Once a quartet (that included Kaskade), Late Night Alumni is now happily a duo of vocalist/songwriter Becky Jean Williams and producer/instrumentalist John Hancock, and often a trio when it includes Finn Bjarnson. Eclipse is the group's fifth album and first for Kaskade's new label, Arkade. In advance of its release on June 2, Williams and Hancock shared the inspiration from each track. From the Book of Mark to a Iron Man himself, the duo shares how the album was made… and how Williams can't decide which track is her favorite.
"People say they want 'love' but what they want is loyalty.
Loyalty is what they mean by 'love.'
Loyalty is the most fantastic thing."2. "Joan of Arc"
Williams: This was inspired by the phrase "all is fair in love and war."John Hancock: In the original scratch melody I sent to Becky, I spontaneously made up the lyrics "and I feel like Joan of arc, but look like Tony Stark." She didn't keep all of them.3. "Runaway"
Williams: This one is pretty straightforward. It's about commitment, or the failure to commit.4. "Drummer"
Hancock: We were very intentionally trying to capture the synth vibes from the first Tron movie as well as Blade Runner. I don't know how close we came, but we were happy with the results.Williams: "Drummer" has similar undertones to "Runaway," but the lyrics suggest a much more complicated conflict between two people.5. "Shades at Night"
Hancock: I wanted to build something that was clean and simple. Maybe not simple harmonically, but simple production. The whole song was based around finding the sound and harmony of those first verse chords.Williams: For some reason this song reminds me of [Late Night Alumni's 2005 song] "Empty Streets." Maybe it's the driving reference, maybe it's the dreamy pop sound, but it's a song that addresses the idea that even when people have known each other for many years, they are still constantly figuring each other out.6. "Good Measure"
Williams: This song makes me almost cry every time I hear it. It hits close to home and the emotion is so raw and honest. I've always aspired to write an emotional song that feels sincere and real, as so many love songs feel somewhat contrived to me. This was my attempt.Hancock: we really wanted to try and put our spin on what could have been a 70s ballad. Even Becky's lyrics remind me of that era.7. "The This This"
Hancock: This was based completely around that four bar electric guitar. We still love to build songs around live instruments. It's been fun to play live.Williams: This song is one of my favorites. I've always been interested in the impact that our environment has on us. This song delves into the "nature vs. nurture" argument and the impossibility of solving the question.8. "Constellations"
Williams: The "forgotten few" referenced in the first lines of this song are all the people in the world struggling to find their place.9. "In The Middle"
Hancock: It was fun to try to base a dance track around a mostly straight ahead blues progression. Becky's vocal first-try vocal performance had a great vibe we couldn't replace it in the studio.Williams: This might be my favorite song on the album. I love that we used my scratch iPhone recording track in the final mix. I was singing really quietly into my phone so that I wouldn't wake up my kids. I was just going to send a sample track over to John and Finn, the way I usually do. But then Finn liked it so much he used it as it was. This song is about the many sides of ourselves and how they clash.10. "Legion"
Williams: OK maybe this is my favorite song! "Legion" is actually a reference from the bible. "My name is Legion, for we are many." I'll let you find it if you're really interested. The song explores the process of facing our demons and taking a good look inward at our motives and intentions.Hancock: We actually had a few different ideas for slower material on this record. But this song had the perfect ethereal and majestic sound that we thought would be a great ending to the record. And Becky's voice always works with these kind of tracks.Eclipse is available June 2 on Arkade.Late Night Alumni on SoundCloud // Twitter
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1. "Another Word For Love"Becky Jean Williams: The lyrics for this song were actually inspired by the guy who produced our last two videos. One day on Facebook he posted this:
"People say they want 'love' but what they want is loyalty.
Loyalty is what they mean by 'love.'
Loyalty is the most fantastic thing."2. "Joan of Arc"
Williams: This was inspired by the phrase "all is fair in love and war."John Hancock: In the original scratch melody I sent to Becky, I spontaneously made up the lyrics "and I feel like Joan of arc, but look like Tony Stark." She didn't keep all of them.3. "Runaway"
Williams: This one is pretty straightforward. It's about commitment, or the failure to commit.4. "Drummer"
Hancock: We were very intentionally trying to capture the synth vibes from the first Tron movie as well as Blade Runner. I don't know how close we came, but we were happy with the results.Williams: "Drummer" has similar undertones to "Runaway," but the lyrics suggest a much more complicated conflict between two people.5. "Shades at Night"
Hancock: I wanted to build something that was clean and simple. Maybe not simple harmonically, but simple production. The whole song was based around finding the sound and harmony of those first verse chords.Williams: For some reason this song reminds me of [Late Night Alumni's 2005 song] "Empty Streets." Maybe it's the driving reference, maybe it's the dreamy pop sound, but it's a song that addresses the idea that even when people have known each other for many years, they are still constantly figuring each other out.
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Williams: This song makes me almost cry every time I hear it. It hits close to home and the emotion is so raw and honest. I've always aspired to write an emotional song that feels sincere and real, as so many love songs feel somewhat contrived to me. This was my attempt.Hancock: we really wanted to try and put our spin on what could have been a 70s ballad. Even Becky's lyrics remind me of that era.7. "The This This"
Hancock: This was based completely around that four bar electric guitar. We still love to build songs around live instruments. It's been fun to play live.Williams: This song is one of my favorites. I've always been interested in the impact that our environment has on us. This song delves into the "nature vs. nurture" argument and the impossibility of solving the question.8. "Constellations"
Williams: The "forgotten few" referenced in the first lines of this song are all the people in the world struggling to find their place.9. "In The Middle"
Hancock: It was fun to try to base a dance track around a mostly straight ahead blues progression. Becky's vocal first-try vocal performance had a great vibe we couldn't replace it in the studio.Williams: This might be my favorite song on the album. I love that we used my scratch iPhone recording track in the final mix. I was singing really quietly into my phone so that I wouldn't wake up my kids. I was just going to send a sample track over to John and Finn, the way I usually do. But then Finn liked it so much he used it as it was. This song is about the many sides of ourselves and how they clash.10. "Legion"
Williams: OK maybe this is my favorite song! "Legion" is actually a reference from the bible. "My name is Legion, for we are many." I'll let you find it if you're really interested. The song explores the process of facing our demons and taking a good look inward at our motives and intentions.Hancock: We actually had a few different ideas for slower material on this record. But this song had the perfect ethereal and majestic sound that we thought would be a great ending to the record. And Becky's voice always works with these kind of tracks.Eclipse is available June 2 on Arkade.Late Night Alumni on SoundCloud // Twitter