Changing the Blueprint: On Love Again's New EP 'What I Left Behind' and Connecting to Your Writing
The name Love Again has a nice ring to it. Read it enough times, it starts to resonate with you on a mental and emotional level. For band members, Gilbert Vara, drummer Alex Cortez, and guitarist/vocalist Joseph Rodriguez, who has spent most of their lives crafting music under this captivating name, Love Again means so much more than it leads on the surface. From listening to their latest EP, What I Left Behind, released on November 20th via Wiretap Records, Love Again tackles a plenitudinous amount of sullen situations yet still manages to be reflective and profound lyrically in the most poetic of ways.
Love Again ‘What I Left Behind’ album art
While What I Left Behind is a rich piece of work lyrically coated with conviction, belief, and unbridled emotion at every turn, instrumentally it hits on another level some bands can't seem to touch nowadays. With its potent kick-up of dreamy poppy keyboard elements, charming violin and horn inclusions, melodic and gritty guitar lines, punk-rock percussive splendor, and mesmerizingly nostalgic vocal delivery, it's clear this Texas band wants us to come out of listening to this EP emotionally and mentally grown and changed. The best part about this is you do, after a prismatic experience such as this. Love Again could have accustomed themselves to the standard alternative rock formula and rode off into the sunset. Instead, What I left Behind has managed to do is create something out of left-field in the most pleasant of ways, forming one of the most enjoyable listens fans will get in the genre as we almost draw to a close to the end of the year. I got to chat with Love Again to discuss their music and what they have taken from such a unique release.
What influenced you guys to start the band Love Again? How did you guys all come to meet?
Alex and I (Joe) meet in 2011 in Corpus Christi TX and started playing music together. In 2012 we started working on our band Inamorata and moved to San Antonio in 2013 to get the band going. Alex and Gibby, I believe meet at warped tour circa 2015. I had always wanted to do a project that was emo and pop-punk based. Around 2017 Inamorata went on a hiatus and that’s when I decided to start working on what would become Love Again. It was originally just going to be a studio/solo thing where I got friends to play all the other instruments. Eventually, I decided that I wanted to do an actual band and we started working on recording our first two singles.
For What I Left Behind, What influenced your musical sound coming into this EP?
Into It. Over It. was my biggest influence at the start of this band, whether or not it’s apparent in the music. Also, bands like Taking Back Sunday, The Dangerous Summer, Angels and Airwaves, and The GetUp Kids, who have a lyrical tribute in the song “78343 and You.”
What was the recording process like for this experience? I know you guys were lyrically working with some hefty situations such as past relationships and things of that nature. How does that affect the outcome of how your track will work out instrumentally when you are recording?
The recording process was probably one of the easiest more laid back process we’ve done. We had demoed out a lot of the songs at home and for the most part, produced them when they were demoed out. Whether it was extra guitar parts, synth parts, or vocals. So everything was ready to go once we hit the studio. The lyrics for this ep definitely played a huge impact on the instrumentals. All of the songs were based on lyrics and melody ideas that I had. It definitely gives a good starting point of what the song will turn out to be but can make the composing of the instrumentals a challenge because you have to figure out what you’re going to do. However, it does force you to get really creative with writing the instrumentals because there’s pressure to make the song as interesting musically as you can.
Lyrically speaking, you said "past relationships and situations that people can relate to" influenced What I left Behind, can we dive a bit deeper into that statement? What do you want people to take from this?
I want people to understand that taking time to reflect on the past and things that you regret or have been through is an important part of life. Whether it is negative or positive, what you do in life will always be a part of your story. It’s important to not run away from that but to face it and find the silver lining.
What have you taken from this release? Sometimes after a record, or in this case an EP is released, it can be a cathartic experience to kind-of just get everything off your chest. What are your emotions like now after it's all complete?
I am super proud of the end result of this EP. It was everything I wanted to be as far as how it plays out from track to track. I wanted to attempt to tell a story about a certain time of my life and the people that were a part of that time in my life, and I think I achieved that. It makes me happy. The response that we got on the day it was released was amazing and that made all the work and stress that came with it worth it.
I've been asking a lot of artists this, and maybe it's because it's so close to the end of the year, and I'm a bit curious to see where the current scene's head is at right now moving forward into the new year. Do you have any ambitions as a band that you have not yet realized before the year is out?
Our ambitions right now are just to perfect our set for when we get to play live for the first time, whenever that is. We think that anyone who has been following us since we released our first single deserves our best, and that’s what we’re most focused on right now.
Listen to What I Left Behind here and their latest single "Shame" down below!