A Quick Chat with The Tullamarines
Lying feels like such a raw and vulnerable track wrapped in this warm, nostalgic sonic blanket. Can you take us back to the moment the song started coming together, what sparked it?
The song's about feelings we all feel, that's kind of the collaborative joy of the band. We wanted to go somewhere between The All American Rejects and Wallows, started by layering some drum loops and playing the chord stabs and honestly it came together really quickly after that.
The track taps into some heavy feelings, imposter syndrome, insecurity, self-doubt but balances it with shimmering, upbeat 90s-inspired production. Was that contrast intentional from the start, or did it evolve naturally?
We never really come into a song with a specific idea like that in mind because trying to push an exact sound or vibe always comes out feeling a little bit ‘forced’, at least to us anyway. The song started with the chorus which stayed largely unchanged and then as everyone added their own elements to the song with instrumentation, lyrics and melody we hit that nice Tullies trademark happy-sad.
You’ve described the song as “sad-happy”, a kind of emotional duality. What does that term mean to you personally, and how does it influence your approach to songwriting?
I think it's a certain kind of emotional state that we all share that always comes out in our music. It also seems to be something that a lot of people our age resonate with. We really try to avoid shying away from saying exactly how we’re feeling in our music. It’s cathartic for us and if they relate, we hope it’s cathartic for the listener too.
There's a beautiful honesty in Lying, almost like an open letter to yourselves. How challenging (or freeing) was it to be so emotionally direct on this track?
There’s definitely been a big shift in our lyricism over the last 18 months or so. I think when we were younger we were a little bit more shy and scared about being as vulnerable in our music, often hiding behind convoluted metaphors for fear of being heard. It has been super freeing to just say how we feel in whatever way feels natural to us. I think we’ve come to have a much deeper understanding of each other now that the walls are down too.
Since Running On Empty was such a big breakthrough moment for you, did that success change your mindset or add any pressure when writing and releasing Lying?
We were lucky that we already had Lying ready by the time the crazy whirlwind of the last release was happening. I think we definitely would have overthought the hell out of the recording of it. That being said, it’s always very nerve racking when you release a song into the world and I think we all felt the pump the day before Lying dropped having such a big success to follow up!
The Tullamarines are known for turning overthinking into something cathartic and energetic. How does the creative chaos of the band dynamic feed into songs like Lying?
We’re not lying when we call ourselves perennial over thinkers! We’ve got 4 songwriters in the band all thinking 5 steps ahead and behind and stressing about every millisecond of a song. I can imagine it would be exhausting to watch us work from the outside looking in but we love it and wouldn’t have it any other way. Every spiral and second guess while working on a song like Lying all adds up into a tight compact track that we all love from start to finish.