More Colors in the Crayon Box: An Interview with Tall Heights

by - February 01, 2022


When their winter 2020 headline tour came to a grinding halt that March, indie folk duo Tall Heights retreated back to their shared home, lovingly called The Tall House.

The Tall House included band members Paul Wright, Tim Harrington, their wives, Harrington’s one-year-old child, a dog and a cat. If that wasn’t enough to maintain during a global pandemic, the next five months consisted of major health crises, substance abuse, the loss of loved ones and pregnancy announcements. These two families were able to lean on each other through it all, which inspired the duo’s full-length album, Juniors.

“It was such a contrast in retrospect, now that we have Juniors to show for it, from the way we made the previous record, Pretty Colors,” Wright said. “It was very different from the place we found ourselves in when we started making Juniors. There we were, just the original two-piece, and it really allowed us to immerse ourselves in what we are best at. The setup that led to our partnership; this crazy life we lead where we’ve yoked our lives together for the sake of music and friendship.”

As opposed to taking months or years to write and revisit a single song, they processed their emotions in real-time by making sure to write every day. It was intense to essentially put in a 9-5 work day writing songs together, then clock out and continue to be in the same space with each other. There was also the looming deadline that they had six months left to live in that home together before moving into separate places.

“We [wanted] to capture the beauty of that space,” Wright said. “We made three records while living in that house but none until now in that house. It was extra motivating to capture that magic - I say magic in retrospect, but it was everything from hectic to downright challenging at the time - of that space.”

One of the most challenging aspects of creating Juniors was diving into the production side for the first time. The more comfortable they became with the process, the more they were able to create content that sounded most like them. They wrote their own string arrangements and drum solos, tested different synthesizers and let trial and error dictate where each song went.

“We added more colors in our crayon box,” Wright said.

They did eventually take the songs to a studio, having the album produced and mixed by Mike Mogis. They wanted someone who would honor the work they had done on their own, because they were immensely proud of what they had created.

“Mike was really earnest in wanting to ingest everything about the record before he tried putting anything on top of it,” Wright said. “He really spent a long time trying to get himself fluent in the language of the record. It was unlike any producer relationship we've had and I'm so proud of the way it came out.”

Wright and Harrington realized that through all this turmoil, the highest of highs and lowest of lows, that they are not in control of this roller coaster of a life. They’ve accepted that they cannot wrestle back that control, but instead embrace the unknown. By seeing the world through the eyes of a junior, Tall Heights will make sure to find the beauty in everything.

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