Bay Ledges, the glitchy indie-pop group led by siblings Zach & Georgina Hurd, have recently released the new music video, “Safe” from their new EP, FOUNTAIN TROPICAL, which dropped 8/18 on S-Curve Records.
Bay Ledges self-released the song, “Safe,” late last fall and it unexpectedly and rapidly hit three million streams on Spotify. In addition to the success at Spotify, the song was selected a “Today’s Top Tune” at KCRW.
We spoke with the duo about their formation, their latest track, and where they hope to tour! Check it out.
How did the band come together?
The project started about three years ago when I moved out to Los Angeles from NYC. Georgia had been living here for a while so I crashed at her place. Musically I’d hit a wall and was ready for a change. Georgia and I would meet up after our restaurant shifts and talk about music we were listening to and what would be fun to make. I started playing around with new sounds and manipulating our vocals. As the songs developed I became obsessed with working on them. From that point on it’s continued to take shape.
Who or what has inspired your sound and latest track, “Safe?”
We grew up listening to a lot of music in the early 90’s and I still really love the sounds/sampling in Paul’s Boutique and Odelay…I wanted to create some sort of sample-y sound but without using record samples. I love the rhythmic vinyl scratching you would hear on a lot of hip hop records from that time…some of the glitchy parts in “Safe” were inspired by that.
Is there a story behind your band name?
We named it after the land our grandparents owned in a remote part of Maine; it sits on a bay with rock ledges throughout. Lots of woods to explore. It’s a place that feels connected to our childhood…and for me, Bay Ledges represented trying to reconnect with that time in my life.
What is your favorite show memory?
So far, I think it was playing in Annapolis, MD on a ferry boat. It was a pretty tight space and a little stressful to set up but the audience was amazing. Being that we’re based in LA we weren’t expecting anyone to really know who we were. It was so cool to see people singing all the words to a bunch of our songs.
What would be your dream tour and why?
We’d love to tour in South America or Europe…but really anywhere abroad. Just wanna get out and see more of this world.
Tell us about your writing process; any unusual quirks?
I’ll usually just start with the acoustic guitar, find a progression I like and sing whatever comes through my head until a phrase sticks. Then Georgia will work out vocal parts for the arrangement. Other times Georgia will bring something in that she’s working on and I’ll use the guitar to try to figure out a rough arrangement for it. After that I start working on the computer to figure out the production.
What’s your favorite song to cover?
We’ve been covering “Paranoid” by Black Sabbath. We changed the arrangement quite a bit so it’s somewhat recognizable but put through a new filter. It’s been fun to see people try to figure out why the song’s so familiar.
If you were to create a “soundtrack to your life,” what songs would be on it?
Ugh, that’s so tough! I think right now it would be some songs by Beach Fossils, Alvvays, Nick Hakim, Washed Out, Sylvan Esso and Toro y Moi. They’re all in heavy rotation at the moment.
Would you like to add anything else?
Thanks for listening and for having us on the blog! If people want to see a show we’ve got a bunch of dates coming up on the west coast in October and November so check our website for those. Hope to see you out there!
Filed under: Creation Stories Tagged: bay ledges, Creation Stories, music video, safe
