Five Fast Facts: sugarwife on “Getting Closer” and Starting Over

3 hours ago

4 min read

From “I hate music” to a six-piece band, sugarwife's story begins with a breakup, burnout, and The Beths. In 2017, the project began as a solo outlet after the end of the previous band left them questioning if they even wanted to make music anymore. Hearing the band The Beths for the first time reminded them of how powerful making music could really be. What started as a solo project slowly grew as they collected new members along the way, eventually becoming the band they are today. Even the name Sugar Wife has an unexpected origin. They borrowed it from a deep cut song by The National because they thought the name looked and sounded cool as one word. That same mix of influences and contrast comes through in their latest single, “Getting Closer,” which uses upbeat instrumentation, with lyrics rooted in burnout and the strange feeling of having to start over. This week, we sat down with the band to take a deeper dive into “Getting Closer.”

IB: How did you come up with sugarwife as a name? How did the group initially start in 2017? SW: I was in a really heavy “I hate making music” frame of mind, dusting off the ashes of a previous band break-up, but then I heard The Beths for the first time and realised how powerful and fun making music with other people can be, and that I was definitely missing that and needed it in my life. So it started as a solo thing, but I slowly collected everyone along the way. As for our name, Sugar Wife is a song by The National, a bit of a deep cut, not one of my favourite songs of theirs, but it does look and sound cool as one word. I like a band name that doesn’t necessarily mean anything, but definitely can if you want it to.

IB: Who are some of sugarwife’s musical inspirations? SW: The Beths and The National are up there, but some big hitters would be Blur and Bright Eyes. Blur’s entire discography (and honestly, anything from Damon Albarn and Graham Coxon) has been hugely inspirational in myriad ways, ways I’m still realising; the range of genre-hopping while still sounding like Blur is one of my favourite things about them and something I really enjoy exploring in my own songwriting. Discovering Bright Eyes/Conor Oberst as a sad, sad boy in the 2000s was, of course, going to influence me lyrically as much as musically. The visceral devastation, beauty, and way with words that Conor Oberst has will always be hiding somewhere in the back of my mind while I write; if a stranger can connect to me in such a fulfilling way, imagine me being able to do that for someone else.
IB: When writing a song, how does collaboration work with six members giving input?
SW: I bring the bones of a song to the band, not always 100% finished; sometimes the ending comes together once everyone is involved, but then we bring it to life as a band. Aside from a hook, when I have one, I rarely tell anyone what to play; I don’t see the point of being in a band otherwise. The arrangements sometimes get played around with, and we always try out everyone’s ideas to find out whether or not they work for the song; we’ve thankfully never fought or argued. None of our egos are big enough for that.

IB: What inspired the clash between the burnt-out lyrics and upbeat instrumentation in “Getting Closer”? Were there other versions of the song that did not have this clash?
SW: There was never a version without the clash. I distinctly remember being at my day job on New Year’s Day and thinking a sardonic “here we are again” (the first line of the song) while also feeling the second-hand hope of a fresh new year starting and relishing that contrast.
IB: Is “Getting Closer” about a time in one of your lives where you felt burnt out with nowhere to go and nothing to do?
SW: While there was the specific moment that the first line came to me, it can apply to a multitude of moments in a life. Rudely enough, during the week of the single being released, I was in a limbo of waiting to hear about some potentially very positive life-changing news, only to be hit with huge disappointment the day the song came out. It was almost as if I’d written a song to help me through something like this! I have, of course, started writing a sequel song since then.

IB: What is one song you wish Sugarwife wrote?

SW: Let me consult the list…today we’ll go with "Helplessness Blues" by Fleet Foxes. You hear lyrics like that, and you think you may as well pack it in because it’s been perfected. But then it always makes me want to see if I can find another way to that songwriting peak; any song that inspires me like that is perfect.

IB: What’s next for Sugarwife?

SW: Another single before the year is out! Then some more in the new year along with our second album, which feels like our real debut. I’m proud of our debut album, but sometimes you need to get a collection of songs out in the world and out of the way to settle into what you’re really here to do.

IB: Thank you for your time, and I hope to hear more from you in the future!

SW: Thank you for having me; we hope to always have more to share!