Talking with Mystery Friends: their new album and playing the Atlantis
A chat with Abby and Dave of Mystery Friends about their new album, Utopia, their upcoming show at The Atlantis, and finding inspiration in the McDonald’s parking lot.
I had the opportunity to sit down with Abby Sevcik and Dave Mohl, the creative force behind local DC band, Mystery Friends. Perhaps you’re a long time fan, or maybe you know them from their spooky cover of “Toxic” or their Wammie Award winning song “Between Us.” If you’re not familiar with MF, now’s the perfect time to jump in. Their new album Utopia is out now and they’ll be playing an album release party at The Atlantis this Friday.
So read on for a look behind the scenes of the new album and a sneak peek at their plans for this Friday’s show.
Utopia
Mystery Friends’ 2019 album, Past and Future Self, showcased the bands ability to create danceable indie rock. With surf rock guitar riffs and ethereal synths—all creating a gorgeous backdrop to Sevcik’s soulful voice—they managed to balance an indie vibe and pop accessibility. Their sophomore album, Utopia, takes the signature Mystery Friends sound they’ve crafted and pulls it in a deeper, sometimes darker, direction. Without loosing the playful danceability that pervades their previous album, Utopia takes the band to exciting new territory.
On a first listen, my ears immediately drew comparisons to the disco-esque danceability of Misterwives that drifted into atmospheric, synth heavy tracks reminiscent of Beach House. The tracks “ride or die” and “serotonin” at times invoked a sound that brought to mind Sylvan Esso—while “between us” employs darker tones that felt at home in an early SHAED song. The album definitely has range and isn’t afraid to take you on a journey.
While Utopia still sounds like Mystery Friends, it feels bigger and heavier than Past and Future Self, both emotionally and in it’s musically. “This is a post Covid album through and through,” Abby explained when asked about the more emotional, sometimes darker tones of Utopia and, “whether or not we even realized it was affecting our sound.” Dave, who handles all of the instrumentation for the songs, created a lusher, synth heavy sound that really informed the way Abby approached the album lyrically.
Abby and Dave talked about how they “set out to make this album. . .dancy and fun.” The song “match” definitely starts the album off on that track, with playful cowbells and a groovy saxophone solo. Dave explained, “sonically, initially it was Dua Lipa and Jessie Ware…fun dancy let loose music,” but, as songs came together and the album started to take shape, it took them away from the carefree sound they had initially planned. As the album progresses, a musical tension becomes more prevalent giving way to more emotional ballads. “Tension is good and bad. . .it can be romantic tension, or a more devious tension…that is present everywhere,” Dave said of the shift in their sound on Utopia, “that feeling whether consciously or not was through all of it.”
The album felt like it followed a narrative arc, the life of a relationship that started somewhere great and then faded. Abby explained how she tried to vary the themes and explore different emotions one could experience in a relationship beyond, “I love you, I hate you, I’m happy, I’m sad.” In exploring every avenue of a relationship, Abby talked about how the songs started to follow an arc of “it’s fun flippant I’m really falling for you, now we’re codependent, and now it’s over.”
what’s your favorite venue to play? your favorite to see a show?
Abby
favorite to play — DC9 — “every time we play there, I love remembering how it was like our second show ever. . .it feels very nostalgic”
Honorable mention to Pie Shop — “always a fun time and their greenroom food is amazing.”
to see a show — The Anthem
Dave
favorite to play — Black Cat — “Our two biggest shows. . .were at the Black Cat. They were big shows that felt like, holy shit this is a show!”
to see a show — 930 Club
How the album came together
Though the album appears to tell a story, the narrative behind it was initially unintentional. As is so often the case nowadays, they originally planned on releasing singles—since the inscrutable algorithm that looms over the music industry tends to prioritize singles over album releases. Once they started building them out and seeing what direction each song took, they began seeing how each song fit together. When they realized that they wanted to create a full album early last year, they followed where those first songs took them and began to round it out. Without planning it, the songs told their own story that became clearer as the album took shape.
When listening to Utopia there is a distinct shift halfway through the album. The title track takes on a change in tone and divides the album into two distinct parts. “I’m always drawn to a traditional A and B side. . .where the B side is almost like a different album,” Dave says of the shift in tone, “using the same tools to tell a different story.”
Speaking on where the musical inspiration for this album came from, Dave talked about how he “was really taken by a few specific genres and albums, specifically Talking Heads Remain in Light,” in which, “almost every song has the exact same bassline repeat. . .it becomes this hypnotic steady almost menacing presence in a lot of these tracks. I like the idea of that being an anchor and everything around it can color in the lines.” This idea is especially prevalent in songs like “fever dream” where the steady bassline stalks the listener throughout the haunting track.
“From a lyric standpoint, I try not to get too into my own experiences,” Abby said about her lyrical inspiration on Utopia, “it is kind of fun to go off of stuff you’re not too zoomed in on and you’re going from a larger picture.” Sometimes finding inspiration in unexpected places, like binging a ton of moody tense shows. She recalled writing lyrics after watching an episode of Succession.
Over the years, Abby would send Dave short voice memos, ideas or short snippets of lyrics that they could use to build a demo. Dave recalled one voice note Abby sent from her car while the turn signal clicked in the background—from the McDonald’s parking lot no less—that sparked the idea for the finale of the album. Dave talked about how the idea went unused until they revisited it years later. The song grew and grew, eventually becoming the atmospheric, emotional crescendo to the album—“apartment.”
The process behind Utopia had the same general idea as Past and Future Self, with Abby and Dave doing most of the writing and bringing in the whole band for recording. However, this time around, they took a more intentional approach to recording and brought in more friends to add different elements to the album. Irv Campbell, who played saxophone on a jazz version of their song Kleflavik —you can find it on their Youtube page if you want to check it out, and you should— to contribute to the sax solo on “match.” Similarly, the song “between us”—which started as just a jumping synth line—was realized with the help of friend Amanda Dove. These collaborations brought different sounds to Utopia that aren’t present elsewhere in their catalog.
what’s a piece of advice you have for other bands?
Abby — “we benefited from just asking for the most ridiculous requests to play the most out there shows. just make the ask and show up!”
Dave — “make music you want to listen to, not try to make music you think other people would want to listen to. if you like what you make, other people will like it too, probably.”
Playing The Atlantis
This Friday, Mystery Friends will be playing The Atlantis for their big album release party. Abby and Dave have sat with these songs for a long time, some of them for years. Talking to them, it is clear they’re excited to see how their shift in sound will be received live. Speaking on some of the songs on this album taking on a darker tone, Abby explained, “there is this feeling when you’re writing a new song and it feels a little like a pivot from what you typically do or what people expect your sound to be,” and whether that sound would be cohesive with the band’s vibe.
Both Abby and Dave are eager to play some of their more atmospheric, emotional songs live, especially the album’s final track “apartment.” Abby, who enjoys listening to really atmospheric, music is excited for the challenge of playing a slower song. “A lot of these dance songs, it’s easy to see that everyone is engaged and having fun,” she said, “the more slower, atmospheric songs that burst at the end are harder to pull off.”
They talked about how they plan on pulling out all the stops to make the release party a real event. Balloons, beach balls, and lights were mentioned and they’re excited to see how it all plays out. It’s clear that no matter what, this will be an exciting show.
You can stream Utopia now and tickets are still on sale at all I.M.P. box offices and online, so make sure you grab them now so you don’t miss out on this fever dream of a show.
what song have you had on repeat?
Abby — the Pollen playlist on Spotify
Dave — “Please” by Jessie Ware
Quick concert tip
And your quick concert tip for today: sign up for 9:30 Friends with Benefits! FwB members earn points for buying tickets, going to shows, buying merch, etc. Then you can trade those points for cool stuff, including concert tickets. Once you sign up, you’ll get a barcode you can scan at all I.M.P. venues (9:30 Club, Atlantis, Anthem, Lincoln Theatre, Merriweather).
And, if you sign up before this Friday’s show, you’ll get double the points when you scan your barcode at the I.M.P. table at the Mystery Friends show.
If you want more like this, remember to subscribe so you don’t miss out on some exciting interviews I have lined up. As well as more cool concert tips I got directly from Dave and Abby.
See you at the show,
Concertgoer DC