Kyle Durfey saw in the new year by enjoying some time off. It’s well-earned, after all, as with the release of their new album ‘Wait For Love’, Pianos Become The Teeth will finally become the name on everyone’s lips.
“I’m on a break from work right now, just hanging out,” the Baltimore five-piece’s singer starts when he answers Upset’s phone call from his home in Baltimore. “Right now it’s freezing cold, and there’s snow on the ground. It’s pretty slick.”
Returning home for some R&R is also thoroughly deserved for the rest of the band – guitarists Mike York and Chad McDonald, bassist Zac Sewell, and drummer David Haik – who, over the last four years, have taken leaps and bounds through a process Kyle describes as “knowing we have certain abilities that we can use to our advantage, but also trying to progressing musically.”
Initially rising up as part of a movement christened The Wave, they stood alongside the likes of Touché Amoré, Defeater and La Dispute less like the Big Four of thrash metal, but more like the Big Four of blistering emotional hardcore.
Just when everyone expected them to release another burst of dark and devastating noise, Pianos Become The Teeth came out of leftfield with their third album ‘Keep You’, cascading into eloquent and esoteric tones of emo and post-rock.
Kyle reflects: “I think ‘Keep You’ will forever be just a very, very special record for us, just because it did mark a change in the band in the way we wrote and approached music in taking all the boundaries away and just doing whatever we wanted. I feel that was incredibly freeing as people and as musicians.”
The change in direction took almost immediate effect on Pianos’ live experience, with cuts from ‘Keep You’ not only comprising a majority of their setlists, but also helping Kyle in “taking my musicianship to the next level”.
“Not that I’m a pro by any means now,” he laughs. “But with playing more abrasive music, I feel like we could get away with a lot more things. Transitioning into all the ‘Keep You’ songs, there’s not a lot you can hide behind anymore. You can’t just rely on sheer passion anymore to get through the set, and you have to be on your Ps and Qs a little bit more, which is challenging but also more fun in a way.
“I think [touring the album] made us realise how much we love doing it, and how much more we can keep doing it. It was such a different sound for us, and we still loved it, and that just gave us more hope to keep going.”
After taking ‘Keep You’ on the road for the best part of three years, the quintet – completed by guitarists Mike York and Chad McDonald, bassist Zac Sewell, and drummer David Haik – were fuelled by a more positive mindset in composing its eagerly-awaited follow-up.
“It’s always a nerve-wracking thing to write new songs and record them,” says Kyle. there’s always that second-guessing and self-doubt, but I think ‘Keep You’ allowed us to have more freedom and not to have that fear of pushing ourselves.
“If you would’ve asked any of us if we knew what ‘Wait For Love’ was gonna sound like, I don’t know if we would’ve said yes. This is what came out, and we’re proud of it.”
From the jab of adrenaline that you get from the chorus of ‘Charisma’ to the cosmic charm of ‘Bitter Red’, the first sneak-peeks at ‘Wait For Love’ indicate a more subtle progression from its predecessor, but a progression all the same. Working for the second time running with producer Will Yip – a man who turned his hand to making Album of 2017-calibre records with the likes of Citizen, Code Orange and Tigers Jaw last year – Kyle says that he and the rest of the band made a “completely comfortable” entrance back into the studio.
We just felt excited to put new music out with no real pressure, except from ourselves. The first time [working with Will Yip] was amazing, but there’s always that guard up, but this time we didn’t have to have any weird, awkward adjusting. We just went in there and started working on it.
“We all had it in mind that this record was going to be drivier and more uptempo,” Kyle adds. “I love ‘Keep You’ but it’s a very monotone record, and a lot of that’s on purpose. I definitely think this record’s a little bit brighter, and I think that was a lot of Will pushing me and being like, ‘Don’t be afraid to be a good singer, man!'”
Entering more upbeat territory meant diving into an even deeper pool of influences, and when he talks about some of the records that Pianos took cues from for ‘Wait For Love’, you’d struggle to believe some of the artists Kyle cites.
“I did the Spotify thing where you can see your most-played record from last year, and mine was that Sylvan Esso record [2017’s ‘What Now’] which is like dance-pop but with really dark grooves. I couldn’t stop listening to it.
“We wanted to be weird and have Radiohead influences and stuff like that,” he continues. “Chad especially loved [2016’s] ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’, that’s one of his favourite records, and Mike is into a lot of EDM stuff too which is cool.”
Perhaps the most profound moment where Thom Yorke and co. seem to have left their indelible mark is halfway through the record, on the track ‘Bay Of Dreams’. A personal highlight of the record for Kyle, it incorporates stirring keyboards and electronic elements alongside one of the singer’s most introspective yet intoxicating performances yet.
“I think us listening to more pop-centric music maybe played a role in us having more upbeat songs, but we all listen to sad bastard country music too!” he laughs.
By the time it came to write record number four, Pianos Become The Teeth were anything but strangers to change. Tectonic shifts in sound aside, some of the members are continuing to welcome pivotal turns in their personal lives with open arms. Chad bought a house, and Zac is set to be married in April, but as for Kyle? He brought his first child into the world.
“It was obviously a giant life change,” he says on the arrival of his son Everett nearly two years ago, his voice taking an even more enthusiastic tone. “But that just changed my outlook on a lot of things.
“The record is kind of about how we give and receive love throughout different times of our life and through different experiences, and how sometimes we’re hesitant to accept love and we’re hesitant to give out love because of different hardships you’ve gone through in your life.
“A lot of us have had a lot of things on our plate but at least for me personally, dealing with being a father and trying to balance family life all played into the lyrical themes of the record.”
The future for Pianos Become The Teeth burns brighter than ever, and as they look ahead to getting back out on the road – which, according to Kyle, will “definitely” involve a return to the UK in the not-so-distant future – it’s impossible to predict quite where the band will take their next transformative step.
“I honestly hope that every record we do sounds different,” Kyle says. “I don’t want to put out the same record over and over. I’d be into going into more experimental-sounding stuff, without getting too off the walls, because some bands completely lose it.
“We don’t really feel the limitations, ” he adds. “I’d be open to playing heavier songs, and then playing softer, weirder songs. I’m grateful that Pianos at this point kind of do both now, and that’s a really great place to be.”
Pianos Become The Teeth’s album ‘Wait For Love’ is out 23rd February. Taken from the March issue of Upset – order your copy below.
