Stello creates a figurative ascending world in their debut album Carousel

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Brooklyn-based band Stello released their long-awaited debut album Carousel, a beautiful collection of tracks that will take you on a wild yet soothing listening journey. Lead Singer Kit Conway sits with Off Record Blog to talk about the album and the process of making music.

Stello is a psychedelic rock band from Brooklyn, New York, a band that takes pride in making music for late night walks in the city. The band consists of members Kit Conway, Ollie Bomann, Sam Revaz, Will Corona, and Isaiah Hazzard. They have had a number of local shows in their home city, including shows with other local acts like Scott James and the Stolen Jars. Most Recently, Stello has released their debut album Carousel after releasing numerous EPs. 

Carousel is the band’s most notable work to date, as all songs collide with each other and create this amazing feeling of solitude and transcendence. Keylee and Emily from Off Record (virtually) sat with lead singer Kit Conway to discuss the band’s process, influences and other fun topics.

ORB: Thanks for making the time to speak with ORB! The album Carousel is such a beautiful album, we’ve been listening to it nonstop. Now that it’s been out for a couple of weeks, how has this release been for you?

KC: It feels good because we were going to put this record out about a year ago. We had been working toward this for a long time and felt these songs gestating for  a while. I’m glad [Carousel] belongs to the public now and is not just something that I’ve been endlessly tinkering on. That’s the biggest relief for me — the sense of having our songs in the world, these songs now belong to everyone. 

ORB: Wow, how long have you been working on this album?

KC: Three years. The way I write songs is often just taking from other songs that I had stowed away over the years. The writing timeline gets really complicated because there’s certainly a couple of choruses or lyrics that are probably five years old that I didn’t know were going to go somewhere. In terms of the actual structuring and producing of these tracks and what they ended up becoming — it was solidly two and a half years until it was released. 

ORB: You guys have had a good amount of music releases, such as all the Triplets EPs and a handful of singles like “Pretty Thing” and “Megalith.” How do you guys continue to evolve and solidify your sound, especially when you are constantly working on new songs?

KC: I try not to think about it, I let the feelings happen organically. In my experience, there are two styles of development: Conceptual (bringing in certain elements) and Intuitive (Figuring out the elements until eventually finding the concept). As I’ve gotten older and have collaborated with more creative people, I try to figure out what is good at any given moment. Even with the music I listen to, I always pay attention to the moves they make, such as rearranging the bridge and chorus. Stello’s sound is just our taste, and we’ve been doing it long enough where it all stays coherent. I know what I like, and I make stuff I like! I will never get into a headspace where I create something that doesn’t fit. The new music that we are creating now, I am specifically writing for a band of 5 people, when before I wasn’t thinking like that. Limitations can be healthy, as it helps us plan how to play these new songs live. 

ORB: You talked a little about your inspiration already, but tell our readers a little bit about who you are! Where are you from and how do your past experiences affect your songwriting?

KC: New York. The main thing that defines us is our experience in the city. All of us went to NYU (one of us went to Fordham), and I’ve been living in the city since I was 18. We always say that we make music for long walks in the city, and this is how I measure the quality of our work! I’ll write the song, develop it, then take a stroll in the city at midnight while playing the song and see how it feels to score the “passing of the streets.” 

From Carousel, a lot of the things that inspire a given song will come from dream references and imagery. It’s taking individual moments of emotional experiences you share with people and blowing them up to a large scale. The first song is a one-directional perspective about a post-argument “pillow talk” conversation, but Scott James (who helps produce songs for Stello) changed the lyrics to give it a subtle yet specific amplification. It’s all about the little moments you share with others when you are having conversations like that, and stitching together an amalgamation for those moments that are most impactful in a song. All of my songs are both biographical and non-biographical because I’m not into writing strict diary entries. All I care about is what makes a better song, so I’ll do whatever is more impactful. This means that the only thing listeners will care about when hearing the song is how it resonates with them.

ORB: It’s cool that you mention the autobiographical aspect of your music, because I feel like that transcribes into your music videos. From narrative based videos like “I Won’t Be Afraid of Love” to more documentary styled vids like “Turning into Video,” what are some inspirations behind the artistic imagery of your videos?

KC:  I really like films. I draw from film as much as I do music for inspiration. I like how ‘free’ music videos are. When we make our videos, it’s nothing but vibes and good last minute decisions! For “Turning into Video,” we went with a narrative of someone being approached by a guy who is delivering Oscar Wilde’s poem “The Harlot’s House.” We doubled down on the lyrics “ But the minute I wanted to pause it and take it over, the moment had already turned into video.” We used a combination of good and crappy cameras, including our iPhones, and we made a meta music video where nothing is actually outside of the world. When we were in this photography studio, we got everything we could and interspersed it with other footage of when we were around New York. We built a story in the edit that made emotional sense to me; it was really intuitive and led to good results.

ORB: I’m really glad you mentioned the depth because [we] are film students, and I was like “they are so artistic in their execution” and I wondered if the band is really into film.

KC: Yeah, film convinces you that it is like a coherent reality. So when it diverges from it, it really freaks you out. You can film a house, you can’t play a house on guitar, but you can write about a house. Music is much more inherently abstract. The most exciting thing to me is figuring out ways of guiding the listener along in different media forms. I take a lot of interest in film. But for what we do, I’m much more into breaking boundaries that you can’t really break in film. I can hold the camera, because why not? We’re making a music video, it’s fine. We’re just vibing. It’s cool, you know?

ORB: It really seems like you get to explore your options. If you want to record, you can record! You even edited your last music video, so you obviously think “why not?”

KC: Exactly, because music allows for that! Especially when you are recording, there is a lot of hierarchy about who does what. Generally when I’ve had cool moments in the studio, everyone is allowed to switch roles if they wanted to, and I love that. This leads to good stuff because you have spontaneity. When I try to incorporate visuals into our work, I’m always like the little kid trying to push for more. This is something I’m proud of and has yet to lead us into disaster, fingers crossed that it doesn’t.

ORB: It’s so amazing to hear important visuals are for you. Your videos are visually enticing, and even your album/single artwork always stands out!

KC: I do all the album art and everything! What I like about music is that you are creating a world within a song. Usually the artists I look up to do this, such as Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange! He published the “Boys Don’t Cry magazine, which just goes to show that the world he created translates really well into visuals. A lot of artists we love have compelling visuals, which is part of what makes the music beautiful! I LOVE good album art. There are some albums that have good covers but I don’t like the album as much, and the opposite. The album art is the first introduction to what the music is going to like in your head when you are listening, and you know everyone judges a book by its cover. 

ORB: This is your first debut album, your first big work! When we first heard it, we were completely mesmerized by its dreamlike tones and vibrant lyrics. You said that you never follow a specific theme, but did you have any intentions for the album since it’s different from your earlier works?
KC: I think it fits together sonically the most. There’s moments of the songs that interrelate lyrically, but the main guiding thread was that the songs sound good together. Triplets was more about grouping songs together based on their sound and what went together nicely. For our releases, that was the guiding attitude for a long time — let’s make it, put it out, then on to the next one. After doing that, for a while, I had a bunch of songs that I was excited about and also all felt really nice together. These songs were the songs featured in Carousel.

They feel cohesive, like an arc. And it didn’t feel like that big of a deal to put up seven songs as opposed to 14 or something. It felt kind of like a graduation from what we’ve been doing before. Thematically. I also wonder about the project’s thematic. It feels right in my head, but I would not be able to give you an answer about our album’s concept because it’s an energy thing.

ORB: I know we touched upon album covers earlier, but The album cover art for Carousel is amazing and I feel like the stairs serve as a symbol. Why did you choose the name Carousel and why that specific cover art?

KC: First thing – that is the spiral staircase in my grandparents’ house. Second thing – In the TV drama series, Mad Men, there is a moment at the end of season one where Don Draper is giving a pitch about this new product: The Carousel. It’s a slide projector, but he had this pitch about how it’s a carousel that spins around and projects these images of your life back to you. That’s the record, that’s the staircase. Just in the same way how this record spins around and plays music, and these songs I’ve written have become a situated part of my life that call up particular memories. A record is a carousel, and along with the spiral staircase, it ascends and the dream logic fits. Part of the experience is making you look back and reminisce, but another part is pulling you upward and transcending.

ORB: We are based in Texas, and I saw you open up for our favorite Austin band, Duncan Fellows, back in 2018 at the Mercury Lounge! You guys have such an amazing stage presence, I would definitely love to see you again, maybe even in Texas. Are you guys ever planning to do some kind of tour or play some shows outside of New York to promote Carousel?

KC: We would love to. A lot of the stuff was held up because of COVID, and we got caught trying to figure out how to move forward. We’ve played a couple of shows in New York now, and are currently trying to figure out the logistics of how to tour more broadly. We don’t have any immediate plans, but we want to do a fat tour. There are folks listening to us around, and we would love to see everyone. What sucks is that touring is a lot of time and extremely complicated to pull off for a small band. We are talking about the next steps: in terms of both music we’re working on and what we are doing live. The spirit is all there, and I would love to play in Texas. 

ORB: Thank you so much again for meeting with ORB, it means the world to us. Last question before we wrap up: Is there anything else you would like our readers or your fans to know about Stello or this album?

KC: I’m curious to know what people think about the songs and their meanings. My favorite thing is people who like music reaching out about their thoughts on the songs, especially because I love music critiques. Door is open, and all comments are welcome, @StelloNYC, baby. 

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You can listen to Carousel by Stello on all digital streaming platforms today.

FOLLOW STELLO: twitter // instagram // spotify

(NOTE: All of Off Record Blog interviews are minimally edited for length)