Daisy the Great’s New Album is a Sonic Collage

For Daisy the Great, it started with a list: which collaborators could they bring in to help them reimagine their third studio album, The Rubber Teeth Talk? Ray Bull, Harmony Tividad, Babehoven, Birthday Girl. All of them lend their voices, and their distinct sounds, to the Brooklyn-based duo’s latest collaborative work, The Rubber Teeth Talk With Friends. It feels less like a remix album than it does a sonic collage, blending the same lyrics with reimagined melodies, new vocals, and the intrinsic textures of working with such a mixed bag of talent. With each new feature, old songs become lonelier, poppier, dreamier, more melancholy. We sat down with Mina and Kelley to figure out what it takes to turn an album into something brand new, but still true to itself. Rubber Teeth Talk With Friends is out now.

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Ali: This is a remix album of last year's The Rubber Teeth Talk release. Talk to me about the reimagining process of all your songs—how did you approach it differently with each collaborator? Did anything change lyrically, or just sonically?

Kelley: The process was different depending on who we were working with! For some, like with Greta (Frankie Cosmos), we went to the studio for a few days together. For others like Lutalo’s version of Mary, he sent the mix over while we were on a train and we had no idea what to exact. We both just sat blissed out in awe listening to it for the first time together. In every case, we knew across the board that we wanted the collaborating artist to take the lead and create something that felt like them. There weren’t lyric changes, but the new versions definitely highlight different lyrics or meanings which was so interesting, and one of things we loved most about doing new versions of songs.

AR: How did you select your collaborators?

Mina: We made a list of the songs and artists that we thought would pair well with each song, people who we thought would take the song in a unique direction. All of the artists are artists we really admire, and who have very specific sounds. So many talented friends are on this album. It’s such an honor to collaborate with so many people on one project. It’s kind of wild that with so many different sounds, it still feels so great to listen to as a cohesive album.

AR: You worked with so many different artists and bands to make this happen. What was the scheduling process like? And when do you sleep?

Kelley: Honestly, it came together pretty seamlessly! For a lot of the songs, we linked up once there was already music recorded.Then we would sing and play around top of what was there. It was a tight fit to get everything done in between touring, but we were lucky it all puzzle-pieced itself together in a very ideal way. It was kind of magical how everything really flowed into place, the whole process felt very meant to be.

AR: Which song feels like the biggest departure for its original iteration? Which feels the most true to its initial form?

Mina: Tex Patrello’s version of “Sue Me Alice” feels like such a magical departure from the original iteration. I think it really highlights the melancholy of the song and the quiet pain in the lyrics. I find it very moving. The original is much louder and seething. I think hearing this side of the song is so special and opens up the meaning.

Kelley: I think all of them are different honestly. Some of the songs maintained their basic form, but there are so many other choices throughout that make the song feel totally different to us.

AR: Did the meanings of any songs change for you throughout the process?

Kelley: Totally. All of them feel like they’re highlighting a new side of the lyric in some way, or expanding on the original thought or feeling driving the song. It’s so much fun to hear our songs grow in that way. It feels like they’re having lives of their own out there. “Dream Song,” for example, is about a big dream adventure and the original recording is big and bold and goes through huge sonic changes throughout. The reimagined version with Harmony Tividad really highlights the underbelly of the feeling in that song. There is a really beautiful happysad quality to Harmony’s version that feels both lonelier and more quietly confident. It’s so dreamy, and really soothing to hear those lyrics sung with such gentle love and ease.

Mina: I also think that Like a Doll’s version of “Swinging” brought out a new meaning for me! The song is about Kelley getting too high on laughing gas at the dentist and hallucinating in a big black hole. I think Emma’s version really brings out the trippiness in a new way. I feel like I’m swirling through the thoughts of a mad hatter and dancing with made up characters in a dream.

AR: How did the idea for a re-imagined album strike you? Walk me through early convos, ideas, inspirations.

Kelley: We’ve always loved doing new versions of our songs. In the past we’ve released alternate versions of “Glitter,” “Time Machine” with illuminati hotties, and “Tell Me Have You Been Dancing” with Claud. I think of a recording of a song as one specific moment performed in time. Every night on stage, or even every time you sing it in your room, it’s a new expression of the song. If we play it with new instrumentation, or in a new headspace, the song can feel totally different. It feels like infinite sides of the song can be uncovered, so we really enjoy playing with that and letting the songs breathe and grow and shift in the hands of other people. We’d been talking about trying to do this project for so long, and it always felt so daunting. But this time around, we just started asking people, and it all came together so easily and beautifully.

AR: What was the biggest challenge you faced?

Mina: Letting go of control was one of the main challenges and goals of this album. To really let the songs belong to someone else and trust that they’d come back in a new amazing form felt maybe a little scary at first, but we are also such fans of everyone involved that we were never really worried. Also I think just organizing everything and reaching out to new people was a bit nerve wracking at times, but everyone was so kind and generous with their time and talent.

AR: Do you have any writing rituals? Did any of those rituals change with the nature of the collaborative album?

Kelley: This process was so different because we were so hands off and starting from a totally different place in the song’s life. We usually write and then build out a few demos with our band as we find the production for the song. With this record, we were starting post-release, so all that work was already done. It felt like we were venturing towards a totally unknown future place and bringing in these artists as guides to draw each of the songs into a new world. The only thing that felt similar was that we usually have a harmony moment where I try adding a million harmonies and make up additional parts and stack a ton of vocals that we later work through in the mixing process—and for this project, for the most part, we were coming in around that time in the production pipeline and had a lot of mostly vocals playing around. It honestly almost felt like everyone was in our band. Or like we were getting to dip into everyone’s band for a little while, and it was very fun to let them drive.

Mina: It took a big load off for the writing to be done already. We just got to play inside of other people’s ideas.

AR: What was the most memorable day in the studio?

Kelley: The whole album process was so special, but I loved our time with Greta. We had a few days together and the whole thing felt like summer camp. It was so much fun. We played around a lot, and Greta brought in some awesome musicians to play on the track with all of us. Alongside the music, we laughed so much and went on walks and got amazing lunches and talked a lot. My favorite day was probably the day we added Greta’s vocals. We’ve been huge Greta fans for so long, and we felt so giddy and tender hearing her sing the song.

Mina: Another really fun day was when Benét came to my apartment and the three of us made “Rest Of My Life” together in just a few hours. We were mostly laughing the whole time, which is funny because the song is so tender and sad and moving to me, especially this version. There were so many takes we couldn’t get through because we were laughing too much, because we had just been on a tour together and were so comfortable around each other. And I think all that laughing and play helped us be very vulnerable and unselfconscious in the vocal deliveries.

AR: Talk to me about the inspiration behind the visual direction for the album.

Mina: The album cover actually came from an idea I had when designing the back of the vinyl for

The Rubber Teeth Talk. I printed out some of the images we didn’t use for the cover and some text and cutouts of us as the giant ballerinas and made a little collage. I really liked the concept, but it didn’t feel right for the back of the vinyl. When we were thinking of what to do for the album cover for With Friends, I pulled up that mockup and we were like, “Perfect.” We remade it with the song titles and artists. It felt right to have it be imagery from the original album, but cut out and rearranged, with a more handmade feeling. This album feels like a really fun collage to me of a bunch of different sounds and vibes.

AR: Who could you not have done this without?

Mina: We couldn’t have done this without any of the artists involved. It was a big leap of faith to leave each song in 11+ different hands, but everything came back to us so cared for and beautifully executed. I can’t believe how seamlessly it came together and how unique each song sounds. I’m so happy with it.

Kelley: Totally, it was such a group effort and passed through so many hands. This was such a huge collaboration and we are so grateful to every one who has been a part of it.