Teen Suicide has entered new territory with a fresh mindset. The results? Nude descending staircase headless, a polished and evolved opus that pushes the band’s already vast musical range a step further. The production is crisper, and their performances are more assured. The album’s atmospheric tracks are diverse yet coherent with each other, proof of the band’s development since its formation in 2009. Following the release of Nude descending staircase headless, their first album in four years, I emailed the band’s Kitty and Sam Ray to discuss its creation and more.

This interview has been edited for clarity.

The first thing that stood out to me from your new album was the cover; I feel like the individual drawings would feature in an Over the Garden Wall tarot deck, the way it had an ominous storybook energy to it. What was the inspiration behind the album's illustration? 

Sam: Our friend and resident artist Adam Pichardo did the art—he’s done a lot of our art, including Waste Yrself and It’s the Big Joyous Celebration, Let’s Stir the Honeypot. I don’t know what his inspiration was for this—we just asked him to make us something incredible and told him the album title, and he delivered. I know that we kicked around a ‘Garden of Earthly Delights’ idea, as well as the vintage flyers/poster art for old travelling circus shows. But that was in the early stages of the design!

Kitty: This is such a compliment because me and Adam Pichardo have talked many times about creating a tarot deck together. I love that you say that.

Solo projects like Kitty and Ricky Eat Acid, as well as The Pom-Poms, lean heavily into electronic textures compared to Teen Suicide’s current work—how do you feel that these various projects influence each other?

Sam: I can’t speak for Kitty since that’s her project, but my solo project Ricky Eat Acid has always been primarily electronic music, ambient music, etc. All that kind of stuff. Teen Suicide started as a separate project where I wrote songs with words and lyrics and stuff instead—even when the music was electronic (as a lot of our older songs are), the separation is in the songwriting. Sort of like a vibe thing. Nowadays it’s more of a band, of course, with far more direct collaboration between all the members, not to mention Kitty and me.

The Pom-Poms is a very intense and rave-y weird art project we do where we produce everything ourselves as well, and it’s pretty different by nature than Teen Suicide, though there’s definitely some creative overlap there especially in terms of attitudes. It’s sort of like, Teen Suicide can be a metal/hardcore/sludge band with instruments, and The Pom-Poms is sort of a confrontational metal/punk band without them, almost?

Kitty: I feel that all of our projects represent facets of our outward expression, and I never really think of them as separate entities until it comes time to fill out some kind of business form. In a logical sense, my Kitty projects are probably more electronic-heavy because of my background in dance music. I am much more experienced with digital production, whereas Sam is extremely skilled with live instruments. 

Collaborating with Sam is such a natural process at this point that it is rare for either of us to create music without at least consulting the other. In this way, I believe all of our projects influence each other fluidly. Some days we feel like messing around with digital synthesis, and some days we unplug completely and spend hours with acoustic instruments. The output varies with the stages of the moon.

Is there a season that you associate with Nude descending staircase headless?

Sam: Honestly, probably late summer/early fall since it’s when we recorded it, haha

Kitty: To me, the record spans all seasons of a full year. Maybe it leans a little more springy? That's a hard one.

Which artists/albums were you listening to during the production of this album?

Sam: Very, very few, honestly. I don’t like to be influenced by other contemporary music/bands when we’re working on an album. I was mostly reading books (I’m always reading books, really).

Kitty: I tried to get myself into ROCK & ROLL MODE by minimising my K-pop and trance intake during the production process. It was only two weeks of recording, so I binged a lot of ‘90s grunge, riot grrrl and screamo. “Calling All Cars on the Vegas Strip” by Jucifer, “A Senile Animal” by Melvins and Alexisonfire’s self-titled album were also very much in my playlists. 

What platform did producer Mike Sapone use for the production of this album, and why?

Kitty: Pro Tools, which I do not really use myself. It's ugly to look at. But this was a studio album, and I guess that's what they all use in the studios, so I just observed disapprovingly. I'm an Ableton girlie.

“Suffering (Mike’s way)” stood out to me because of how much more upbeat it was than the tracks surrounding it. What does the idea of ‘suffering’ mean to Mike, or was this to just signal that the track’s production was more Mike-leaning?

Sam: The title was a nod to Mike Sapone having a very specific idea for how the song should go—and after much argument and trial and error, us going with his idea. The difference was a single note in the vocal melody. The song is upbeat maybe, but in that way that the end of the world feels nice and calm because you’ve accepted that it’s ending, you know? It’s like, joyful desolation. Dissolution. Joyful Dissolution.

Kitty: I will let Sam answer this question regarding the story of how “Suffering” came to be known “Mike's way”. I don't know if the actual Mike really suffers that much. He did once give himself what he referred to as a "hot dog headache" one night when we all ate a bunch of hot dogs.

Whilst your music style constantly shifts with every album, how do you feel like you’ve evolved as an artist over these past few years? 

Sam: I’d hope we’ve evolved a hell of a lot lol. Our style and songwriting are always evolving because we are only interested in creating music we personally find interesting. I don’t ever want to make music with a specific audience already in mind or anything like that—I think that people can tell when you’re being inauthentic as an artist and viewing the stuff you make purely as ‘content’ and that’s never how I’ll see us. Also, we’ve gotten a hell of a lot better at playing music, writing music, singing, writing in weird, bizarre time signatures, etc. Just all around we’re trying to push ourselves very far as a band.

Kitty: Music is the most therapeutic activity for me, so my catalogue is filled with overshares and trauma dumps from the many horrors I experienced for most of my life as a teen and young adult. When I finally clawed my way out of my 20s, I realised that if I wanted to truly heal and move on from my past, I needed to do more than barf my pain into songs. I spent a couple of years focused entirely on recovering from PTSD and teaching my nervous system to function properly using many, many modalities. I think my lifespan as an artist is in a new stage, I've moved from maiden to mother and am accessing a new dimension of expression. Rather than being pinned down in my own memory, I am free to expand my understanding of reality. This is so exciting to me and this album is really my first time letting this evolution be seen.

Do you have any suggestions on how to make everything in my life perfect?

Sam: I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about that publicly honestly unfortunately

Kitty: Tai chi, meditation, and aerobic exercise at least a few times a week. Start a conversation with a stranger every day. L-theanine, magnesium, vitamins D, C and K2. Cut all forms of nicotine out of your life and eat lots of fresh produce. Journal your life as you go, noticing the moments where things gently align for your pleasure—soon you will be aware of this alignment, solidifying it as your current state. Things will begin to quickly fall into place, and each time you thank them for doing so, your life will become more perfect. 

If you don't feel like doing all of those things, you can also make a recording of yourself saying "everything in my life is perfect" and then layering it with pink noise, lowering your vocal track until it's juuuuuuuust inaudible, and exporting like a couple hours of it. Loop that overnight while you sleep and your life will be perfect in a month.

I often listen to your music when I’m trying to ‘simulate stimulants’. Once a record is completed, do you ever find yourself listening to it on an everyday basis, or is it strictly work for you? 

Sam: Once our albums are released, I never listen to them again for the rest of my life, unless I need to revisit it to re-learn how something from it goes to perform. I’ll often go over 10 years without hearing our music, and then be very surprised by what it actually sounds like.

Before music is released, I’ll listen to it incessantly, to study it, soak it up and enjoy it, because I only write music for myself and not for anyone else—so I’m trying to write the music that I would personally love if I found it in the wild. Once it’s released though, that’s over, and you give it up for good. It becomes the property of others.

Kitty: I usually don't listen to my own music very much, but I've been listening to this record ALL THE TIME since it was mastered. It's literally that good.

When and where would you suggest people listen to this album for the first time?

Sam: In the car.

Kitty: I'm probably not the right person to answer this because my ADHD often requires me to multitask in order to fully enjoy a whole, brand-new album. But if there's anyone out there who is like me, I'd highly suggest saving this one for a night drive, especially if you can see a lot of stars. It's an EXCELLENT night drive album. My dad also likes it for the gym, but I tried it myself, and it's not giving gym for me.

Do you have any plans to perform in Australia? (Please visit!)

Sam: I think I’m supposed to be vague about it until we confirm, but that’s absolutely something we’re working very hard on! 

Kitty: Not solidly YET, but it has been very much discussed and should happen soon!!! 

Nude descending staircase headless is available to stream on all platforms.

Illustration by Rin Edwards (@bununuhphone)