Dialing in from Kingston, New York, Derek Miller has happily replanted himself somewhere new. Removed from Brooklyn, New York—his home of 11-plus years and where he and Alexis Krauss, his other half in Sleigh Bells, built the band—Miller needed a lifestyle change. Krauss originally moved to the area, just under two hours north of New York City four years earlier, and Miller followed suit, uprooting to a house and his own studio. “I love Brooklyn,” says Miller. “I could easily have lived there for 10 more years, but I’m pretty adaptable. I can live anywhere.” He adds, “I’ve been making music on my headphones in my apartment for nine years. Now, my living room is my studio, so I can blast shit 24 hours a day, like 120 dB [decibel] or louder.”
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Continuing to write following the release of 2017 EP Kid Kruschev, the pair began piecing together their fifth album Texis (Mom + Pop Music) by the summer of 2018. “That’s a pretty down record,” shares Miller of Kruschev. “I was not in a great spot, and I was really fighting to try to get out of that headspace, so these songs were a big part of that pulling me out of a weird place in my life. It just helped turn everything around.”
Texis is the reemergence of Sleigh Bells as an uninhibited, genre-twisting, noise-procured dyad, reflecting freedom to excavate the emotional bases of Jessica Rabbit and earlier sonic elements of their 2010 debut Treats. “We stopped worrying about whether or not we’re in or out of our comfort zone, or if we were being repetitive or formulaic,” says Miller, adding “The thing I’m most attracted to is the juxtaposition of happy and sad, melancholy and hope. A lot of this is about trying to hold on to a shred of optimism through sheer force of will, and I hope this music can give people some joyful energy and confidence.”
Sweeping through frenetic synth, pop-metal bonds, “SWEET75” sets the pace of Texis. Revisiting an earlier demo for a future Texis track “Justine Go Genesis,” Miller and Krauss embraced the faster tempo, something that had been missing since the more contemplative experiment of Kid Kruschev. Krauss added the lyrics within a few hours of hearing the demo, which opened the pair up to more electrified bursts of “Tennessee Tips” and “Locust Laced.”
“They have a spirit and energy that feels right at the moment,” says Miller of the uptempo tracks. “We’ve been between 70 and 90 beats per minute for 13 years with the exception of ‘A/B Machines’ from Treats, which is at 129 BPM. We’ve just been kind of hanging around in those tempos, so ‘Justine Go Genesis’ is the first track that made the album, and it really just reinvigorated us.”
Working together since forming in 2008, the duo still makes music to impress one another. Miller’s favorite part of recording is hearing Krauss’ first scratch vocals on a demo. “I’m always trying to make something that’s hopefully inspiring and exciting and beautiful,” he says. “I’m always trying to give Alexis music that she’s going to sound incredible on. I know her range really well. I know what textures she sounds good on top of, and I’m always just trying to blow her away. That’s my bandmate, one of my best friends, so when I play her a new piece of music, I’m trying to wow her. I want her to get excited.”
Sometimes songs take five minutes, while others need 15 hours for Miller. “My whole life revolves around songs and sounds,” he says. “A lot of my favorite artists subscribe to the conduit theory, of channeling something where it’s not even them, and I think that’s really beautiful. My position is that I don’t have one. I don’t even like to think about it. I just sit down and try to get it done.”
Revealing his earlier personal struggles and how Krauss and their community of friends helped him through them, Texis reflects a new era in Miller’s life. “I know that seeing me happy helps and makes her [Krauss] happy,” shares Miller. “Seeing any of the people you love in your life happy, it’s a good feeling, so that’s the kind of the vibe around this record for us. It’s a positive one.”
He adds, “A band takes a hell of a lot of work, but it still somehow feels like I’m just breathing. It’s just so natural and second nature at this point to sit down and work on music. I don’t have to make a concerted effort to get things to sound a certain way.”
Working around enough material for two or three new albums, Sleigh Bells are also working on a four-piece for live performances, pulling in drummer Chris Maggio, who played on the band’s 2013 release Bitter Rivals and Kate Steinberg on backing vocals. “There’s a lot more moving parts, so it will hopefully be different for fans that have been seeing us from the beginning. It’s more fluid. It’s a little more human and a little bit less karaoke.”
For Miller, Sleigh Bells was always his dream band… and still is. Growing up on the pop music his mother was playing, while other boys in 4th and 5th grade were joining little league teams, it was music, 24-seven for Miller. “Around puberty, I got into heavier stuff, like new metal and hardcore, but I still loved pop music,” says Miller. “I was always trying to figure out why somebody like Cyndi Lauper didn’t start a band with somebody like Dave Lombardo from Slayer. Sleigh Bells was me trying to get my dream band to come out of the speakers.”
Miller adds, “It’s just a privilege. I’m still ramped up, and it feels good to be 13 years in and to still feel this way.”
