Silver Screens and Sticky Floors

Photography By Maxwell Brown

Brooklyn band Climates shares their debut album, ‘Movie Magic’. The band discusses the vivid lyrics of the album, movie theater nostalgia, and creating something they love.

New York City, USA

Who are the members of Climates and what is your music all about?

[Theadora] Climates is Keira Zhou on drums, Molly Schoen on guitar and myself (Theadora Curtis) on bass and lead vocals. Our friend Mitch has been an awesome addition for more guitar since post pandemic times but getting back to the core ladies as people commit more time to their original projects. Our music is about dreams, reality, and the sparkly in between. Being a human but also how maybe that means a little more than we think - and the kind of sheen and glitter that can be a part of what we consider our normal lives.

How does this project allow you to express yourselves as artists?

[Molly] Before Climates, I hadn’t played guitar in a group for almost a decade. Mostly, I played bass instead. So it was really fun getting back into guitar, working out the phrasing of each part, messing around with different tones and effects, all that.

[Theadora] It’s interesting because the pandemic cut into our work so early on — it’s great to release this album and also already nostalgic in a sense because I wrote these songs and expressed these feelings initially a while ago now. That also allows me to really see how I’ve evolved through Climates and what the journey has been like — I think it’s been an amazing grouping in terms of my songwriting because people have such different skillsets and no one really steps on each other’s toes. So even though sometimes I listen to these songs and almost feel exposed, at least who I was at that time, it’s also great that this band has been such a clear way to express these words with people who bring their own ways to expand on and own those ideas with their instruments.

[Keira] I still consider myself fairly new to drumming. It started as I just wanted to learn it for fun. And then I met Thea at a show and decided to join the band. I think this band makes me feel confident and free to be as new as I am to drumming and still getting a lot of support from the bandmates to write the drum parts and be part of something I love.

You released your first album, 'Movie Magic'. What kind of journey does the album take us on? What story are you trying to tell?

[Molly] For me, Movie Magic is nostalgia - when a night at the movies was a real treat. Our album cover, designed by Devon Bristol Shaw, has these sparkling velvet curtains that allude to the lushness of early film theaters. I like to think it’s allegorical to our glitter grunge sound. Silver screens and sticky floors.

[Theadora] Even though I manage to feel exposed anyways I think a lot of my writing can be a little cryptic, which is in part because that’s just how things tend to filter into songs for me but also because the point isn’t really one person’s story it’s that everyone can relate to the same themes no matter what experiences bring them to the forefront for you. So leaving a little more room for interpretation makes it easier to do that. I spoke about this when we premiered Super 8 at the beginning of 2020 but this album, like that song, is sort of about the beauty in the breakdown to a degree. Like all this stuff happens, all these feelings - some are great some are really difficult - and it’s all amazing and real and powerful because it’s the film of your life. Some of this writing is a little more subjective than I would likely be now, but I think that serves the purpose and the point is really that we’re all the subjects of our own movies and their myriad ups and downs and in part we love music and movies and these forms of expression because we have so much in common. And yes big thanks to Devon for the beautiful album art and our release show flyers - and putting us in touch with Reckless!

How does 'Move Magic' represent your band?

[Molly] Our songs have a cinematic quality to them. Theadora’s lyrics are vivid; they tell stories and paint pictures (“word is if you don’t soar you will sink / I check in with my spirit guide / he drops me feathers and walks me through my bad dreams”).

[Theadora] I love that Molly quoted that line in particular, there’s sort of a scattering of the main things I feel influenced by throughout the album - vivid dreams, signs, seeking guidance, feeling like a mess (Disast), feeling driven while also questioning why (Prize), people who change your life or define a time - kind of become a home or a reason to be somewhere (Stayed) - and of course just the whole thing, the experience itself which is Super 8 and why that song is most closely related to the album title.

What was the recording process like? What were some highs and lows?

[Keira] We tried a couple times with the recording. We started when Thea went to LA for the winter and we recorded our parts separately. Later we felt like we wanted to redo some parts and re-recorded everything together in New York. There were challenging times when we felt like we were running short on time but we all eventually figured out a way and finished the recording.

[Molly] We re-recorded the songs, some of them multiple times, which could be a little tiring. But I’m so glad we pushed ourselves to do it. Every time we went back to the studio, it sounded better than before. We ended up tracking guitar, bass, and drums together, which gives the songs a natural live energy. Most of the songs we recorded at The Creamery studio in Greenpoint. Digo and Jennica Best of Tessatura Studio produced this record—they’re lovely to work with. They’re very intuitive and always seem to know just what a song needs.

[Theadora] Yeah I’m annoying () but we’re really happy with the results and maybe it ties into the theme that it was such a saga… (thanks Digo and Jennica!)

How did this bond you all as a band?

[Keira] I think this album is a long way coming. We've had those songs for a while and the recording took some time. But we figured it out together and finally have all the songs we wrote from the past three years on a record. I think it bonded us in a way that we worked through the challenges together and figured out the best way moving forward as a band and created something we all love.

How was the release party?

[Theadora] It was pretty special. We’re on the cusp at the end of this moment when people really started to stay in more again and getting past that spike in cases - so it was as good a turnout as we could have hoped for which was exciting to see and both bands and audience members are people who have been a part of my artistic life for a while (other singers, photographers we work with, people who have premiered our songs, DJs who spun at my shows even pre band - (hi Augustus) so it was perfect to see them all there. The sound at Knitting Factory is incredible and I love that room.

What's next for Climates?

[Molly] We’ve been riffing on some new songs lately! Pandemic pending, there might be some westward travel in our cards pretty soon. And a music video is definitely on the horizon.

[Theadora] I tend to really like wrapping things up and freeing things before moving on - so I’m very excited for this release because we love the album but also because I’m looking forward to seeing how the next songs take shape. The Brooklyn scene has been so incredible for playing and connecting with people, and we’re excited for upcoming shows - but also thinking about making a bigger digital footprint. We’ll definitely be looking to create our first videos, likely out in the desert which is a place that influences our sound and our aesthetic so much, and recording a new single in the not too distant future. In the very near future our next live show will be at The Broadway on February 3rd with Fat Trout Trailer Park, Pamphlets & Grand Army Reapers.

And we can’t thank Digo best (engineering and mixing) Jennica Best (mastering) and all of the artists, supporters, outlets and friends who have been a part of the band’s development thus far — we’re very excited to release ‘Movie Magic’ into the world.

To See More of Climates, Follow @climatesband

You can listen to ‘Movie Magic’ Below: