Photo by Casey Catelli
After coming out of the gate strong with their 2014 debut EP, Cathedrals returned last month with a new single called “Don’t Act Like a Stranger”. While the track demonstrated the duo’s sparkling electropop was still worthy of the buzz they’d received three years ago, something was different about the band. For one, the song wasn’t made with just singer Brodie Jenkins and multi-instrumentalist Johnny Hwin anymore; for the first time, they’d brought touring members Mitchell Wilcox (drums) and Jonathan Hererra (bass and synths) into the studio with them. For another, Jenkins and Hwin were approaching their music from very different perspectives.
Following their tour behind their self-titled first release, the pair went their separate ways to explore the polar ends of romance. Hwin was recovering from a heartbreak, while Jenkins was basking in the warmth of a fresh marriage to her longtime sweetheart. It’s during this time apart, with their minds and hearts in drastically different places, that their songwriting began. “While writing this new body of work, we spent some time apart in our own enclaves,” the band explains to Consequence of Sounds, “writing various parts that would eventually come together to become fully fleshed out songs.”
It’s only when they met back in the studio that tracks like “Don’t Act Like a Stranger” and their newest single, “Try to Fight” came together. A testament to the synergy of their talents, the process worked. “Try to Fight”, for example, is thumping, glittering dance pop track bursting with rich synthesizers and Jenkins’ powerfully sweet vocals. Her voice rings out with the liberated joy of one who finally acquiesces to love as she sings, “Try to fight it, but it’s only right/ Try to hide it, keep it out of sight/ Try to fight it, but I’m wasting time.”
Take a listen below.
Cathedrals will be putting “Try to Fight” and perhaps more new material on display during their forthcoming heading show at San Francisco’s Mezzanine with Rituals of Mine and Yassou. Find info on that concert here.
