It’s often said that music has the power to bring people together. While this statement makes my eyes roll to the back of my head, I’ve found it true in several instances in my life. One of those instances was when I invited my now best friend and flatmate to see MICHELLE with me in 2022 at the Pitchfork Music Festival. At that point, we were strangers to each other, awkwardly making small talk in the queue. 

It wasn’t until the New York City-based collective burst onto the stage that all the tension and anxiety between us dissipated. The six-piece indie pop group, consisting of Sofia D’Angelo, Julian Kaufman, Charlie Kilgore, Layla Ku, Emma Lee and Jamee Lockard, are known for their infectious energy onstage. Their deep love for each other was apparent as they hugged, touched and danced together. In an interview with Office from earlier this year, Lee explained that her role in the band is “singer, songwriter, choreographer”, but most importantly, it is “friend”.

Their relationship with each other is at the centre of everything they do. Despite the show being in the dead of winter, their smooth 90s R&B and funk melodies made the atmosphere feel warmer than ever. The venue grew hotter, but we couldn’t stop dancing.

Originally formed in 2018, MICHELLE set out to create one album dedicated to New York City. But after their debut album, HEATWAVE was met with critical acclaim, the group decided to continue their musical journey together. Following their success, they signed to Transgressive Records, the same label behind artists such as SOPHIE, Alvvays and Arlo Parks. They have since released their second album, AFTER DINNER WE TALK DREAMS, which explored the pleasures and perils of life in New York. However, the group’s new album, Songs About You Specifically, is a departure from their usual New York City context. The group rented a house in Ojai, California, for three weeks to complete the record, a decision that significantly influenced the album’s tone. While their earlier songs captured New York’s turbulent restlessness, the music on Songs About You Specifically possess a quiet matureness, showcasing their growth as musicians. 

Following the announcement of their third album and the release of their lead single, ‘OONTZ’, we spoke to the New York City collective about Songs About You Specifically, The Avalanches, and why dancing is “most expressive art form”.

You’ve been a collective since 2018. What has it been like to grow with each other musically and personally over the last few years, and how do you see that growth reflected in your upcoming album Songs About You Specifically?

Sofia D’Angelo: We’ve gone on tour a lot. We’ve opened for Arlo Parks, Mitski and Faye Webster and performed our first-ever headlining tours. We’ve been to Europe twice, did the whole US, and have performed at countless festivals. For the last two to three years, we’ve been in such close proximity to each other, and I’ve learned so much about these guys as people. I think the band knows more about me than my closest friends do just because we’ve seen each other in more compromising situations in the middle of Iowa than my besties at home have. 

Emma Lee: When we made the first album, we were presented as artists and singers born and raised in New York. Growing up in New York City was our central theme, and that theme asked for something very specific from us. We also didn’t know each other all that well, so the writing process was very different. In terms of growing together, writing together, and creating together, we’ve tried many different combinations of what making an album could look like, whether in groups of twos, threes or solo. That process has changed because we’ve gotten to know each other better but also because the ask of us is very different now. The commitment, interest and investment have changed over time. And that’s not to say it wasn’t serious initially, but I think the stakes were very different. So, the hands-on element of everything has only increased as we’ve stayed together for this long.

Your earlier music was an ode to New York City, but this new album was written while you guys were living in California. What was that like, and how did your time in California influence your writing and this new album? 

Jamee Lockard: It was a great time. I had some of my healthiest morning routines in Ojai, California. We got up and did our own thing in the morning, made breakfast, stretched, showered and did whatever to set ourselves right. Then, we would split into two groups and work on our respective songs. Sometimes, you could overhear some of what was happening in the studio, but for the most part, it was a surprise left for the end of the day. Whatever group finished first would cook dinner for the rest of us, and we’d eat together in this family-style dinner. After that, we’d wash all the dishes, go to the studio, and listen to the songs that were written that day.

Julian Kaufman: When we were in Ojai, we thought we were really far from LA. But I was recently in LA and realised we were only an hour and a half away from the city. That was great for us, though, because we thought we were the most isolated we’d ever been, that we were alone in the desert. It was just us, which was super healthy for us and our writing. 

When I first heard your music, I was so excited by how you mix genres. Every song in your last two albums is so vastly different from the other. This is also super apparent in your new record – what made you want to do that rather than just sticking to one genre? 

Jamee Lockard: When you have a group with so many people who have so many different interests and influences, they’re bound to mix and match a little to make everyone happy. 

Julian Kaufman: Not only is everybody different, but everybody in the band contains multitudes. So when you have six people who all have three or four different things they like to do rather than one thing, it’s almost a challenge to make it not feel like fruit salad. You know what I mean? A lot of this [the new record] involved us trying really hard to make it one thing, and I guess we failed, but it’s a happy failure because it makes it sound florid and unique.

What music helped inspire the new record?  

Julian Kaufman: On the production side, we were very much trying to be a meld of Phantogram and Phoenix from the 2000s, met with 90s R&B. We also wanted to incorporate a little bit of the drum machines and sounds of late 80s, early 90s new jack swing.

Charlie Kilgore: We also experimented with using samples on this new record for the first time. So there were elements of working with mixing drum machines and real drums like Sly and the Family Stone do on many of their later records or like The Avalanches. They were a big influence on the way we sampled stuff.

‘OONTZ’ is your lead single for this album. It’s such a fun song with some rather dark lyrics. Can you tell us more about how the song came together? 

Julian Kaufman: I have such a good story for this. So it came from very early days, primarily melodic demos that I hadn’t super developed. It was the first week of the pandemic, and my dad and I left my apartment to go and live at his girlfriend’s house in Long Island. There weren’t enough rooms, so I was in the basement, where I set up a studio. I made a song, and I didn’t like it. So I was like, OK, I’m gonna keep the drums and try new piano parts and melodies, but I hated that too. I was almost going to give up, so I went to have lunch and kept thinking about how much I hated making music. But when I returned to it, I was like, let me try one more thing. Then the riff comes out of nowhere, and the melodies hit me all in 45 seconds, the whole song. It was crazy, and I mean, it’s not even the greatest song, but it just just happened really quickly. 

When I saw you live, I was struck by your dance moves—they made the concert so fun. Emma, you choreograph the dances. Can you tell us more about the importance of dance in your collective? Have you started choreographing dances to the new songs?   

Emma Lee: Yes, we have. When we started to get opportunities to play slightly bigger stages, we began to think about the possibilities of four front people. There’s a long history of boy and girl groups dancing, so we’re not the first to do anything like that, but dancing is our most expressive art form. When you can match pop music, and that’s not all that we make, obviously, but when we can match pop music with movement that subverts, accentuates, or taps into something very human but in a very visual way, that’s where my interest comes from. It’s just the most exciting thing. I love dancing.

I am most honest in my sharing through dance. I think that’s also directly aligned with singing for many people. When you’re onstage sharing that moment with people, that kind of human experience, that’s an extraordinary thing. We hope to create that with our live show and through these videos. That’s our biggest hope.

‘OONTZ’ is out now via Transgressive Records