Pop Press International recently had the privilege of exchanging emails with Austin’s Mirror Travel in advance of their upcoming show as part of New Year’s Eve’s best bill, the No Play Music sponsored show at Cheer Up Charlie’s. In our interview, the band discusses the process of deciding to record their new album in Marfa, Texas, and the both gradual and sudden shift away from their previous identity as Follow That Bird. Band members Tiffanie Lanmon and Lauren Green beautifully articulate that process of slow change that leads to the discovery that the real you has been there all along, staring back at you in the mirror.
PPI: I understand that you recorded your new album in Marfa. Is that place particularly important to the band or was the studio just a good fit?
MT: Both. We first played in Marfa in March 2011 on our way home from a west coast tour and instantly fell for the place. Who doesn’t? Our friend Rachel Neel was working for Marfa Public Radio and took us out to Marfa Recording Studios the next day for a tour of the studio and to meet the owner, Gory Smelley. I had goose bumps as soon as we walked in; it was everything we’d wanted. I cried a little. I have a recording of our first trip there. We’re playing the piano and we’re playing the drums and guitars and the Wurlitzer and you can hear Gory and hear his daughter Olive, just 3 at the time, talking to Lauren. You don’t hear me crying; I should mention that.
It felt like we’d hoped and wanted and imagined for so long and then we opened a door and the answer was there. We always try to work with people that feel like family. We found that in Marfa.
PPI: The landscape and culture in that region of Texas can be imposing and affecting. Did either influence the songs as you worked on them or recorded them?
MT: I’d worry if we spent two weeks in the desert recording and it didn’t influence the songs!
PPI: Recently the band morphed from Follow That Bird into Mirror Travel, however, the band strikes me as one that had already changed considerably before the name change. Did that gradual shift over the years prompt the name change?
MT: Oh, of course. We hadn’t felt like Follow That Bird for quite some time. The shift occurred years ago but our aim had never been stable enough with Follow That Bird and I think we felt we still owed it a steady shot. When we leveled with it we saw it was actually just a name and we owed it nothing. We are a different band and should release the record as the band we are, not the one we were.
PPI: I really like the name Mirror Travel; it has a nice symmetrical sound and cadence. Where did it come from?
MT: Well, thank you! We like it too. It’s funny because we’ve since learned “mirror” can be difficult for people to understand. I met a speech therapist and asked her for some suggestions on how to make “mirror” more comprehensible and she just said, “You say the shit out of mirror!” So, still in square one.
The name comes from Robert Smithson’s 1969 essay “Incidents of Mirror-Travel in the Yucatan”. We joke that we chose it because “Spiral Yeti” was already taken.
PPI: Were your stylistic shifts natural growth or a more conscious choice?
MT: So much of how we’ve changed was always there, waiting, so the change was very natural. I’d go as far to say it was so natural that the culminating result really snuck up on us. We’d all underestimated just how much our name had held us back from ourselves. The first practice as “Mirror Travel” felt radically different. We had permission to sound how a band with Lauren, Paul, and Tiffanie would sound.
What were the most enjoyable and most challenging things in recording your new record?
MT: Although Marfa always felt right, a few other options came our way and one of the most challenging aspects of the thing was just deciding we were going to Marfa. In the beginning, we had been working with Frenchie Smith and Conrad from …Trail of Dead at the Bubble here in Austin. This kind of came about from a short tour we did with them. Although we loved working with those two, we did not feel we had fully developed our songs enough to make a complete album. It was hard to pass up, but we spent some more time writing and finally felt great about everything we were producing. We instantly hit up Gory in Marfa.
The most enjoyable was spending two day job and distraction free weeks in Marfa and coming home with something we’re proud of.
With a new album recorded and on the way, what other goals are on the horizon for Mirror Travel?
MT: We’ve got all kinds of good news and reached goals on the horizon. We hope to announce a few things after the new year.
Don’t forget to catch the band at Cheer Up Charlie’s New Year’s Eve show! You can hear two live demos from a Mirror Travel below.
