When Margot & the Nuclear So and Sos emerged in the mid-2000s with the brilliant chamber-pop record The Dust of Retreat, major labels saw the band as the next Arcade Fire, The Shins or The Decemberists.
Too bad chief songwriter and lead singer Richard Edwards never planned on sticking to one sound, turning his relationship with Epic Records sour when it came time to release a follow-up.
It was a rough situation, but when you are fighting for your record the way you want it to be, its going to be a worthwhile fight, he said. Id do the same thing all over again.
Margot ended up releasing two versions of the result: Not Animal and Animal!, respectively the labels cut and Edwards cut. The deal evaporated soon after, and the group has been independent ever since.
Obviously, you dont have to deal with bullshit from people. Thats nice, he said. You can do what you want. We always did that, anyways, but theres roadblocks whenever you are working with other peoples money. The downside is not having the budget to do some things.
Edwards has used his freedom to strip down the orchestral-pop sound to something more in line with 90s altrock legends Pavement and Dinosaur Jr., as heard in 2010s Buzzard.
Nothing prompted it. It
just felt like the natural thing to do, he said. That tendency had
always been there. It was just overshadowed by all the instrumentation.
The groups brand-new record, Rot Gut, Domestic, follows suit, if even more bristling and unpredictable than the last.
I
think its a punchy pop record, the kind of record Ive wanted to make
since I was a teenager, Edwards said. In that regard, Im very happy
with it.
He has already written the next one, possibly more aligned with Margots earlier material, describing it as not quite as distorted and
not quite as punchy
a little more mellow and breezy, but that can
change.
With few obstacles in the way, Edwards said he hopes to have the record out in 2013, but real life gets in the way sometimes.