With his third album Nobody Marks Us, Nashville-based artist and producer Not Satire continues to carve out his own corner of synth-driven indie. By blending ethereal textures with grounding percussion, his music holds a delicate balance between vastness and intimacy. On this new record, that balance feels even more intentional. Drawing from influences like Bon Iver, James Blake, Twenty One Pilots and Beach House, Not Satire channels themes of nostalgia, temporality, trust and a search for meaning. It all accumulates into the bittersweet acknowledgement of the fragility and impermanence of life. As such, Nobody Marks Us is steeped in a rich atmosphere that is as haunting as it is hopeful. For On The Record, we discussed the emotional impact of this 12-track collection, how it reflects Not Satire‘s stylistic growth and what lies ahead.
Welcome to Unrecorded! For those who aren’t already familiar with Not Satire, can you introduce yourself?
Hey! I’m Nashville based indie artist/producer Not Satire 🙂 Thank you for having me!
Nobody Marks Us is a meditation on impermanence, so what initially drew you to those themes of existence and transience?
I think those themes have been present in my life for a long time, and I was just naturally drawn to writing about them/approaching them.
The album’s title is also very striking, so what’s the meaning behind it?
It comes from a C.S. Lewis essay called “The Weight of Glory”. It’s loosely about how beauty and art are momentary to us as humans, and we’re never really welcomed into their world, but forced to live on the outside and admire them from a distance. I highly recommend reading the entire thing!
As it’s your third album, do you think that your writing, recording and production process has evolved over the years?
I wouldn’t say the process itself has evolved, but the inspiration behind what I make certainly has. I’ve also been lucky enough to get some new gear that’s helped shape my sound and my approach to production. I definitely am more intentional lyrically and conceptually now.
Speaking of production, the impact of Nobody Marks Us is expansive yet precise, with those ethereal synths contrasted against a grounding percussion. How did you find that balance between atmosphere and structure?
I just make whatever feels right at the time and let the song form itself. It’s a weird thing that happens, where you kind of lose control over what you’re making and let another force take the wheel and steer the song.
Would you say that self-producing and mixing the album has allowed you to express yourself on a deeper level?
For sure. I can make everything sound exactly how I want it to sound. That being said, I don’t feel obligated to continue being entirely self-produced. I think collaboration can be a really useful tool for bettering yourself as an artist and expanding your palate.
A track like ‘Overnight’ captures that duality between motion and stillness, so can you talk about how that song came together?
I think I started by sampling a riff I wrote on guitar and tried to make a weird beat from it. I liked how it sounded as a sort of riser, so I just went from there. At some point I knew it was going to be the album intro so I started building out a “drop” after that riser. The drums are a great sample I found that I just smashed with some distortion and a little reverb. Lyrically it’s just a fit of anxiety, which is what I guess I was feeling at the time. It’s kind of that moment at a live show when the headliner first comes out and you feel that weird nervousness, that’s what I feel like I ended up capturing.
‘Headache’ has a more urgent sensation, it’s almost cathartic, so was that intentional?
There is an urgency I wanted to capture with that song. It’s an urgency I feel everyday that kind of drives me to exhaustion, never feeling like I have enough time to get everything done. The middle part is a bit of relief, blaming myself for being too “go-go-go” and realizing that in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t really matter.
Were there particular instruments, synths or recording techniques that became central to shaping the album’s sound?
I got a new strat which played a big part in shaping the sound, I layered it a lot with UAD amp plugins. I also used a Korg Opsix for a lot of the synths, which just has a really cool grainy FM sound that fit well. There’s definitely more I could say here but I can’t reveal all my secrets! 😉
Following the release of your third album, what will be next on the horizon for you?
I’m hoping to put together a little tour here soon! My first one!
You can find title-track ‘Nobody Marks Us’ in our Indie Rockers playlist.
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