Since the release of their second full-length album, Poppy Seeds, the Corner Laughers have been busy. Several trips to Europe and two babies later, the Redwood City band has an album’s worth of new experiences to share.
While the lighthearted melodies and sun-drenched lyrics of Poppy Seeds make for an ideal road-trip album, the band’s new LP, Matilda Effect (out June 12), is a far more intimate affair—inspired by trans-Atlantic journeys and chronicling vocalist Karla Kane’s transition into motherhood.
The album toggles between wistful, dreamy textures and witty, energetic passages. Matilda Effect has the feel of a fairytale adventure through an abandoned castle.
Drummer Charlie Crabtree’s son Pudge and Kane’s daughter Octavia were born in 2013 about six months apart. The band was in the process of writing Matilda Effect at the time. “Naturally we had to put some band activities on hold,” says Khoi Huynh, bassist and father of Kane’s daughter.
The time didn’t go entirely to waste, however. Guitarist KC Bowman ran point on producing an album by the band’s “alter-ego,” Agony Aunts. Huynh says the resulting record, Big Cinnamon, went largely unnoticed due to a lack of promotion and supporting shows.
Kane (who reviews plays for Metro) delves into intimate lyrical territory on tracks like “Queen Of The Meadow”—which is based on the couple’s experiences as new parents—and “Octavia A,” a theme song for Kane and Huynh’s daughter. “She made up the ‘la la la’ part herself,” Huynh says.
Matilda Effect by The Corner Laughers
Kane also found lyrical inspiration while traveling overseas with the band. The album’s lead-off track, “Fairytale Tourist,” features a Germanic-sounding Hansel & Gretel theme. “Sophie In The Streets Of Stockholm” is about finding a rubber giraffe in Stockholm while on their way to the train station. And “Good Hope” is loosely based on the diaries of Kane’s great-grandfather, who was a ship captain in the Aland islands between Sweden and Finland.
Though they cherish their globetrotting adventures, the band is proud to call the South Bay home.
All three of The Corner Laughers’ full-length records were produced by Orange Peels’ frontman Allen Clapp at his home studio (he lives in an Eichler) in the heart of Silicon Valley, and later at his mountain retreat in Boulder Creek.
During recording breaks Huynh and Kane enjoyed jaunts to Rancho San Antonio to “commune with the native plants and birds.” The song “Midsommar” was partly inspired by the Swedish Midsummer festival that takes place at Sveadal in Morgan Hill.
The Corner Laughers play Devil’s Canyon Brewing Co. in San Carlos on July 31 at 4pm.
.The Corner Laughers To Release New Album
