Ahead of the release of their forthcoming self-titled record in October, Ball Park Music have offered up some context to the record’s creation in a new Instagram post.
Having offered up the first single to the record back in March, Ball Park Music said at the time they were on track to call their sixth studio album Mostly Sunny. By April though, the group had changed their tune, with Sam Cromack telling triple j the title “didn’t feel right for a number of reasons”.
Now self-titled, the album has since spawned its latest single “Day & Age”, before the band revealed earlier this month that the record would be officially released on October 23rd.
Taking to Instagram over the weekend though, the group shared something of an insight into the album’s production process, noting how it was borne out of difficulties surrounding the band.
https://www.instagram.com/p/CCzmp_XhWCj/
“I wouldn’t describe the making of this album as easy,” the post began. Don’t get me wrong. There’s no trouble in paradise. In fact, I would say that the bond between the five of us in the band is actually at its best. Our friendship feels strong and wise. It was other stuff. Boring stuff. Stuff that made our already intense album-making process even more gruelling.
“Excruciating heat, constant noise, broken equipment, sickness, tighter schedules, sleepless nights, pandemics, bandmates spread across the country. I won’t bore you with the microscopic details of our petty suffering, but damn, sometimes we really felt it. I only mention this because I think the struggle helped to define and inform this album rather than hinder it.”
Noting that this process wasn’t exactly foreign to the group, the intensity of the production seemed to be taken up another level, and providing with the most intense experience to date.
“None of our records have been glamorous to make; we’ve always wound up in some hot shed making indie rock on the cheap like a bunch of masochists,” the post concludes. “But this record, well, it was the most hardcore. It knocked us around the most. It was the most us. I mean, look what we did… We called it Ball Park Music. We named it after our own fucking band.
“But hey, you only cry when you really feel something. And we absolutely felt this record.”
Ball Park Music are on track to release their self-titled album on October 23rd, with pre-orders available now.
