New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Let's Be Miserable Together, which is scheduled for release on May 8, 2020, is the second of five planned 2020 EP releases by
Texas songwriter/producer Salim Nourallah. The first one, Jesus of Sad, was released in January to coincide with a handful of East Coast dates opening for his friend Rhett Miller of Old 97's.
So why is Nourallah releasing five EPs instead of a single or double LP? "Well, when I first started recording in July 2018 with my friend, Billy Harvey, I wasn't really expecting to record as many songs as we ended up putting down," Nourallah explains. "We were having so much fun though, and I was writing a lot, so the list just kept expanding. It all sort of happened like one big, happy song avalanche."
The resulting 25 songs, all tracked by the two veteran musicians at The Treefort Studios in Austin, TX, are what will comprise the quintet of EPs to be released this year on Nourallah's own Dallas-based Palo Santo Records label. "Simply put, Billy is one of the sickest musicians on the planet," says Nourallah. "I first got hooked on his songwriting, but then I realized how unique his guitar playing is. Later, I came to realize that his bass playing is also mind-blowing. He's inspired me to keep feeding him songs because I just want to hear all the crazy cool parts he comes up with."
This is hardly the first time Billy and Salim have worked together. Their decades-long friendship has seen many co-bills and collaborations, beginning with Nourallah's fourth solo album, Constellation, which
Harvey produced in 2009, as well as the 2017 NHD album, And the Devil Went Up to Portland, where the combined production and songwriting talents of
Harvey and Nourallah were mixed with a fellow songwriting friend, Alex Dezen, from The Damnwells. But this newest collaboration, a sprawling mass of expertly crafted songs and brilliantly idiosyncratic production, has brought Nourallah's unique vision to new musical heights.
Here's what Nourallah had to say about the songs he and Billy
Harvey put together for the Let's Be Miserable Together EP:
"The songs 'Let's Be Miserable Together' and 'Building a Case' came in back to back. I've always looked at the two songs as being siblings. Both of them could have also been performed by my ex band, the Travoltas. They're playful with a dark undercurrent. The first line of 'Building a Case' came directly out of something I said to my girlfriend and the rest of the words quickly followed. I had the whole thing finished in less than an hour. That's super rare for me.
"'Assassins' probably could've been a Travoltas song as well. My kids like this one because the assassins in the song weren't intended to be 'real' assassins. It's a metaphor for our negative thoughts. But if you really want them to be real assassins, they can be. That's up to you. My kids liked that concept! Musically I wanted it to sound a bit swampy. I was happy with the groove we ended up with. Billy played the drums, and I think they're pretty awesome.
"I actually started the song 'Winners' way back in 2010. I'd been on tour in France and played a couple shows with Wreckless Eric. We became friends and were talking about recording together. I've always seen him as the quintessential underdog, he's a real-life hero of mine. Eric is the king of the DIY aesthetic. Anyway, I sent him a demo of 'Winners' years ago and always envisioned him singing the bridge refrain. Our plans to record together eventually fell through, but it didn't really matter because I was never happy with the words. When I finally revisited it in 2018, I enlisted some songwriting help from my brainiac, English teacher girlfriend and finally sorted out the lyrics!
"'A
Simple Love' was one that I wrestled quite a lot with. I initially got feedback from a couple close friends that I ultimately didn't agree with. I ended up being stubborn and sticking to what I believed the narrative should be. Then I second guessed myself and sent it to an esteemed songwriter friend of mine who thought it could go in a direction that might make it the kind of song that people would play at their weddings. I definitely had a knee-jerk reaction to that feedback and ran in the opposite direction. One line that seemed to stir the most controversy was 'not jealous or petty or cruel, or clutching a beer by the pool.' The beer by the pool line might be my favorite line in the song. It's a head-scratcher. It's a bit skewed. I'm aiming for dysfunctional sincerity here."
Indeed, Salim has made a career of bucking trends. But with this latest collection of songs, as well as another full-length LP in the works with Marty Willson-Piper of The Church, not to mention the esteemed roster of acts on his ever-expanding label, it would seem that his steadfast resolve is paying off. While you might not hear one of the songs from this new collection being played at a wedding anytime soon, there are more than a few that most certainly tug at your heartstrings.
https://salimnourallah.com/
