If you’ve ever wondered what true collaboration looks like, look no farther than Psapp (pronounced “sap”).
“We sometimes become extensions of each other in the way that we work,” Galia Durant said of her work with Carim Classmann. “We work so much together and we know each other really well now and so we know each other’s processes intimately.”
Although Galia does the vocals and writes lyrics and Carim arranges much of the instrumentation, it’s hard to assign the two firm roles. Similarly, although you could call their music “electronica,” that category feels too restrictive. As Carim explains, their music is very much rooted in a songwriting tradition.
“To us it’s important that songs sound fresh and interesting,” he said, “but that they’ve also got a nice structure and don’t go off in a sort of experimental way without making sense musically.”
The band likes to experiment with sounds. On their current tour, every time they make a stop — usually at a gas station — they make sure to pick up a toy or something that makes an interesting sound.
“The whole bus is just full of sound-generating obscure little toys,” said Carim.
Psapp uses everything from cuckoo clocks to old-fashioned music boxes to instrument their songs. Everything becomes musical fodder. “We use a lot of things we sort of come across on a fluke,” Carim told me. “We were walking along the Thames a while ago and we had a mini-disc with us, and there was this really nice footpath with thinly spread gravel on it, so we were just walking along making a rhythm, walking over the gravel, which we used on a track called ‘This Way.’”
There’s nothing gimmicky about the way Psapp uses the sounds, perhaps because they never force an odd sound into a song. “We never think, ‘Oh this sounds kind of a bit straightforward, let’s put on some odd sounds,’” said Carim, “Usually, we always have a few sounds ready when we work on it.”
What’s fascinating about their creative process is that the songwriting and recording happen simultaneously. It’s not as if Galia brings in a song and then Carim arranges it. They actually create it together at the same time.
“When we sit down to do some music, we just start from scratch every time,” Carim explained. “Sometimes it only takes us two or three hours to get the basics of a song down. I might just edit some bits or play a bit of percussion while she’s writing some lyrics. Then she puts down the first verse and plays a little bit of keyboard and I play a little bit of guitar. It all overlaps.”
They actually tried it the other way first, but found that method stifling, because they want to react to the songs at the same time — and it’s impossible to have shared experience about something created separately.
“We really enjoy doing everything together,” Galia said, “for it all to be occurring simultaneously in our heads rather than one of saying, ‘Oh I’ve written a song. Why don’t you mix it?’ Or the other one saying, ‘Oh, I’ve got the idea for this thing, why don’t you do this on it?’ For me, that’s not as fun, because we both really live in the present a lot.”
The Psapp process is more organic — with moods of that specific day affecting the music they’re creating. In this way, they avoid songs that feel too formulaic.
“I think when you do it together at the same time — although it sometimes might not work at all — sometimes you can get more than the sum of the parts,” Carim explained. “Everyone inspiresthe otherwith an idea they come up with, rather than people just sitting on their own with a guitar and ‘Hmm, now I sing a clever song, and put a chord here’ and then present it to somebody else in a different mood.”
Listening to Carim and Galia talk, it’s hard not to notice how much they genuinely like each other. And although their relationship is not romantic, they definitely love each other. Galia even wrote the song “The Words” with Carim in mind. “It is a kind of love song,” she explained. “A love song about how good it is just to have such a good friend, who you can work well with and enjoy being with.”
There’s in intimacy to Psapp’s songs that’s really striking. Galia admits that many of the songs are about real people, but instead of singing about them, she sings directly to them. “There’s not much in the way between the person you hear and the way she is,” Carim said. “To me she’s one of the people where if you listen to a song, especially on headphones, you can really hear her personality.”
“I find often when I listen to a song that seems to be directed at one person in particular, I enjoy the intimacy of it,” Galia explained. “I can often relate to it more than if it’s a generic song about sort of an experience that everybody has. When there are specific details that somehow makes it more honest.”
She admits to there being quite a few break-up songs on the album, my favorite of which is the gorgeous, “New Rubbers” (featuring the infamous cuckoo clock), in which she sings, “And I’ll break all our babies / Before they happen / Before they would.” The vocal is so intimate, so pained — it really feels like a captured moment in song.
“We try not to treat the vocals too much,” Galia said. “Often you get quite a raw vocal and if I sing a vocal two or three times, we tend to take the one that maybe isn’t technically the best but emotionally is the most appealing and seems to really echo the words, the style that it’s sung in.”
This is what makes Psapp so special: the immediacy and the delicacy with which they treat their work. And this translates into their live shows. You may wonder: how on earth does a band that uses cuckoo clocks and gravel paths take that act on the road? But Carim explained that they simply use instruments in place of many of the odd sounds and don’t perform the songs that don’t work live. They use a six-piece band, with an unusual drumkit that includes pieces of wood and cardboard boxes, as well as keyboards, various percussion instruments, a guitar and two violins.
“We don’t want to have a karaoke-style gig with a laptop and someone singing and maybe a guitar,” Carim explained. “That wouldn’t be the sort of gig we would like to go to. Everything’s got to be played live.”
And he admits that some songs just don’t work. “You can’t know how people play it or feel it, he said. “They have to feel the songs to play every little groove.”
So you are not getting a watered down version of Psapp when you see them live, instead you get a completely unique experience, with the songs completely rearranged.
And now's your chance to go see them, specifically, those of you on the East Coast, where the band is currently touring. When I talked to them, Galia had just come in from having frozen yogurt and getting lost in Boston. They’re opening for other bands on this tour but hope to do a tour of their own soon. “It’s sort of nice to play mainly to your own audience,” Carim said.
And who is that audience? Don’t be surprised if you see a few “Grey’s Anatomy” fans in the crowd. The song that plays over the opening credits is by Psapp. Neither Carim or Galia own a TV, so they’re a bit oblivious to the fuss. But perhaps those millions who tune in each week will get a little taste of Psapp and want more.
“Yeah, hopefully,” Carim said, laughing.