You might already have a good idea what this will sound like before it begins. It's sweet and slow and syrupy. A golden-hued house track that slides like nectar. "Honey" from production duo Surf Dad is rather personal too, featuring vocals sampled from old cassettes featuring their Mum's voice. We're pleased to bring the first listen via the band's soundcloud, and find out what their Mum actually thinks of the song below.
Surf Dad: For this track we started with a bunch of samples we liked. Some we had recorded in the backyard and some we had ripped from YouTube. We built up the beat and the melodic elements slowly but realised we were in need of vocals to bring out the best in the song. Coincidentally at that time George had been helping our Mum archive some of her old 4-Track recordings into a digital format, and stumbled across a few vocal tracks that were too good not to use. Once we'd added the vocals, we just tried to accentuate them with the structure of the song and more samples, this time more along the lines of horns and strings.What was your reaction when discovering the tapes of your Mum's singing?
Astonished really. We'd both grown up seeing Mum in bands, hearing her play guitar and sing and also produce early techno and electronica. However, most of the songs on the 4 Track were recorded in the mid 80's to mid 90's, so were completely new to our ears. I think we just really loved hearing our Mum's voice at a similar age to what we are now, and just the idea of that music seeing new light was very exciting for us.How did you incorporate that source material into the final mix?
Originally we tried to digitally process the vocals as little as possible, but we were used to hearing Mum's singing with lots of reverb and delay on it, as that's what she'd always preferred playing in bands and producing. So eventually we succumbed and added some reverb and a little delay, which seemed to suit the feel of the song more than really prominent, up front vocals. Kinda like the vocals are embedded in the song, coming at you from 1989. "Honey", in terms of hours spent chipping away at it, would easily be our most time-consuming track. It's something we've been sitting on and tinkering with for a long time, I think the emotional connection was the most important aspect in which we really wanted to get right. Everything had its right place, and I remember the day that we had finally finished it. We had been stuck for hours looking for new elements to introduce, which isn't like us. Eventually we just stopped, sat back and listened to it properly. It was finished, and had been for a while. I guess we just couldn't believe that we had actually finished it.What does the song represent to you, in the context of all Surf Dad's output so far?
We've always wanted to make more sentimental music that really represents who we are and where we come from. This song especially references those influences, with samples recorded in Dad's backyard, and of course Mum's vocals. Basically we want to continue to carry the torch for our parents, who are both amazing artists in their own right.Which leads us neatly into Surf Mum's response to your song. Here's the response:
"I'm absolutely blown away by the sweetness of Honey! The boys have totally nailed the essence of the song. It was summer when I wrote it, I was in love and feeling those crazy, ecstatic rushes of bliss. When the boys played me their first early cut of Honey I cried. I got goosebumps at the beautiful sounds they had created; the hissing and chirping sounds of summer, the lovely deep bass and the spacious beats and percussion. I was amazed at how they interpreted the spirit of the song so perfectly, like it was waiting for them to come along and complete it. They are digging their way through many years of my 4-track analogue recordings at the moment, and producing some incredible songs. They seem to intuitively get the spirit of the song and take its natural conclusion. It's been a very fine thing to collaborate with my sons in this way, such a deep feeling of musical continuity. I guess the background soundtrack to their childhood was my continuously mutating music. Music rubs off, it's a beautiful thing."Hear for yourself and download Honey via Surf Dad's Soundcloud
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THUMP: Could you tell us some of the inspiration behind this track?
Surf Dad: For this track we started with a bunch of samples we liked. Some we had recorded in the backyard and some we had ripped from YouTube. We built up the beat and the melodic elements slowly but realised we were in need of vocals to bring out the best in the song. Coincidentally at that time George had been helping our Mum archive some of her old 4-Track recordings into a digital format, and stumbled across a few vocal tracks that were too good not to use. Once we'd added the vocals, we just tried to accentuate them with the structure of the song and more samples, this time more along the lines of horns and strings.What was your reaction when discovering the tapes of your Mum's singing?
Astonished really. We'd both grown up seeing Mum in bands, hearing her play guitar and sing and also produce early techno and electronica. However, most of the songs on the 4 Track were recorded in the mid 80's to mid 90's, so were completely new to our ears. I think we just really loved hearing our Mum's voice at a similar age to what we are now, and just the idea of that music seeing new light was very exciting for us.How did you incorporate that source material into the final mix?
Originally we tried to digitally process the vocals as little as possible, but we were used to hearing Mum's singing with lots of reverb and delay on it, as that's what she'd always preferred playing in bands and producing. So eventually we succumbed and added some reverb and a little delay, which seemed to suit the feel of the song more than really prominent, up front vocals. Kinda like the vocals are embedded in the song, coming at you from 1989. "Honey", in terms of hours spent chipping away at it, would easily be our most time-consuming track. It's something we've been sitting on and tinkering with for a long time, I think the emotional connection was the most important aspect in which we really wanted to get right. Everything had its right place, and I remember the day that we had finally finished it. We had been stuck for hours looking for new elements to introduce, which isn't like us. Eventually we just stopped, sat back and listened to it properly. It was finished, and had been for a while. I guess we just couldn't believe that we had actually finished it.What does the song represent to you, in the context of all Surf Dad's output so far?
We've always wanted to make more sentimental music that really represents who we are and where we come from. This song especially references those influences, with samples recorded in Dad's backyard, and of course Mum's vocals. Basically we want to continue to carry the torch for our parents, who are both amazing artists in their own right.Which leads us neatly into Surf Mum's response to your song. Here's the response:
"I'm absolutely blown away by the sweetness of Honey! The boys have totally nailed the essence of the song. It was summer when I wrote it, I was in love and feeling those crazy, ecstatic rushes of bliss. When the boys played me their first early cut of Honey I cried. I got goosebumps at the beautiful sounds they had created; the hissing and chirping sounds of summer, the lovely deep bass and the spacious beats and percussion. I was amazed at how they interpreted the spirit of the song so perfectly, like it was waiting for them to come along and complete it. They are digging their way through many years of my 4-track analogue recordings at the moment, and producing some incredible songs. They seem to intuitively get the spirit of the song and take its natural conclusion. It's been a very fine thing to collaborate with my sons in this way, such a deep feeling of musical continuity. I guess the background soundtrack to their childhood was my continuously mutating music. Music rubs off, it's a beautiful thing."Hear for yourself and download Honey via Surf Dad's Soundcloud