blues feel comes through,” he continues. “No rush to get anywhere, but happy to be on the ride.”
In our interview, Evanne takes a deeper dive into the duo’s creative process and their deep influences.
Name a perfect song and tell us why you feel that way.
Off the top of our heads, “Into The Mystic” by Van Morrison veers towards perfection. On the downbeat of the intro, you’re immediately transported into another realm. The lyrics are to the core but also surreal enough to extrapolate your own meaning. The band’s performance with the vocal couldn’t interplay better with each word sounding like the chord being played. You can’t help but be transformed by the time the song ends. If music is magic, then in the mystic we belong.
Does your album have an overarching theme?
Unrestrained. Steve and I have different talents and sensibilities that we bring to the table. That creates an environment of freedom and experimentation. If I’m deep into reading Walt Whitman and want to make something with a light touch, Steve is ready with the muted piano and banjo case drums. If he’s down some soul piano path, I’m there to lend him lyrics and melody. We don’t make music with an end game in mind. There is often an urgency to it, because if we miss the moment and don’t rush to capture it, then the songs drift on to somewhere else. We keep a steady, and unrelenting pace to creation which makes it feel like the process is guiding us and in control, rather than the other way around. In this album, there’s a little bit of something for everyone. We contain multitudes. We all do.
Tell us about the first song you wrote.
I wrote a song about a monkey that bumped its head when I was five. A real head banger, if you will. Steve’s first song was “Hanging Cow”. We like animals.
The first song written for THIS album (spoiler alert! There’s a sister album that we’ll release shortly after Multitudes drops) was completed almost two years ago. We had just gotten home from a month-long tour opening for Little Feat, and when the seven o’clock hour rolled around, it felt weird to not be tuning up the guitars for a show. As almost a pavlovian response to the timemark, I pulled my Gibson out of the road case and the first two verses of “Only Fools” fell out of me, at which point, I knew it was time to call Steve over. An hour later the song was finished. The next day we tracked it. That’s usually how it goes for us – fast, frenzied and trusting. Ironically, “Only Fools” was on the chopping block for this batch of songs, but I re-recorded the vocals to give it a more dynamic performance. The song came back to life and even secured a place as one of our singles. The contemplative lyric and vocal run up against confident and searing guitars, making the song sound like what it means.
Do you have any songwriting tips you can share?
At this point, every song has a different process of conception. Sometimes we have to wrestle it down, other times it feels like it’s always been there waiting on our call. We try to be process agnostic because every song is truly different. We DO however have a cardinal rule of “belief in the beginning.” We stave off judgment in those early moments of creation because if you meet yourself with criticism, it’s really hard to move past it. Doubt is a creativity succubus. However, once the song etches its way into existence, then, we become its harshest editors. The editing process can often be arduous, but it’s necessary to give each song the scrutiny it deserves. Because we’ve known each other for so long, we really trust each other’s ears and instincts. In the end, we only answer to ourselves, so if the song passes our test, then we share it. If it doesn’t we file it away in the recycling bin (which is pretty full at this point).
Also, it is incredibly freeing to rid yourself of the notion that songs need to be autobiographical. Sometimes, it’s entirely too much pressure to write about your own emotions and experiences. There is a song that can exist in every moment and it can have nothing to do with you. The world becomes technicolor when you’re trying to paint its tale. The imagination is endless.
How would you explain your style/Who are your musical influences?
Our style is hard to contain and it sort of depends on what we’re listening to at the moment, or what we’re reading. Steve is somewhat of a forensic musicologist constantly digging for new sounds and inspiration. We’ve spent days in research mode scrolling through his vast record collection trying to catch the jolt for what’s next. Sometimes we find it in Serge Gainsbourg, sometimes it’s still right there in the Beatles. It’s momentary, and all over the place – a very representative sound for my ADD and Steve’s extreme attention to detail.
There is no way that you can’t mention JJ Cale as an influence for this batch of music. Like many before us, we tried to capture his uncanny ability to make an uptempo groove feel chill with songs like “Praying Amos”. Other major influences for this record come from Booker T & the MG’s, Ry Cooder, Big Star, Allen Toussaint, Van Morrison, Guy Clark, Wanda Jackson, Percy Sledge, Stephen Stills, and of course, Dylan. Always Dylan.
Multitudes will be out on November 8th.
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