Singled Out: The Sarandons' Say When

10-03-2023

Heartland Canadian indie rockers The Sarandons recently released a new single called "Say When" and to celebrate we asked Dave Suchon (vocals, guitar) to tell us about the song. Here is the story:

Like most people these days, I record a lot of song ideas on my phone. I try to be diligent and get them into a final form and then over to The Sarandons' Google Drive. Sometimes, whether I'm changing over phones, or just feeling anxious about have a bunch of voice memos piled up, I'll dump a whole bunch in a folder with the intention to come back and listen. In 2019, I did just that.

In late 2022, we had finished our Sightlines full-length, and we were looking to dive back in on some new material, with the hopes of field-testing new songs at some shows in the new year. One of the things I did was look back through that 2019 folder of old voice memos and I came across a file titled "Amen - Am G F C G F - F G". It surprised me because I'd completely forgotten about it, but I liked the chord phrasing, simple as it may be, and I liked the chorus melody opening on the E, which turns the F chord into a major seventh feel.

In November 2022, I brought it to the band and, over the next few months, we tried it a bunch of different ways, including more jangly at a faster tempo and slower and darker. It was that mid-tempo heartland rocker groove that stuck because it provided the right emotional heft but still felt energetic. The other breakthrough moment was when Ed found that rhodes riff that you hear in the chorus and outro. It propelled the groove as it plays off the beat and let Craig and I sit back a bit on guitar as we dialed up our chorus pedals.

In March, we shared the track with our producer, Dan Hosh, and he doubled down on our visions for a modern-day heartland rocker. Infidels, Dylan's '80s record with Knopfler on production and guitar stood out to us as a touchstone. We set down for recording in May at Trench Recordings in Toronto and then went to Dan's studio, Double Car Recording, for the vocal overdubs.

One of the techniques I've adopted for lyrics is to hold off the very end. I try keep my mind open as we're recoding demos, trying out different phrasing and timing, without much conscious effort into what I'm saying. Ultimately, I find that this time spent holding off on finalizing lets the ideas and themes percolate to the point that, when it finally comes down to the day for main vocals, I have a very strong sense of what the song means to me and it's completely aligned with the music around it.

True to form, I got up really early on vocal day in early June and sat at the piano putting the final words together. I listened back to 10 or 15 demo takes and mined and built up some of the key phrases. I pulled an old unreleased song called "One Hit Wonder" which had the lines "worn out / done erasing / rebuilding weighs upon your mind" and turned that into the second verse of "Say When" which goes, "worn out from facing what we can't erase / the thought of rebuilding weighs upon my mind." To me the song is sort of about resigning oneself to loss, but in a hopeful sense. Ultimately, we hope it's broad enough that it meets everyone where they're at and says something to them. Or maybe folks just want to crank it and go for a run. Even better! As Hal and Joanne would say, "keep fit and have fun."

Hearing is believing. Now that you know the story behind the song, listen and watch for yourself below and learn more about the band here