“Dark Days”
It can be difficult to be in a band, or really, any type of band where there’s creative collaboration, and you’re supposed to act like it’s a democracy. Because what do you do with an idea you like if no one else believes in it? This question is a big part of this episode with Local indigenous people.
Local Natives is a band from Southern California. Their first album was released in 2009, but the group’s three singers and songwriters, Taylor Rice, Kelcey Ayer and Ryan Hahn, have been playing together since they were in high school. The lineup also includes Matthew Frazier on drums and Nik Ewing on bass. They have released 5 albums, including the most recent, Time will wait for no onereleased in July 2023.
But for this episode, I talked to Taylor, Kelcey and Ryan about one of their older songs:"Dark Days," which was released in 2016. It is their biggest song to date; it has over 100 million streams and has been certified gold. It’s a duet with the Swedish singer Nina Persson, Since Cardigans. In 2020, they released a new version of the song, featuring Amélie Meath of the group Sylvain Esso.
I spoke to the guys here in the studio and to Amelia Meath remotely. And together they told me the seven-year story of how the song was created and then ultimately remade.
You can buy or stream “Dark Days” hereand you can get other local indigenous music and merchandise here.
Illustration by Carlos Lerma.
For a transcript of this episode, Click here.
Talking Heads – “This must be the perfect place”
Fleetwood Mac – “Dreams”
Analog Ableton – synth
Cardigans – “Lovefool”
Performance of “Dark Days” in March 2020 on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
