Cults just dropped their fifth studio album, ‘To the Ghosts’ too much anticipation after releasing a handful of singles that include “Crybaby” and “Hung The Moon”. It’s the band’s first new release in four years and comes at a time when the band is experiencing a renaissance from the exposure of two of their songs going viral on TikTok. TikTokkers have used the band’s songs “Always Forever” and “Gilded Lily” in millions of videos, helping the songs reached RIAA platinum and gold certification respectively.
The multiplatinum New York duo comprised of multi-instrumentalists Madeline Follin and Brian Oblivion spent much of the pandemic writing the new material, when they started writing music on weekdays from 10am-5pm, with no deadlines or distractions. The creative process was a lot looser this time around, as Oblivion noted, “the way that we worked before was we’d have an overarching idea, like we knew that the record was going to be called ‘Static’ and it was going to be darker, and it was going to invoke this feeling of a static TV in a dark room, like Poltergeist,” he explained, “this time, we were like let’s not do that. Let’s just get the vocals involved as soon as possible. We’re like comfortable with each other as collaborators, let’s just sing some nonsense until we get something going. Originally we were like, oh let’s just sing out of a book, sing the alphabet, and Maddie was like, that’s actually harder for me just give me five minutes and I’ll just write something. Almost all the lyrics that she wrote, with no pressure in like a stream of consciousness way.” Follin added, “this is the first record where I would pick up the microphone and sing whatever I was feeling. “The vocals and the lyrics really helped inform the direction rather than the other way around. Every track brings me back to what I was going through at the time.”
there was a lot of familial drama in the pandemic. I found it leaking into my lyrics and I actually have spoken to some family members and let them know that. – Madelline Follin//Cults
References to past personal relationships come up in many of the songs, as well as familial strife as Follin noted, “we were writing the lyrics and a lot of it honestly was situations that I would see happening with my little brother or my parents,” she explained, “I would come in to record with Brian and there was a lot of familial drama in the pandemic. I found it leaking into my lyrics and I actually have spoken to some family members and let them know that.” Songs like “Knots” weaves in such themes with the expectations leveraged by loved ones. Follin explained the theme of the song, “it’s about trying to mold yourself into something that you know that you never will be but trying to convince yourself that you can be that person,” as she explained, “realizing it’s just not going to happen and it’s better if you just cut your losses and get out of there.”
The duo will be touring throughout the U.S. in support of the album starting in August that will extend into October followed by select dates in Europe during November.
Cults spoke with B-Sides host Pete Mar about the new album, what sparked the creative process, thoughts on the legacy of their music spanning multiple generations and more.
