Singled Out: A Doll's House's Over Easy

A Doll's House will be releasing their Brian Wheat of Telsa produced album "Annum" this week and to celebrate we asked them to tell us about the record's new single "Over Easy". Here is the story:

"Over Easy" started the way a lot of our songs do with Seth stumbling on something on acoustic guitar in his living room. Just some basic chords with a melody and lyrical idea. Seth messed with it a bit more and got the melody and lyrics nailed down. As is often the case in the way we write songs, Dav (guitarist) then took the basics of the song and gave it a different structure while weaving in the guitar riffs and chording that give the song its "sound." Dav's guitars create a banjo feel just under the surface. That's not surprising given that, although he ultimately recorded with different guitars, Dav started work on the song on a Resonator, which has that dry, plucky feel to it.

Tony (drums and percussion) took the song in a surprising direction in the middle eight. (We're not sure if it's really 8.) For that part, Tony went with predominantly toms and the kick drum with virtually no cymbals or hi-hat. It makes the part stand out in contrast to the more acoustic feel of the verse and gives the song a sense of building tension.

Dave Santos (vocals) did what he always does on our songs - he finds harmonies no one else would have thought of. He also brought just the right dynamics to the song, giving it emotion where it needs it without going over the top, which could be easy to do with a song like this. The result is that hard to find sense that you really are hearing the story play out through someone's eyes. In our humble opinion, the vocals are moving without being sappy.

In the studio, Brian Wheat, co-founder of Tesla, pushed the song to the next level. Brian produced, recorded and mixed the song as well as the whole Annum album. For Over Easy, Brian immediately found a way to bring some of the more intricate sections of Dav's guitar parts to the fore. Brian is also great at getting more out the musicians in studio. Brian pushed Seth to abandon the sparer feel of the original bass line and work in something with more movement, which then also led Seth to the short melodic line that creeps up several times throughout the song and is now Seth's favorite part of the bass line.

Lyrically, the song tries to put a twist on the old theme of a break up. In "Over Easy," it's clear that the girl's long term relationship has ended and she is confiding in her friend who tries to cheer her up. But as the song progresses, it turns out the friend is really the one who loves her and wants to tell her -- "Do you ever wonder, why I'm always there for you. One day it's gonna hit you that I'm the one..." Whether it ever does hit her and, if so, what she thinks isn't quite clear.

We've gotten a lot of comments about the line "Try to straighten up your shoulders from that kick in the ribs." It seems to capture that feeling we've all had when we're on the wrong side of a break up. We love the line because it highlights one of the great aspects of songwriting - sometimes the best parts are just things that come out of your head with no real forethought and ends up hitting on something that resonates with others.

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

News > A Dolls House