Exclusive: Stream TANDM’s New Curated Spotify Playlist Feat. Songs That Inspired Their New EP “Sirens”

By: Staff –

To celebrate the release of TANDM’s upcoming EP Sirens, the Toronto-based indie pop-rock duo curated a new Spotify playlist featuring songs that inspired the EP. Stream it below!

“For this playlist we both chose one song that inspired each track on our upcoming EP. So two song inspirations per original TANDM composition, one from Thomas and one from Maxine!

“The Man in the Sea”

Thomas’ choice: Lord Huron – “When The Night Is Over”

Maxine’s choice: Billie Eilish – “When I Was Older”

“Sirens”

Thomas’ choice: Born Ruffians – “Hummingbird”

Maxine’s Choice: Wallows – “Pleaser”

“Avalanche”

Thomas’ Choice: Foals – “Sunday”

Maxine’s Choice: Phoebe Bridgers – “I Know The End”

“2quick2trust”

Thomas’ Choice: Phantogram – “When I’m Small”

Maxine’s Choice: Lorde – “The Louvre”

“Rambling”

Thomas’ choice: Half Moon Run – “Devil May Care”

Maxine’s choice: Barry Louis Polisar – “All I Want Is You”

Thomas’ choice that inspired “The Man in the Sea”:

Lord Huron – “When the Night is Over”

“When the Night is Over” has a very eerie and somber aura. With our own single, “The Man in the Sea”, we wanted to draw a very dark and haunting feel. In particular, the chord progressions of the guitar and strings give off very emotional vibes. The song maintains a simple structure throughout, which we also wanted to convey in “The Man in the Sea”.

Maxine’s choice that inspired “The Man in the Sea”:

Billie Eilish – “When I Was Older”

I liked the minimalism in Billie Eilish’ instrumentation in “When I Was Older”. The use of piano accompaniment with the vocals created a haunting dream-like sound that I wanted to convey in “The Man in the Sea”. She also uses imagery of sailors and oceans, which was inspiring for the subject matter in our own single.

Thomas’ choice that inspired “Sirens”:

Born Ruffians – “Hummingbird”

“Hummingbird” is a fun, fast paced song. It is very challenging to play “Hummingbird” on the drums as due to the many variations throughout the song. With our composition “Sirens”, I wanted to convey that light and fun drumming cadence. Specifically, I wrote a percussion solo after the first chorus that was heavily inspired by the rhythms in “Hummingbird”.

Maxine’s choice that inspired “Sirens”:

Willows – “Pleaser”

Many of our compositions in TANDM are slow songs, simply due to the subject matter of the tracks. When writing lyrics that are on the more sad/dark side, I find that our music can often match the energy in being slow or minor in key. What I was inspired by with Wallows’ track “Pleaser” was that they were able to take a serious subject, and make the song bright, sparky, and loud. This influenced the sound surrounding our track “Sirens”, where the lyrics have quite sad messages, but the music is lively and high-spirited.

Thomas’ choice that inspired “Avalanche”:

Foals – “Sunday”

“Sunday” by Foals is a very ethereal and spacey song. The drum part in particular is very unique, and I love how Jack Bevan (on drums) swaps between swing and straight feel. When writing “Avalanche”, I wanted to stray away from the “classic 6/8 feel.” This track by Foals really inspired me to get creative and try out new rhythms that I had not experimented with before.

Maxine’s choice that inspired “Avalanche”:

Phoebe Bridgers – “I Know the End”

Phoebe Bridgers’ “I Know the End” is easily one of my favorite songs. I was instantly inspired by this track when writing “Avalanche”, because I wanted to nail the “buildup” structure the way Phoebe does. Starting with minimal instrumentation and quiet vocals, then building all the way to the end with massive instrumentation and near yelling-like vocals (although Phoebe quite literally screams in her outro haha).

Thomas’ choice that inspired “2quick2trust”:

Phantogram – “When I’m Small”

Phantogram always have very captivating and crunchy drum effects. The way the drums come in at the beginning of “When I’m Small” immediately hooks the listener in. This definitely inspired the intro and overall drum sound of “2quick2trust”. The overall production value and punchy-ness gives our song “2quick2trust” a gritty but catchy sound.

Maxine’s choice that inspired “2quick2trust”:

Lorde – “The Louvre”

Lorde’s “The Louvre” has a very special ending that I was inspired by for our track “2quick2trust”. Although the “2quick2trust” and “The Louvre” share very few details in common, the ending of “The Louvre” is definitely what inspired the outro of our track. The washy, big, synthesized sound was what I wanted to bring out in our instrumentation, and also add to my vocals as a powerful ending to our song.

Thomas’ choice that inspired “Rambling”:

Half Moon Run – “Devil May Care”

Half Moon Run’s “Devil May Care” is such a sweet and care-free sounding song. The guitar chords and tempo give it an upbeat, happy vibe; and the use of guitar, vocals and harmonica help keep the song structure relatively simple. When writing “Rambling” we wanted to have a similar type of song; as well as, utilizing guitar and vocals to create a minimalist, close, almost live-sounding track.

Maxine’s choice that inspired “Rambling”:

Barry Louis Polisar – “All I Want Is You”

I remember Barry Louis Polisar’s track “All I Want Is You” from watching the 2007 film Juno. It is the perfect sound that I wanted to create as an outro to our EP. Our EP Sirens follows a theme of growing up, including tough messages about losing childhood innocence, and maturation. “All I Want Is You” was a great inspiration to express the sweet little happy ending song that is “Rambling”.