Letting Up Despite Great Faults at The Launch Pad at Spike Hill

Letting Up Despite Great Faults' principle songwriter Mike Lee is the first to admit that the fuzzy four-piece he helms churns out the kind of warm, nostalgic orbs of woozy rock that serve as personal sonic diary entries. On the band's latest album Untogether, Lee's lyrical scribbles touch on the strain of lost connections and sadness in realizing it's time to start over. Still, the native Los Angelino rolled with a remake of his life and his music, relocating from his hometown to Austin TX in search of the kind of quartet he always envisioned Letting Up would become. From our latest concert video capture, it's pretty evident he found it. The band fire off songs from Untogether in enthusiastic fashion (especially Kent, the fellow ripping it on that giant yellow bass), filling The Launch Pad in Brooklyn with powerful songs meant to heal. The band seems happy, Mike seems happy; proof that the power of song can heal any wound and set you off on unexpected new adventures.

Untogether marks a very specific time in my life where things that were so solid began falling apart. It isn't necessarily about breaking up or falling out of love, it is more about losing connections you've had with people even though you still care for them. It is about the state you're in after breaking a bond and finding out who you are without anyone else there to make decisions with you. There are thoughts on the idea of death and the realization of impermanence in a relationship. Writing Untogether was my first step to recovery from bad wounds I was never comfortable discussing with anybody. It was also my first step in finding out who I really want to be.

I finished writing the first song, "Scratch," on the 4th of July of last year. I remember because I was trying to record my vocals and the neighbors kept setting off fireworks. Obviously from the song title, I felt I was going to be starting a lof things in my life from scratch. I also wanted to do that with my production as well. I tried to take new approaches to lyric writing, singing, guitar playing, etc. I wanted the album to sound confident, yet still have this sense of being lost. Like, I haven't really found what I wanted, but I now know what I don't want. The very first lyrics on the album (on "Visions") are "I can't find me anymore, but I'll breathe faster this time." That basically sums up the entire sentiment. I consciously tried to bring the vocals up front more than I have in the past, but still bury them at times with noisy guitars or hazy synths. So I guess lyrically as well as musically I'm trying to move forward but with purposeful hesitation.

After recording the album, my final step in this new start of mine was to literally move to a new place. I love L.A., I grew up there, I have so many close friends and family there, but at the same time I felt like I needed a truly fresh start somewhere else. I picked up all my things to join our bassist Kent in Austin, TX. He had moved a year prior and I thought it was only fair for me to try Austin since he was in L.A. with me the entire time before. I moved right before SXSW and we luckily found an amazing keyboardist in Annah and an equally amazing drummer in Daniel. We now have the quartet I've always envisioned Letting Up to be and I couldn't be happier.