When I heard “God’s in the Details,” I felt hopeful. Hopeful because of the singers’ vocal vibe. Hopeful because I was reminded of the masterful lyricism from my favorite artists. Hopeful because this was something different: more had created their own lane of unique sound.
more is composed of Kane Ritchotte and Malcolm McRae. Together, they released their debut EP ‘½’ on July 17th. The five tracks take the listener on an ethereal sonic experience as melodic rock is interwoven with pop, art, soul and memorable groove. Each song truly holds its own as you can feel the deep creativity, curiosity and musicianship from the talented duo.
It is their mutual love for the process of making a record that permeates throughout the EP. Inspired by their heroes of earlier decades, more is on the forefront of redefining modern rock as their myriad of influences are centerfold. We had the opportunity to talk to ½ of more: Malcolm McRae and hear about the band’s musical influences, how the two multi-instrumentalists joined forces and the importance of mentorship.
Pass The Crown: You’re from Alabama. How did you end up in Los Angeles and what was your relationship with music in your formative years?
Malcolm McRae: I grew up in a suburb just outside of Birmingham, Alabama. My dad was a business person. My mom was initially an architect and then switched to interior design. Neither of my parents played musical instruments but both were singers and they enjoyed having music around. Thinking back, I used to think my mom was so uncool but the music she showed me was usually on point with my tastes. My dad would listen to operas, more classical music, something I couldn't appreciate at that point but I am now beginning to.
They definitely encouraged the singing aspect of it and then my brother started playing guitar when he was in fifth grade. Finally, I stopped being lazy and took it up cause I wanted to copy him and there was a talent show I wanted to try out for. I thought I could do that with guitar.
Starting in my later years of high school, I would play around with my friends who were musicians. We would write a few songs but it wasn’t really about creating our own music at that point. It was more reinterpretations of covers. But that is how it began and then it became very consuming.
How did you acquaint yourself once you arrived in Los Angeles? How did you and Kane initially meet and when did you decide to create music together?
I had a bit of an established group which is why I chose LA. Kane and I met through a mutual friend. I was working with a friend, Paige Stark, who was producing. She got Jon Brion to come in and help and he played a lot of the instrumentation on it. I liked his production ear as well.
Kane was working with Danger Mouse and just dropped out of Portugal. The Man. Initially, my friend set us up so that Kane could play drums on some of my recordings or play live with me. Once we got together, we started writing music and found that we had a lot in common. I think Kane spun it on me one day and said, “Yo, do you want to just team up?” I thought we would continue our solo projects and have this be a separate endeavor. It turned out that we liked where the project was headed so much that we abandoned our solo projects all together.
That’s really nice especially since it happened very organically.
M: It’s been a really nice thing. I’ve never had this sort of collaborative, respectful, creative partnership. It’s been really nice walking through it with someone else.
How did you go about writing “Settled In?” I’d love to hear the process of how that song came to fruition.
The music itself was written prior to combining forces. I feel like these two songs (“God’s in the Details” & “Settled In”) establish who we were prior to meeting up in terms of the vibes we were trying to achieve. I guess I was more into melancholic kinda stuff and Kane was very much into how production affects the listener.
When I came out to LA, I fell into a relationship and we wrote it together. It was about the dissolution of that relationship. As that relationship with her was falling apart we sat down at 3 am and wrote the majority of that song together. A lot of stuff happened that was very autobiographical. It didn’t require much imagination.
Who are some of your influences, both musical and nonmusical? Are there any artists that you try to emulate when you’re writing or creating?
I think we try to avoid doing the novelty thing of attempting to pin down a certain sound or certain time period in our music, but definitely just a hodge-podge of influences. Anything from architectural works to graphic design to movies. In terms of music, we love stuff from the 60’s and 70’s period with the focus mainly on the songwriting and the structure of those songs. So that was a lot of David Bowie, Kate Bush, Peter Gabriel and John Lennon. Recently we’ve been listening to Prince, D’Angelo MGMT, and Kid Cudi, so as we evolve you can hear all those influences in different ways and it feels like a bit of maturation.
I can hear a mix of all of those influences. Super cool. What was it like working with Tony Burg and recording at Sound City?
Oh my. Tony has become like our second dad. I think he does that to almost everyone. You could feel really special about it but when you gauge how much he does for everyone and not just in a musical sense but in terms of a mentorship and a guru, it’s just incredible. I think that’s his specialty and we are incredibly lucky to have him. He’s definitely the third member. His influence on us has been pretty overwhelming. In terms of him showing us new inspiration in all those regards too not just musically. He’ll have suggestions on books. He really dials it in on our age bracket too which is really interesting. He’s our favorite dude.
Any books in particular worth mentioning?
Yeah, there’s a book called Mrs. Caliban, he suggested Haruki Murakami
Who are some artists on your radar that you’re excited about?
We call it the Sound City crew because there are a lot of artists recording around us and actually some of them appear on the album. There’s a guy named Ethan Gruska who we absolutely love. He’s one of the best songwriters out there. Anything he produces is incredible. A guy named Blake Mills who we look up to very much. His solo albums are some of the best songwriting. As a producer, we think he is on the forefront of something really special, not to mention he is one of the best guitar players in the world so we have a lot of respect for him. Phoebe Bridgers is someone who recorded with Tony. We like her music very much. Perfume Genius. I feel like I am leaving some people out but this is what comes to mind.
Is there significance to the title of your debut EP?
We went into the studio attempting to record a full album which we did but at the end of it we decided to release it as two EP’s so we just want people to recognize they are parts of the same whole.
What’s next for you? I know we are in the middle of a pandemic but is there anything that you are particularly looking forward to?
Oh man. What am I looking forward to? I am looking forward to playing live again. Absolutely. But also this time has been kinda nice. It’s sort of a recalibration. Just playing a lot of guitar. Picked up a couple new instruments and we spent a lot of time writing so we are really excited to record.
Listen to more’s debut EP ‘1/2’ on all streaming platforms.
Watch the music video for “Elaborate Attractions” below!