INTERVIEW: The Sees
Set sail with The Sees as they embark on a sonic voyage through the past, present, and future. The Brooklyn-based crew has four members: Jamie DiTringo, Alex Daly, Tim O’Brien, and Yoni Wilkenfield. The expedition began with their debut release, “The Calling,” and it’s beckoning you to come aboard.
“The Calling” is a mesmerizing single, pulling listeners in with dynamic instrumental layers resembling the iconic song “Stairway to Heaven.” This epic journey will continue with the band’s second single on October 20. A grittier track than its predecessor, “Voices,” offers a protest anthem with heavy guitars and an uplifting sound, urging the collective to take a stand against the oppressive systems set in place. Both tracks will cast the anchor for The Sees’ upcoming album, Conversations With My Future Self, set to release on November 17. Thematically, it will deeply dive into global reflection, oneness, the value of time, and more. Noisescape caught up with the crew captain, Jamie, to hear details on the singles, the new record, and what lies on the horizon for The Sees.
Photo by Alexa Jae Eyler
What is the story behind “The Calling?”
“The Calling” is a very loose ode to my fascination and love of horror movies with giant monsters, kinda like Cloverfield, kinda like Godzilla, but it’s deep sea. I grew up in New Jersey, and I remember sitting on the beach at night, looking into the ocean – it sounds morbid, but I’d think, ‘What if something massive just came out of the ocean right now?’ And “The Calling” is kind of like a chant, bringing everyone toward a certain place.
What inspired the overall sound of the song? Were there any notable musical influences?
So, I love, love, love LCD Soundsystem and house music with instruments. And to me, the idea of LCD Soundsystem is the perfect band to loop anyone in because you have an insane rhythm section, great guitars, great vocals, a synthesizer, and everything is this percussive. And I’ve never focused on trying to write songs like this. I usually start with a melody, work backward to the loop, and then put all the synthesizers in. So, I had an idea for the opening and asked my buddy Graham to add some synth. Once we heard the first few notes, a lightbulb went off. It was a very open conduit to “The Calling.” Working with him opened up a lot of ideas with recording and synthesizers and really allowed this song to keep breathing.
How was recording with Graham Stone after working with him in the past on different projects?
Years ago, we toured together in other bands, but we weren’t all that close. It was more of a “Hey, good to see you” type of deal. When we got on a call about The Sees, it was just great. Graham is my guy, and we’ve become one big family. He built this amazing studio upstate, this whole compound on a mountain in the woods with a creek down the hill— it’s just the dream scenario, and it inspired this cool idea for one of the songs. I woke up early one morning; the windows were open, and you could hear the stream while I played this acoustic guitar riff. So we went down to the creek, and I had the idea to record the sounds of the water. And that song became “Moments,” which Graham and I recorded in, like, 3 hours. And it’s just this calming segue into the next song, “End of Scene,” which sounds like heavy metal insanity [laughs]. But yeah, Graham is an incredibly talented musician and engineer, and we will do another project with him. That experience defined a lot of what we’re doing now and what we could do moving forward.
How did the rest of the new album take shape?
The record has become, I would say, an unconscious consciousness. There's a way you don't even realize you're doing something, but you're going towards a particular place. “The Calling” starts in this one loop, and the last song at some point reprises the loop. So it kind of becomes a beginning and an end. And Conversations With My Future Self as a name is a fascination with controlling time, not in the way of not being in a spaceship – even though I am a big Star Wars geek and love science fiction, 80s pop, and Back to the Future – but it's like, you have to say goodbyes. You have to realize moments change, and things move.
What experience inspired you to explore the theme of time in your music? What is the narrative you want to convey to your listeners?
Not everyone you meet in life usually has a shared experience. But we all have a shared experience with COVID, which is terrible and breaks my heart. Even those who may have come out relatively unscathed— we’re still all left wondering what happened. One can make the argument that we all lost three years of some type of development, whether you feel it or not. The song “Voices” was written in my studio in Greenpoint and was inspired by the hope of hearing the pots and pans banging for first responders every day. Being in New York and being a part of any type of BLM marches and being in our park nearby— there were all sorts of speeches and community and people rebounding, trying to be better and move forward. And “Voices” is like, maybe it’s a big middle finger to the bureaucracy of big government and the Trump years of, “Hey, we could fight together and get to a better place, and we should not be silenced. You should use your voice, and let’s try to fight towards a better end goal.” Always try to get to a better place.
Do you have a favorite song or lyric you wrote?
Yeah, it’s tough. With this album, everything has its own little place. “The Calling” is the big opener. The second song, “Losing Time,” is a fun little pop-rock song. The third song, “Kiss and Tell,” is very much like Sonic Youth, like a bit of punk angst. “Turn The Lights Out,” the fourth song, is just really big and anthemic in a type of way. Then there’s “Moments,” which is mostly instrumental. “End of Scene” feels like a Tool song or a Queens of the Stone Age vibe. “Voices”— what I love about that song is that it’s kind of like bonding for people. There’s a line, “Beat the drum, howl at the moon. A new day is starting soon. Love is all we need in the end. Live in New York with all your friends.” And that's the last verse. If you get to be in New York, there’s an energy: if you tap into it, there is a lot of positivity, and it's a privilege to be here.
Is there one moment that stands out most from the album’s creation?
The last song was an awesome experience to record. It’s based on three chords but still so lush with melodies, emotion, and space. I had a vision for the song and mapped it out, and the guys liked it. We went to record, and our drummer, Tim, said he didn’t think it was ready. I’m just like, trust me; it’s just like making a cake. We’ve gotta get the base— no pun intended— and once we start the formation, we will get there because I had an idea of where I wanted it to go. Tim said it sounded gorgeous as we went through it but just admitted he was skeptical. And I told him he should be a little! But I felt in my bones that this would be really cool. I just had this confidence to trust the universe that some positivity would come our way, and sure enough, it did. I think it’s an extremely powerful, emotive closing song on the record, and it ties back into the first song to loop it all together.
What kind of listening experience would best capture the essence of the record?
We're pressing vinyl, and we should have them in time for November 15 for our record release show. As a gearhead nerd who spends too much time thinking about sound, pedals, amplification in guitars, and now keyboard and bass sounds – I think I intentionally did the 8 songs for songs 1 through 4 on side A and then the 4 on side B as an experience. As we discussed single releases, we thought a single like “End of Scene” would give people a completely different perception of the band. And that’s cool; everyone will identify their own thoughts, but I want someone to define that through the sum of the album’s parts. The tracks together run about 40 minutes, so it’s not a ton to take on, and it flows from song to song. So I think it’s best to listen from start to finish. Of course, I want people to listen to it however they want, but if someone has a good vinyl system, you can’t ever beat that.
How has your understanding of the band and its creative process evolved since you started working together?
I’ve learned we all play music at a really high level together. Everyone wants to put in the work, has the right intentions, and their hearts and minds are in the right place. We’ve also developed a great thing with how we record. It’s nice to go to the guys with a foundation and ask for their thoughts. Then, it’s about establishing a specific sound and cohesion. Everything starts from the drums to get that full body, and Tim nails them. Then we add the guitars, which is so much fun; Alex nails the bass sounds, and we focus on that, then take a break for a few weeks. Stepping away as much as possible and having realistic timelines are really important. Graham and I listen back through with a Google Doc of notes and take another break. Then we go record my vocals. Graham played all the synths and keys on the record, and I did some here and there. We have Yoni, our incredible keyboardist and piano player, so now we’re a four-piece live band, which has been amazing.
What are your hopes for the band's future? Are there any goals you’d like to achieve?
Yeah, the goal is to record an album every year. We already have this massive achievement from recording and releasing this record, and sometimes, I’ve got to have some self-love and perspective that we did the thing. But now the ego is in place; I want to release it and for people to hear it, get it on playlists, play more shows, do some tours, and do things we want to do. But it all starts with how people perceive it and if they enjoy it. I am so blessed to have amazing friends and loved ones supporting the music I've done for years, but you want people who have never heard from you from a hole in the wall to find it – the people who never heard you be like, “This is awesome. I want to follow this band, I want my friends to listen to this band, and I want to go see them live.” And I love meeting amazing people such as yourself, talking through music, answering questions, and finding folks who hopefully become advocates and fans of the band.
THE SEES DEBUT ALBUM CONVERSATIONS WITH MY FUTURE SELF IS OUT ON NOV 17TH