Two Truths & A Lie: Sweatson Klank – Fuck & Fight [Video Premiere]
Yours Truly sits down with producer Sweatson Klank for an exclusive interview about the magic behind his forthcoming LP, play a game of Two Truths & A Lie, and debut the video for the lead single, ‘Fight & Fuck’ featuring rapper, Deniro Farrar.
You, Me, Temporary touches so deep into my personal understanding of the world, I appreciate that honesty more than you will ever know. And I could go on forever about why that title is meaningful, but for Sweatson Klank, What’s behind that album name?
It’s a bit of a Buddhist saying. It’s about how everything comes to an end, the cycle of life. Things start and then they end and then they begin again. With You, Me, Temporary, the concept relates to a relationship, or several relationships, life, mortality and how things come to an end, and start again. We as people are temporary, we are here temporarily, maybe our souls continue on after our bodies die, and some people read that as sad or somber, but to me it’s not that at all. It’s much more of a way of looking at life.
It reminds me of this famous Stanley Kubrick interview in Playboy, where they asked him the meaning of life, and he said something to the effect that once you realize there is no meaning to life, it sets you free to create your own destiny.
Yes, that’s really the idea. We don’t have too much control over the universe and whatever you believe in, you can manifest your destiny, and shape your path, but ultimately, you’re only here for a minute.
Have you ever read ‘On Love: A Novel’ by Alain de Botton? Your record reminds me of that book so much. The ability to tell a story through your music is a gift. Can you talk about the concept for this album?
The concept is basically all life experiences, it’s about the life of a relationship from the beginning to the end. When you first meeting somebody and everything is super new and passionate and fun, all the way to the final stages. So the album starts out like ecstasy, when you’re on a high on that cloud, and you’ve got your love goggles on. For instance the song ‘Waiting’ with Viktor Duplaix, it’s about that feeling you have when you first enter into something with someone. Them coming back to your house, you’re about to have that first physical experience with them, everything is unknown, scary and exciting all at the same time.
From there the album progresses to where you have been in the relationship for a bit, things start to get a bit shaky, you still love that person, but all you do is ‘Fuck & Fight’, some issues have come up or whatever. There is turmoil, you know its not going to work but you hang on to it, thinking it can get better. Then finally the end of the record is when things start to fall apart and the relationship ends and you’re sort of lost without that person. The loneliness that comes with that. It’s a typical love story that everyone can relate to because everyone’s been through it in one form or another. Then at the very end, you come to this moment where you just accept what has happened, and that it’s time to let go and find yourself again, that’s where the album drops you off at.
You, Me, Temporary is heavy but not in a dark way, more in a bearing your soul way. There is so much raw emotion. Raw emotion in a number of forms, in a playful way on songs like ‘Fight & Fuck’. There are songs called ‘Morning After Pills’ and ‘Opium Scented’, and not for the shock value, but because that’s the truth. You get a grittier side of emotions on those songs. And just sexy passion on songs like ‘Waiting’. What this overwhelming amount of emotion intentional?
Not to get too personal, but this record is really about three different relationships that were tied into each other. I was in the thick of it all as I was making the album, and I find as an artists, that’s my muse– the feelings that life gives you, both good and bad. The hardships that life presents to you are the best for creating. I’ve been kind of silent musically the last few years because I was going through a lot of stuff, so when I started coming out of all of that is when all of the inspiration came, so I just went with it.
Can you walk me through how you create a song from start to finish?
One aspect that really helped make this a cohesive album that tells a story, is all of the guests that were involved on the record. I worked with them to really understand the concept, and where their song would fit into the story i was trying to tell. For instance, the track with Viktor, that was one of the last songs I did, and I told him I need a song that’s from the beginning of the relationship. I’m missing that part of the story. We sat down and wrote it out. And when I talked to Deniro, I was just in the midst of this tumultuous shit and I told him about it, and he just came with the perfect words to express what was going on..
Ango, Deniro Farrar, Doc Illingsworth, and more appear on the record, how did you decide who to collaborate with? For instance, Deniro works so perfectly, but I would have never guessed he would be on this record.
I picked some of my favorite artists, and felt like their voices could fit perfectly and express and tell the story the way I wanted to. Deniro I felt would just kill it over that sort of tear jerky, melodic club-banger beat. Doc Illingsworth over ’15 bucks’ was just perfect. Ango also had the exact vibe I was looking for, and after speaking with him, I knew he understood the concept. I actually sing on a track too.
You’re fantastic at building very intricate, complex tracks that don’t make the listener feel like they need to associate with any one genre to listen to it. It’s very universal, and feels very personal. Do you think a song is better if it’s about something that happened to you personally?
Yes. When you write from experience it’s the truest form of expression.
A lot of producers seem to over sample and feel the need to layer and layer, which just ends up sounding cluttered. This release has a smooth complexity to it.
Yeah I have a tendency to think like ‘But I can add more”, and I really tried to keep it more minimal on this one and remind myself that less is more.
What’s special about this release in relation to your past releases?
I think this release is the best thing I’ve ever done. I still like it, which is rare after listening to it for so long. Also moving forward I want to continue to work with vocalists, I’m sort of burnt out on making instrumental music. I’m really into having the added emotional vibe that working with the right vocalist can add. It’s funny, I started out doing hip hop and working with MCs, moved on to instrumental music, and now I’ve come full circle working with vocalists again.
Also, it’s pretty special that this release is coming out on triple vinyl!
To read the Two Truths & A Lie and get a free DL of the single, head over to Yours Truly.
(Was really excited to get to work on this project. This album is so special. Be sure to grab it!)
