Five years is an eternity when it comes to releasing music, but for Russian Futurists' mastermind Matthew Adam Hart, the lengthy period helped take his music to the next level. After making three albums of bedroom-crafted, lo-fi pop songs, Hart decided to break out of his habit and enter an actual studio for his fourth, The Weight's On The Wheels. Ironically enough, it came at a time when bedroom lo-fi recordings have become a popular trend.
"There are all these acts like Washed Out, Neon Indian and Millionyoung, these great bands that are doing bedroom-y kind of stuff, which I did for my first three records," Hart says. "So I thought, 'why not do something different and make a proper studio record?'" Trading his Toronto home for a New York studio, Hart travelled to the Big Apple to work with producer Michael Musmanno (Lilys, OutKast), whose influence added "a lot of the meatiness" to the record.
I basically made the whole record twice," he explains. "I did a version of the record, just in my bedroom, and I was kinda happy with it, but we got offered this chance to go down to New York, where we tore the whole record down, and re-did it all on an MPC." Hart's sonic experiment paid off, as The Weight's On The Wheels comes with the shiny, hi-fi production his hook-heavy "synth-phonies" previously cried out for. "I personally think all of the records, songwise, have been pretty accessible. Production wise? Probably not. I was never one of those guys thinking I have to reinvent the wheel or do something freaky with every record. I did three like that, and I'm getting older now, so I just decided to try it. You can always go back."
"There are all these acts like Washed Out, Neon Indian and Millionyoung, these great bands that are doing bedroom-y kind of stuff, which I did for my first three records," Hart says. "So I thought, 'why not do something different and make a proper studio record?'" Trading his Toronto home for a New York studio, Hart travelled to the Big Apple to work with producer Michael Musmanno (Lilys, OutKast), whose influence added "a lot of the meatiness" to the record.
I basically made the whole record twice," he explains. "I did a version of the record, just in my bedroom, and I was kinda happy with it, but we got offered this chance to go down to New York, where we tore the whole record down, and re-did it all on an MPC." Hart's sonic experiment paid off, as The Weight's On The Wheels comes with the shiny, hi-fi production his hook-heavy "synth-phonies" previously cried out for. "I personally think all of the records, songwise, have been pretty accessible. Production wise? Probably not. I was never one of those guys thinking I have to reinvent the wheel or do something freaky with every record. I did three like that, and I'm getting older now, so I just decided to try it. You can always go back."
