GOON – Paint By Numbers (Track-by-Track)

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Recently I was able to catch up with GOON before the release of their new EP Paint by Numbers to provide a cool track-by-track about their new record, that came out today. The LA-based band effortlessly sways from shoegaze pop to a more straightforward rock/grunge approach on this EP that is filled with several great moments. GOON’s Kenny Becker provided these answers based on each song on Paint by Numbers.

I love the opener and lead single “Garden of Our Neighbor”! Can you explain why you decided to lead with this track?

Thank you! I really wanted to lead with “Garden” because it feels pretty different from our previous work, and I think it encapsulates the spirit of all the new music we have in store for 2022. I love that it makes an acronym for our band name too. All of those factors combined made it seem like a great option to be our first new song in over two years.

What went into the lyrical material for “Fruiting Body”?

The lyrics for “Fruiting Body” are kinda centered around the idea of looking at the past through rose-colored glasses, hence the line about “pink glass”. I wanted to contrast that with lines that are essentially me practicing mindfulness techniques. Just saying things that I saw around me at that moment, like my cat Benni on the windowsill watching a bird. So in a way the song is kind of about nostalgia vs. being in the present. AKA my eternal struggle, lol.

You have a great guitar groove paired with cello elements on “Hi From Beyond.” What made you want to explore different instruments on this song and the EP in general?

My wife, Emily Elkin, is a brilliant cellist. So adding cello to the new GOON tunes felt very natural. I feel like I’ve entered a phase where I’m growing less interested in all-out heavy guitar music. I still love distortions, overdrive, stuff like that, but I wanna try everything. Synths, tape loops, and bowed string instruments are my current obsession.

What would you describe “Paint By Numbers” to mean from your perspective?

To me, “Paint by Numbers” is sort of about a bunch of things. I love painting and I love numbers, so in a way it can be interpreted as simply as that. Also, it’s kind of an homage to Boards of Canada’s unreleased 1994 album called Play by Numbers. But aside from all that, the actual arts and crafts activity of painting by numbers is fascinating to me. Personally, I prefer coloring books and crayons, but I think the general idea is the same. I’ve found a lot of calm and refuge from anxiety in coloring books these days.

I love the vocal parts on “Siren Rising.” What memories stood out from the recording process of this song?

My wife Emmy sang those! That was a super fun song to make, we were really trying to channel our “Blur-in-their-experimental-phase” vibe. The song started as a synth jam that I made on my Tascam 4-track, then Andy came over and recorded drums on it. We actually set up his drums inside my apartment and he played them really quietly with those hot rod drumsticks. In retrospect, I think that allowed us to get a lot of character out of his performance. Also a fun little detail, the kick drum mic was just an SM57 that I laid on the ground facing the kit. If you listen closely you can sometimes hear the squeak of the kick pedal, lol.

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