[gentle guitar plucking]
[gentle rock music]
I'm Jilian,
I play in the band Ian Sweet,
and we're at Abbey Road Studios in London.
This is crazy.
Came in today,
no clue what we're even getting up to.
But I picked up an acoustic guitar
and started messing around on some chords,
and I think, I don't know,
I just think we're gonna try our best
to collaborate on something
that melds both of our sounds together as best we can,
or try new things.
I have a new motto in my life,
Let's just have fun. [laughs]
And that's what I'm gonna do.
And then, do you guys wanna jump into that chorus-y thing?
[Drummer] I'd like-
[Keyboardist] Yeah, let's see what that sounds like.
[Jilian] For, after eight of them?
Yeah, is that after eight,
after everyone's come in,
or are we including your one as the first one?
I mean, ideally, we'd like to play with a bit of everything.
We've got the drum kit set up.
We've got a Wurlitzer
'cause we often find we quite like
that kinda warm, soft sound
when we've been in studios before.
Other than that, I think we're just excited to play
with what's available and see what fits,
see what's the most fun to play around with.
[Speaker] Yeah, yeah, sure, but let's just see.
[Jilian] Oh, that's so beautiful.
Just, like, come in with that.
[Keyboardist] Yeah, just come straight in it.
[soft guitar strumming]
[Jilian] Ooh, what if it starts like that?
And then I'll do that again,
and then I think that that's like just the first set, right?
[Jilian] That's gorgy.
The first UK tour that Ian Sweet ever did,
Porridge Radio opened for us.
This was, like, maybe five years ago.
And we've kept in touch and been friends ever since.
And been, like, supporting each other's music.
This is so cool to get to actually make something together
after so many years.
Everyone here is really incredible
about giving each other space to share their ideas.
[laughs] That's a rhyme too, huh?
Yeah, there's been...
[humming]
[guitar strumming]
♪ If you're maybe someone you'd want... ♪
♪ ...to be here. ♪
It just felt very smooth,
it felt like everything was in control
and, like, kind of everyone had
just enough to do without being overwhelmed or bored.
We decided that we would all record,
all seven of us, all together.
I don't think that was initially the plan.
But it just turned out there was enough people
who could play different things,
but we were able to play in a complimentary way.
And we've been really into the idea of recording songs live
to at least get the energy of the main take down.
[fast-paced instrumental rock]
Today, I felt like it was easy to just say what I wanted.
Everyone was leaving space for each other to share ideas.
So it wasn't like any sort of like,
in the back being like, wait, I have an idea.
It was just, I don't know,
just like a really natural way of collaborating
and when you feel comfortable with other people,
you just make space.
And also when people make you feel comfortable,
you don't feel like you have to fight to be heard.
So it's just like,
I'm just gonna say what I gotta say whenever
and they're gonna hear it.
[gentle upbeat music]
[music intensifies]
It was quite fun watching
kind of different people lock in together.
'Cause we had two bassists in there,
and it was very, like Dan and Scott kind of kept going aside
and like, making sure that what they were playing
was really locked in together,
and it was quite a funny thing to see.
Not something we've ever tried before,
of having two bassists but I think it worked quite well.
And yeah, it was just kind of all great
to be in a room together in just like this big circle.
Everyone could kind of see everyone else.
And yeah, it just felt like a great group to be a part of.
[bright lively music]
This is, like, a once in a lifetime experience
to be at Abbey Road.
I would say it's very
[laughs]
different from your home,
but I think you can...
It's what you put into it,
what you get out of it.
So at the end of the day, if we came in here
and kind of didn't give much effort,
it wouldn't have sounded, you know,
just 'cause this is a nice studio,
it wouldn't have sounded amazing if we, you know,
if we hadn't had our whole heart into it.
So regardless, that's how they connect at home or here.
It's about, like, what you wanna give,
but we gave a lot.
So I feel like it, it ended up sounding really great.
[acapella singing] ♪ Back to living ♪
♪ I've been trying to forget ♪
♪ I've been trying... ♪
