INTO THE MUSICAL TORNADO: EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW WITH SYDNEY SPRAGUE
Imagine you’re getting sucked up in a raging, whirling tornado; it’s like The Wizard of Oz, but instead of being a headstrong girl on a mission, you’re a sole, confused cow, once at home on a farm but now hundreds of feet in the air. You have absolutely no context or clue of what’s going on around you, but the adrenaline coursing through your veins is enough of an amazingly terrifying rush that perhaps nothing could ever top it — even if that’s a bad thing.
This is the ultimate experience as defined by Arizona singer-songwriter Sydney Sprague and what fuels her album Peak Experience, out Sept. 26.
Sprague is not new to the music scene, with two albums under her belt and handful of tours with acts like Dashboard Confessional, Jimmy Eat World and The Front Bottoms to name a few. The indie-pop rocker let the world take its first steps into her overthinking mind back in 2020 with her debut album maybe i will see you at the end of the world, which cemented Sprague as an artist with emotionally humorous relatability — something that remains true in Peak Experience.
The new album comes in at just over 20 minutes in duration with eight powerful, yet thoughtful tracks. All of these songs played together help bring an emotionally swirling sensation to life, almost like a musical tornado, one that will for sure lift listeners off their feet. “Fair Field” was our first glance at what Sprague had to offer for this era, creating an energetic track dipped in anxiety with an ultra-specific lyrical brain dump — one that was inspired by her own experience with edibles on a previous tour.
“I should probably die of embarrassment / You won't ever feel the way that I did / I think I'm gonna cry / We're too high for this”
Sprague sings honestly between a heavy rock beat at the end of “Fair Field.”
Graphic by Emma Ransom (Crave Music Magazine)
Peak Experience’s following two singles “As Scared As Can Be” and “Flat Circle” kept the vulnerable, introspective lyrics going while hovering over an electric beat. The former, which dropped in May, features catchy, booming drums while Sprague angelically sings relatable, self-deprecating lyrics. Detailing an experience of loving someone all the way to the brink of insanity, Sprague crafts a brilliant track placing herself in a small, anxiety-riddled position pleading for any sign to get up and find an outlet for her feelings, but has no luck. “Flat Circle,” a song that dabbles in existential running-out-time lyrics, is a nod to Matthew McConaughey’s 2014 show True Detective. This is where Sprague was first introduced to “flat circle,” a term that grapples with the idea of time being a neverending concept and whatever miniscule decision you make in a day could set you on a new path.
“Long Island” is Sprague’s most recent single off Peak Experience. Barely over 90 seconds long, the track has Sprague begging for another drink; a soft, cathartic cry for relief that is fleeting, but packs a punch. This track was Sprague’s first time producing a song entirely on her own, saying normally she consults her band to add energetic elements like drums and guitars, but keeping this song “bare bones” felt right to her.
Four new songs, along with the four singles, are set to drop on Sept. 26. These new songs, “Deads in the Van,” “All Covered in Snow,” “Your Favorite” and “Critical Damage” keep Sprague’s typical relatable, witty and vulnerable lyrics in play, but showcase her growth and depth as an artist — especially considering this album was self-funded and independent.
“Critical Damage,” the singer’s most anticipated track of the new ones, is a catchy lamenting song exploring living life and the “critical damage” we take from it. On top of a steady beat that slides into a clean, shredding guitar, this is a stand-out song on Peak Experience.
Across all eight tracks, Sprague has created an emotionally vulnerable album that encompasses the highs and lows of life in a uniquely, self-deprecating way. Peak Experience is a must-hear for people in their 20s trying to live life and desperately pick up the pieces along the way. Sprague beautifully and unapologetically holds up a mirror to herself and to her listeners, taking open ears to new heights — perhaps even to the top of that swirling twister.
INTERVIEW
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INTERVIEW ★
Crave Music Magazine had the chance to sit down virtually with Sydney Sprague ahead of her upcoming release to discuss Peak Experience, the singles and that swirling musical tornado of emotion.
CRAVE: This album is full of vulnerable and introspective lyrics, while also channeling a beautifully pure indie-rock sound. What does the name Peak Experience mean to you?
SYDNEY: The album, I feel,is a lot like my last two albums kind of combined, so it has that indie, rock, alternative, singer-songwriter girl vibe. But, we made it at home so it has a lot more care put into it and we took a lot more time since we were not on time constraints and we made it at our house, so we took lots and lots of time to make it. It's called Peak Experience, which came from a conversation I had with my band on tour last year. We were somewhere in the midwest and we woke up to tornado sirens, so we were freaking out. That whole day we were driving through the plains and there were tornadoes all around us. We didn’t interact with any, we were fine, but we were talking about tornadoes all day.There were all these cows in these fields and we were talking about the classic image of a cow in a tornado, and we were like, “Why is that such a classic image and why are we not talking about how insane of an experience that would be?” And I don't know how we got to the final point of the conversation, which was the idea of a cow in a tornado seems like it could be the peak experience one can have. I just really enjoyed the thought that the ultimate experience could be a bad thing, or not all good. It’s good and bad. It's terrifying and amazing and thrilling. But, that really stuck with me so I wanted to call it Peak Experience.
CRAVE: You created the album artwork by hand. What is the purpose or meaning behind the album art? How did you work to make that visual concept come to life? Is there anything particularly special about creating tangible artwork vs using self-portraits or drawings for album covers?
SYDNEY: I think it's very special because it's something I get to keep forever. It actually is very big. It’s a miniature set, like train miniatures. It takes up half of our spare room in our house, like a giant cardboard diorama folder that we built it on. But yeah, we went to a craft store and bought all the little stuff and I made the tornado out of wool. It was just the tactile experience of building a set and taking the photograph of it felt very symbolic and special.
CRAVE: The first single, “Fair Field” was a great introduction to your new era. It really brought that certain feeling of an all-encompassing, swirling, raw anxiety to life. I love how real and specific the lyrics are — what was the songwriting process like for this song and how did you decide that this one was the one to set the scene for Peak Experience?
SYDNEY: The songwriting process for that one was just truly a brain dump. I wrote it I think the day we got back from that same tour with the tornadoes. A lot happened on that tour, it was a lot of anxiety — good times and bad times. But, one specific experience I had in Kansas, somebody on the tour had given us some special gummies and I don’t normally partake but I was like, “we’re on tour!” and ate these gummies on our day off in a hotel in the middle of nowhere. I had just the worst panic attack of my life in an Applebees. So, I wrote this song about that night specifically and just being in a really foreign place where you don’t know anyone. It was the tiniest town. I felt like every person in the town was looking at me like, “You’re not from here. We don’t know you and also we can tell you’re high.” It was just frightening. Truly frightening. I think that that song being the first single from this record set the tone and the themes overall, which is a lot about being on tour and just kinda the highs and lows of all of that.
CRAVE: “As Scared As Can Be” is so catchy, while also really honing in on the self-deprecation theme that I sensed throughout the album. When I hear this song, I feel like it would be one that would be so fun to scream live — is this something you take into account when writing music/creating setlists?
SYDNEY: I feel like it's not necessarily my first thought when I'm writing the actual songs and the vocals and guitar chords. But, then we go producing the songs and I do sometimes think about what makes this song feel really good in a room of people. We’ve been really fortunate to tour with bands that I feel like do a really good job of making songs that are the best time to jump around and scream and dance to. I try to infuse that energy into the production.
CRAVE: I love the concept and existential running-out-of-time crisis that surrounds “Flat Circle.” Can you talk about what this song means to you, and what the term “Flat Circle” represents?
SYDNEY: Yeah, so I don’t know! I don’t think I know exactly what it means. But have you ever seen True Detective? [Crave: No, I haven’t.] It’s this show. Matthew McConaughey plays a detective in this show and he’s talking about time being a flat circle and repeating over and over again without giving us a chance to make edits basically. Like things that are predestined. So, I don’t know, I just love that show and I love that scene and I think about the time loop concept all the time and when I get deja vu or get dreams, I’m like, “What is that? Why is that happening? Have I done this before?” I was thinking a lot about that and how every little decision you make, even tiny things in day-to-day life like breakfast, the different paths that that can set you on. I can be a really indecisive person, so I feel like sometimes I’ll get stuck on things,if I don’t go to this place instead of this place, what will that mean for my future. Just some really psychotic stuff.
CRAVE: “Long Island” really explores the plea of relief from life and decisions, something that is universally relatable. This is a softer song that sits at just over a minute and a half — is this shorter duration purposeful for the storytelling, or is this just where the song needed to end?
SYDNEY: I think it’s kinda that. I think sometimes I just don’t have anything else to say. I really love a short song that I have to listen to over and over again and I think sometimes the whole message is there in a minute and a half. I didn’t have anything to add, I guess. It felt good. I have a song on my first record that is slightly longer than this, it’s like a minute and 35 seconds I think, and I just think it breaks up a record in a cool way to have a song that ends before you think it will. It is funny to play live. We played “Long Island” before it was released on our headline tour, and it ends so fast that people are like, “What’s happening?”
CRAVE: Can you talk about the “Long Island” songwriting and producing process?
SYDNEY: That one was all me. It was the first song that I’ve produced entirely on my own. It was very vulnerable and intimate, just me in this room. I usually will take a song to my band and we’ll add drums and the other stuff but I just felt like keeping this one bare bones and pretty natural felt right and it was the demo, basically, I didn’t rerecord or change anything.
CRAVE: This is your first independent album release, no label. How did the creation of this record differ from your past releases? Does this make you look at the music industry differently?
SYDNEY: Totally. I mean the financial aspect of it is definitely a huge consideration because you don't have the support of the label, so I think that was a major factor in it. We didn't really have the choice or big budget — or any budget — to go to a producer’s studio. We tried to keep it pretty DIY, but also having the ability to do that and having the options to do that, because a lot of times the label wants a hand in deciding what producer you will work with, so it was nice to be able to take it into our own hands and give ourselves the chance to do that when a label probably would’ve told us it was a bad idea.
CRAVE: Out of the songs not yet released to the world, which one are you most excited for fans to hear and why?
SYDNEY: I think I'm most excited. It's hard, but there’s a song called “Critical Damage.” I really like that song and I’m super excited about it.
CRAVE: You’re going on tour this fall, what can people expect from you on the road?
SYDNEY: I think we are gonna try to just make it as fun as we can. Because of the nature of this record and having so much control over every aspect of it, I really want to take that into the show also. I’ve been really into crafts lately so I just wanna be crafting stuff. We’re really getting pretty detailed in how we are gonna decorate the stage and the kind of bits we want to do and stuff just to kinda make it a full experience.
Get tickets to the tour: here.
Keep up with Sydney Sprague:
Website / Spotify / Apple Music / Instagram / TikTok / YouTube
