Welcome back to Buzz, Super Love! We love your new release, “Tell Me,” a song about apathy and searching for emotion. This is a darker song than your others. Can you tell us about your inspiration for the song?
“Tell Me” came from the darkness of winter, the emotionless stagnation that can stem from isolation and a loss of purpose. But “Tell Me” is also about wanting to break free. About wanting more from the world, craving a brighter emotional state.
Your sound on “Tell Me” uses a 7/4 time signature and an interesting blend of instrumentation. What was your process for creating such a unique sound?
Doing an alt-rock-pop song in 7/4 timing felt like a challenge that hadn’t been met before. So we wanted to do it! We started with a bass groove in 7 and built it from there. We were loosely inspired by Marcus Miller’s use of electric bass with a synth bass. By alternating between classical rock instrumentation and the grinding retro synth, we created an atmosphere of unease that perfectly embodied the mood of the lyrics.
We love that this song is a duet. What inspired you to do that?
“Tell Me” is based on reality being created from an emotion. Because emotions are so subjective, we wanted to bring something concrete into the song to emphasize the truth of feelings. We created this song as a duet to combine our shared emotional perceptions. Sharing it makes it feel more real.
We hope the contrast of our voices is interesting. Musically, a lot is happening in “Tell Me,” so we used this vocal contrast as a traditional hook to keep our audience engaged.
“Tell Me” follows the passionate struggle through apathy and back to a more emotional state. Can you share a story of a time when apathy took over?
One recent winter, we lived in a very rural town on a lake up north—so far north that the winter days were shorter than I could have imagined. With so little sunlight and so few people, it was easy to become detached—detached from the world, detached from the rhythms of each day, even detached from emotion. It was a strange thing to embody—a sense of complete aloneness. Yet we were both feeling it. We were together in our aloneness.
Being so overwhelmed with being alone turned into a sadness that grew so big it was easier just to turn it off. “Tell Me” is about living in apathy, desperate to break out. Begging for help to see the sunlight, a jumpstart into feeling.
What’s next for Super Love? Can we expect to hear more new music soon?
We’re so excited about what’s coming! We’re working to round out our second album and looking forward to releasing it. We’re also eying collaboration, especially with an EDM artist–we’re looking forward to making an alt-pop-rock-EDM mashup!
We also just published a book, Super Love: The Music of Je T’Aime. It gives you an inside look at how we created our first album, from our conceptual approach and artistic vision to our choice of technologies and effects.
Read the full BuzzMusic review on Super Love's, "Tell Me," here.