In the summer of 2004, Kevin Barnes was in need of some encouragement.
Barnes, newly married with a baby on the way, wasnt sure it made sense to keep going.
And he was like, Dont do that.
Shervin Lainez*
You have all this momentum going.
You just need to ride this a little bit longer and see if something magical can happen.
So luckily, I took his advice.
(Theres also a two-LP vinyl version with lots of cool art.)
And I guess it was just good fortune that people at that time period wanted that sort of thing.
It was a happy time, overall, despite those concerns about the bands future.
We didnt have any health insurance; we didnt have any money.
Youre not supposed to do that with your partner.
You have to let your partner be themself, and you have to be yourself.
But at the time, I didnt know.
That created so many problems for our relationship.
Like, I should be happy.
This is fucking incredible.
All my dreams are coming true.
But my brain is melting and I cant function.
Eventually, Barnes saw a therapist for the first time and got on antidepressants, which helped.
Up to that point, I hadnt done a lot of gender-bending, Barnes says.
Sunlandic Twinslent itself to that a lot more.
(Years later, in 2020, Barnes publiclycame outas nonbinary and genderqueer.)
Ive heard the term indie sleaze kicked around a bit, Barnes muses.
It reminds me a little bit of Athens, Georgia back in the day, they say.
I think that I would be fully bugging out if I was still in Georgia.
Ive got six or seven songs for that, Barnes says.
I never made a freak-folk record, but Im leaning in that direction a bit now.
