Yacht Remix Their Influences on New Compilation

Posted on Sep 1st 2009 2:30PM by Liz Colville
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Yacht have revolutionized their answer to an interviewer's favorite question, "What are your influences?" Honoring both their creative process and curious fans, Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans have released a mixtape of music that inspired them during the making of 'See Mystery Lights,' their second album and first for DFA. Marked at the nice price of five dollars, 'Anthem of a Trinity' is by title a tribute to the composer Terry Riley, and features beats and tracks from a wide range of artists including Riley, Outkast, Arthur Russell, Brian Eno and Kathy Diamond.

Anyone following Yacht's journey from their 2007 debut, 'I Believe in You. Your Magic Is Real' to 'See Mystery Lights' would agree, the second album is "a new creature entirely," as the duo tell Spinner. While it's a safe bet that there's a mixtape of music that inspired 'I Believe in You' lying around somewhere, Yacht says it would sound utterly different than the 37-minute collection they've just released. It's kind of like having children, they explain.

"When two parents set to make a second child after having birthed a first, the same factors go into the genetic makeup, but the second child is different; a silhouette here and there, a gesture, a certain spark might be similar," Jona and Claire tell Spinner. "Just as with children, the only influences which remain identical going in to make a new record are love, communication, and determination."

'See Mystery Lights' was appropriately "birthed" at the band's house in Marfa, Texas, but Yacht can't quite say for sure whether their town's mysterious lights -- or the mixtape's tracks -- made it onto the album in any discernible way. Rather, Yacht says, "We felt as if we blacked out for two months and woke up with the framework for a pop album that we had made under direct revelation."

But based on descriptions of their day-to-day activities, Yacht are far from comatose. To wit, on the day of their interview with Spinner, the band had been working on a zine called the Marfa Ring comprised of 14 websites "designed to change the digital landscape" of the town. They also squeezed in some time to work on a remix for Phoenix and recently finished making a "very big and very beautiful poster" of non-musical influences for Marriage Records. To cap it off, the duo said, "Later we will drink alcohol together in a ritualistic social gathering at a 'bar.'"

'Anthem of a Trinity' is available via Yacht's first label, States Rights Records. The duo has also put up free instrumental versions of the tracks on 'See Mystery Lights' on the Free Music Archive.