LM : Tell us about the making of this new record. What were some of the themes you were exploring?

Kelly Crisp : We found ourselves exploring more wholesome questions on this record like you can see in Nice Fox with the story of the fox dying in the yard and with Hello Darlin where we used the record of Ivan's granddad from WWII in which he sends a message home saying "hope to be home soon." These things seem domestic, and at the same time, they seem to have a resonance beyond just our little thing. Not so much a sign of the times, but maybe just the times.

LM : Sonically, at the time of the session you told me you thought the songs we sounding more like songs from Birds Make Good Neighbors...I don't know now that I've heard it. I think it is a blend of BMGN and NOTF...would you agree? If not, why not? If so, please expand a little. Are you happy with the direction things are going sonically?

Kelly Crisp : I agree with that because we learned a lot making Furies ourselves and carried that new knowledge of ourselves into the production of this record, but the feelings we had and the motivation, the curiosity we had making Birds was akin to the feeling of recording this record. But yeah, it's different enough again to make me happy about where we are still going, you know, because I still feel like we're traveling and this is representative of our art project experimentations c. 2008. I like looking back at us with my future eyes--look at us when we were Life Like! We were so young then!

LM : How do you and Ivan handle songwriting and composition of songs as a couple? What happens when you disagree about songs? Have the two of you ever got really excited about a song only to have it fall flat or have you have ever had a song you didn't really like or expect to be well received be a hit?

Kelly Crisp : Fuck Dodge, I don't know. I think our process is very natural and based in just pushing each other's ideas forward to their logical outcomes. Sometimes the process makes for piles of weird 4-track tapes nobody will ever hear and sometimes it makes Boxcar or Nice Fox.

LM : What's up with the whistle track (#8  Hello Darlin)?!  Can you perform that one live?   Will you?

Kelly Crisp : We can, sure. We just have to fly our friend Brad in to all the shows and then back every night so he can keep his job and life going. Ivan can whistle it but Brad is a songbird. We'll figure it out.

LM : What is the plan for the rest of the year and early next year?

Kelly Crisp : Touring is the main plan. We have to work these out live and then get this show on the road. We start rehearsal Friday for CMJ and we're bringing a lot of songs from Make Out back to the setlist (because they're so fun to play!).

LM : There are a lot of great bands and projects coming out of NC these days...what do you attribute that to?

Kelly Crisp : There's such an excitement in NC right now. We've been so proud of our music family there--everybody's so supportive--not competitive--ultimate bohemian dream come true type shit. It's really magical there. Friends who've moved away say they can't figure out why other towns aren't like ours. Why nothing is as easy as it is in NC. I can tell you stories. Super romantic fall-in-love stories just fecundated with nostalgia for something we still have--you know what I mean? It's so special and we all know it that we're already nostalgic for it.

Watch a video preview of the new album Life Like :