Emma Swysgood (vocalist): So “Slow Motion” is the last song that we played [in the Broad & High studios]. And that one is not recorded – it will be soon. That one was actually written in the time period that “Waking Up” was written, too. So it was written a really long time ago. For us, it’s an old song, even though we haven’t recorded it.
Sean Gleeson (guitarist, vocalist): Yeah, we wrote that around the same time as “Waking Up,” but it’s changed, literally, so many times. It started out as just an acoustic song, and now it’s, like, a band. But we’re finally – I think the recording we’re working on right now is like the final form. So we’re hoping to see that soon.
Emma: Yeah, that was written in the same summer, and I don’t know – I feel like it’s along the same lines.
Sean: You (Emma) wrote all the lyrics for that one.
Emma: I know. It’s along the same lines of just like, things changing and, like, not really knowing where you’re going and what you’re doing but trying to keep moving, stay … I don’t know, stay …
Sean: Woke.
Emma: Stay woke [Laughs]. Stop, don’t say that.
Trying to stay positive about stuff. I remember that song was like — [Sean] sent me a guitar thing on my phone. And I just remember playing it in my car and the feeling being very much like, we were in the middle of the summer, in the middle of trying to make something new and not trying to force it but still trying to have our own sound.
So why did you record “Waking Up” and hold onto “Slow Motion?”
Sean: So when we put out “Waking Up” and “Am Your Eyes” — so until now, we’ve done this like double single (release) thing or whatever. But around that early time, we had so many other songs and a lot of them we don’t even play anymore.
And “Slow Motion” ended up being one of those things that we were playing, but it was never a full-band thing. Like for the first year that we even played it, it was just, like, I would play guitar and she would sing. Whereas everything (else) was like beat-oriented and had, you know, synths and bass and like loops and all that stuff.
So we loved the song, and it ended up being, like, just a dynamic shift from what everything else in the set was. But, you know, upon getting a drummer and a bassist and being able to like feel everything out as a band …
Emma: Yeah, the keys and synths – the song is finally feeling final. It’s grown a lot.
Sean: It’s way different than any other song we’ve ever gone about making.
It’s kind of cool how it’s evolved alongside the band.
Sean: Yeah, kind of, exactly.
Emma: Yeah, some songs just do that.
Sean: We’ve played it in every set we’ve had as a five-piece, and we still haven’t put it out yet.
Emma: We’ve played it in every set. I don’t think we’ve ever taken it out of the set. But it’s changed every time – like, three-piece, four-piece, now, five-piece. Now the song is feeling full, so we’re feeling good about it. It will hopefully be coming out shortly.
Read more from our interview with the members of Mungbean.