Sylvan Esso Release Ow ∞, Trading Glitch for Breakbeats

Described as unabashedly nostalgic-sounding, the album is the pair's boldest reinvention of their sound to date. Tracks such as "Hot Slob" and "Concrete Glen" recall bands like Soul Coughing and Blur, while bleeps, bloops and modern vocal production techniques remain in place for listeners attached to the earlier records. Meath and Sanborn have been releasing music together since 2014, arriving with their self-titled debut album and the single "Hey Mami." They have since moved through the dustier, more fragile textures of Free Love and the dancier, glitchier No Rules Sandy, pushing at the edges of their sound while keeping what makes a Sylvan Esso record recognizable.

To mark the release, the two answered a questionnaire published by The Verge. Sanborn named his laptop as his most indispensable tool, saying he has loved a series of MacBooks dating back to his high school graduation and cannot imagine working without one. He added that he is "absolutely one of those millennials who despises typing or doing any important work on a touchscreen." Asked what they would change about their phones, Sanborn said he wished it "felt like it cared more about me than its creator," while Meath said she wished the phone were actually a food replicator, adding that "so many problems would be solved."

Sanborn reported eight open browser tabs, which he called a touch low compared with his usual habit, and said he likes to start a browser session with no pinned tabs besides email. His happy place online remains a version of the old Monome forum, generally focused on programming and instrument design. "It's the only place on the internet that feels more positive than detrimental to me," he said.

On gadgets, Meath recalled saving up in high school for a T-Mobile Sidekick, which she called the coolest phone she has ever owned and where she kept her journal. Sanborn's fondest gaming memories center on EarthBound, the 1994 Super Nintendo role-playing game he described as beautiful, strange and full of humanity and still plays through every few years. Meath's first Zelda was Skyward Sword on the Wii, played in a house full of other people; she called it her gateway into playing games as an adult and said she has since fallen for Hollow Knight, Blue Prince and Hades.

Asked which technology trend they wished would go away, Meath answered, "The encouragement of apathy." Sanborn said that for years he had wanted a specific object built: an AM/FM radio with an analog tuner that could be controlled remotely by a computer or sequencer. He tried to persuade a synth technician he works with to help prototype one without success, and last year a small company in Italy began making something close. About four friends sent him the link within a week, he said, a measure of how often he had talked about wanting one. He ordered it and rates it good but still thinks it could be better. Meath said she wished she had created the well, calling it an incredible claim to fame.

When she needs to focus, Meath goes outside and sits, taking a notebook on the assumption that she has to be writing, and tries to leave her phone inside, though she usually forgets. Sanborn said he gets stuck when he wants something to be good and it is not yet, and cannot let it go; in those cases he steps away and does something entirely different and without consequence, such as picking up an instrument he has not used in a while and making something unrelated as spontaneously as he can. Removing expectations and shifting gears, he said, helps his headspace.

Editor's Summary

Sylvan Esso released Ow ∞ on Friday, a nostalgic turn toward breakbeats and distorted guitars after more than a decade of electronic pop. Alongside the release, Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn answered The Verge's questionnaire, covering laptops, video games, an Italian-made analog radio and how each of them works through a creative block.