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X Ambassadors will get a little weird at LaureLive
By John Benson
There’s an inherent danger when a band’s music is described as weird and different. Nevertheless, when X Ambassadors got around to writing the group’s debut effort, “VHS,” those were the exact descriptors the band had in mind.
“We wanted our album to be something that’s modern but different sounding,” said drummer Adam Levin, calling from Portland, Maine. “We spent a lot of time on it and really worked crazy hard on the album. We wanted to do something that didn’t sound like anything else.”
Any concerns about releasing a weird and different-sounding album were put to rest pretty early for the Ithaca, N.Y.-based band when the album’s lead single, “Renegades,” became a platinum top-20 hit.
The song boasts a breezy motif that doesn’t sound too far removed from Imagine Dragons. Levin said such a comparison is a compliment. It also makes sense since both groups worked with producer Alex da Kid.
The major radio success of “Renegades” totally caught the group – which will make its Northeast Ohio debut Saturday at the LaureLive Music Festival near Chesterland – off guard. As did its follow-up single, “Unsteady,” which reached the top 10 on alternative radio. The catchy tune, featuring howling vocals and a midtempo beat, further separates X Ambassadors from the current crop of pop-rock bands.
“Even a song like ‘Renegades,’ which is probably the least weird song, still has weird production,” Levin said. “It really has elements that are common, like acoustic guitar, but the drums have a different groove.
“It’s cool, and that’s what we like, kind of working in an alternative pop paradigm: Making it digestible enough so it can fit in the popular world but making it weird and different. That’s really what we liked.”
As a whole, “VHS” features a cornucopia of styles and vibes that makes it hard to pigeonhole the X Ambassadors’ sound. A perfect example is “Fear,” which features guests (surprise!) Imagine Dragons. The tune is centered around an Afro-Cuban syncopated beat, crazy synths and unconventional guitar licks.
“It doesn’t sound like a lot of stuff out there,” Levin said. “That’s also why we included interludes between songs. We grew up listening to all of the classic hip-hop and R&B albums that had interludes tell a story. So if you listen closely to ‘VHS,’ the interludes thematically kind of precede the song that comes after it.”
What’s interesting is X Ambassadors decided to name their debut album “VHS,” which seemingly opened the band up for out-of-date comparisons.
“I don’t think we ever thought of it like that,” Levin said. “That’s interesting. It was more like a throwback with the interludes. Some of which were taken from old VHS tapes. It kind of has that style and feel.”
Did they consider any other obsolete technology for an album title? “Yeah, like the soon to be Blu-ray,” Levin said, laughing. “That’ll be our last album. Or hopefully they’ll create some new formats before we’re done.”