Here's a classic example of how musical influence gets passed forward:
A few months ago, YSL Pro recruited Joshua Van Tassel to record a song using gear from the company, and he created a sample pack of sounds to accompany that track. Now, that very sample pack has provided the foundation for the latest YSL Pro track, by Hamilton's Affiliate Links (a.k.a. songwriter Bradley Davis, who also plays in the band Fresh Snow and was previously in Oval-Teen and Lake Holiday).
"I wanted to honour the spirit of the task and let the gear and sounds dictate my direction," Davis tells Exclaim!, saying that he began with no preconceived vision for the song beyond using Van Tassel's percussion sounds.
The result is "Yours (and You're Alone)," a track that intriguingly straddles genres and influences, combining click-clacking percussion loops with organic textures including fingerpicked acoustic guitar, distantly floating pedal steel by contributor Jimmy Hayes, and Davis's tender, double-tracked singing. Davis points to alt-country combo Lambchop as a key influence, saying, "Too bad Kurt Wagner didn't sing it."
It's a wistful, melancholy track — but one that's comforting rather than despairing.
"I was trying to write a song with an element of hope to it. That isn't always my style," Davis reflects. "I often enjoy writing songs that are bleak, but summer was just getting started, so I figured I shouldn't dwell in the darkness."
To bring his multifaceted vision to life, Davis turned to the arsenal of YSL Pro gear, running a Mojave MA-300 condenser microphone into a Universal Audio Apollo Twin interface, and then applying UAD plugins. He says the Helios 69 preamp had "a colour and vibe that worked well with the song," while the EP-34 delay provided "that amazing, borderline out-of-control dub reggae echo," and he "absolutely fell in love with" the Capitol Chambers reverb, which felt like "a warm hug on vocals."
He also used a wide range of other sonic treatments during the production process: Moog Multimode XL, Galaxy Tape Echo, Hitsville EQ, Studer A800 Multichannel Tape Recorder Plug-In, the Fender '55 Tweed, Empirical Labs Distressor, ADA Flanger, Teletronix LA-3A Classic Audio Leveler and 1176 Classic Limiter Collection. For Davis, who doesn't usually do the final mix on his own Affiliate Links material, it was an exciting change to stretch his wings and experiment with new tools.
Not that the tracks needed all that much studio trickery. "The warmth of the initial sounds from the Mojave microphone into the Apollo Twin made me comfortable creating something relatively sparse," he says. That warmth was further polished "in the box," using only UAD and Spark plug-ins by David Roman of 4130 Mastering.
"Yours (and You're Alone)" will likely appear on the sophomore Affiliate Links album, which Davis has been writing and recording this summer, since it fits in nicely with the other songs he's been writing. But first, Affiliate Links will release their debut, Enough Light, on September 9 through Toronto label We Are Busy Bodies (in vinyl and digital formats).
And who knows — maybe someone can build something out of "Yours (and You're Alone)" and keep the cycle of inspiration going. "If anyone wants to sample any of it, they are welcome. I am happy to send the multitrack," offers Davis.
Listen to "Yours (and You're Alone)" below.
A few months ago, YSL Pro recruited Joshua Van Tassel to record a song using gear from the company, and he created a sample pack of sounds to accompany that track. Now, that very sample pack has provided the foundation for the latest YSL Pro track, by Hamilton's Affiliate Links (a.k.a. songwriter Bradley Davis, who also plays in the band Fresh Snow and was previously in Oval-Teen and Lake Holiday).
"I wanted to honour the spirit of the task and let the gear and sounds dictate my direction," Davis tells Exclaim!, saying that he began with no preconceived vision for the song beyond using Van Tassel's percussion sounds.
The result is "Yours (and You're Alone)," a track that intriguingly straddles genres and influences, combining click-clacking percussion loops with organic textures including fingerpicked acoustic guitar, distantly floating pedal steel by contributor Jimmy Hayes, and Davis's tender, double-tracked singing. Davis points to alt-country combo Lambchop as a key influence, saying, "Too bad Kurt Wagner didn't sing it."
It's a wistful, melancholy track — but one that's comforting rather than despairing.
"I was trying to write a song with an element of hope to it. That isn't always my style," Davis reflects. "I often enjoy writing songs that are bleak, but summer was just getting started, so I figured I shouldn't dwell in the darkness."
To bring his multifaceted vision to life, Davis turned to the arsenal of YSL Pro gear, running a Mojave MA-300 condenser microphone into a Universal Audio Apollo Twin interface, and then applying UAD plugins. He says the Helios 69 preamp had "a colour and vibe that worked well with the song," while the EP-34 delay provided "that amazing, borderline out-of-control dub reggae echo," and he "absolutely fell in love with" the Capitol Chambers reverb, which felt like "a warm hug on vocals."
He also used a wide range of other sonic treatments during the production process: Moog Multimode XL, Galaxy Tape Echo, Hitsville EQ, Studer A800 Multichannel Tape Recorder Plug-In, the Fender '55 Tweed, Empirical Labs Distressor, ADA Flanger, Teletronix LA-3A Classic Audio Leveler and 1176 Classic Limiter Collection. For Davis, who doesn't usually do the final mix on his own Affiliate Links material, it was an exciting change to stretch his wings and experiment with new tools.
Not that the tracks needed all that much studio trickery. "The warmth of the initial sounds from the Mojave microphone into the Apollo Twin made me comfortable creating something relatively sparse," he says. That warmth was further polished "in the box," using only UAD and Spark plug-ins by David Roman of 4130 Mastering.
"Yours (and You're Alone)" will likely appear on the sophomore Affiliate Links album, which Davis has been writing and recording this summer, since it fits in nicely with the other songs he's been writing. But first, Affiliate Links will release their debut, Enough Light, on September 9 through Toronto label We Are Busy Bodies (in vinyl and digital formats).
And who knows — maybe someone can build something out of "Yours (and You're Alone)" and keep the cycle of inspiration going. "If anyone wants to sample any of it, they are welcome. I am happy to send the multitrack," offers Davis.
Listen to "Yours (and You're Alone)" below.
