Carly Cosgrove talks mental health, latest album ‘The Cleanest of Houses Are Empty’
‘The Cleanest of Houses Are Empty’ dropped June 14th via Wax Bodega.
Pennsylvania rockers Carly Cosgrove get personal in their sophomore album The Cleanest of Houses Are Empty which was released on June 14th via Wax Bodega. Take a listen to the album below!
The album deals heavily with mental health. As vocalist/guitarist Lucas Naylor explains, "In the summer of 2022, I was diagnosed with a personality disorder. Over time I subconsciously determined that the best way to eliminate the collateral as I figured things out was to isolate for as long as possible. This record details those thoughts. This is a record about habit, familiarity, unfamiliarity, depression, lethargy, and self - reflection"
We sat down with Carly Cosgrove to further discuss The Cleanest of Houses Are Empty to get a better understanding of the passion and emotion behind the album. Check out the interview below, and keep up with Carly Cosgrove on Instagram, Twitter, & Spotify.
What were some life events that happened between Carly Cosgrove’s first album and your latest record that inspired your sound and lyrics?
The new record was probably the most informed by a long depressive episode that occurred in the interim. I got to this point where I couldn’t complete tasks and felt as if I was in fight or flight from the minute I woke up until I went to sleep. After that, there was a slow and methodical rebuild of sorts, but it featured a lot of isolating and choosing to be aloof and uninvolved from a lot of the things going on around me. I got to use that time to really dissect those feelings, and I think that’s what made it onto the album.
If you could summarize the album lyrically in 3 words, what would you use and why?
Introspective - the album is a huge reflection on internal struggles.
Vulnerable - the lyrics don’t shy away from heavy topics and the real difficulties of depression.
Elusive -a lot of the lyrics don’t come out and say exactly what they mean bluntly.
What were some memorable moments that you had in the studio when recording these tracks? Any specific successes or roadblocks?
I remember the first day vividly. We spent the first three days doing preproduction and that first day, we spent a good chunk of it shopping our song “Here’s a Fork”. Our producer Justin Bartlett more or less came in and we all got our hands dirty in the trenches of the song immediately and it was a cool experience. There were definitely some roadblocks. Getting down hard parts to play, pushing my voice to its limits. Overall though, Justin handled every hard moment with grace and confidence. We didn’t cut corners, and we worked through any issue if it meant getting this album to be as strong as possible.
What artists do you have on repeat? Which ones inspired some of the sounds within this record?
I think we wanted to go heavier on this record, so we ended up listening to a lot of artists that were on the heavier riffier side of the genre. The Album “The Cosmic Drama” by Weatherbox was definitely floating around in my head a lot, but we were also listening to a lot of Brian’s other project Miss New Buddha for production cues, as well as “Much Love” by Microwave. I also spent a good chunk of time analyzing songs by the likes of Elliott Smith and Big Star, which felt like somewhat of a rite of passage for someone in their mid 20’s.
Which song are you most excited about playing live?
I’m definitely the most excited to play “Zoloft” live. I love the intro and how we build into that first verse, sort of creating a nice chunk of time to build energy before the release of that energy. I also love Tyler’s drum solo at the beginning to introduce the song.
Which one will be the most difficult to play live?
I think we’re all anticipating “What Are You, A Cop?” to be pretty difficult live. It’s hard hitting, fast, and intricate. All of us are giving 100% that song, and there aren’t many moments we get to relax in it. Regardless, it will also be a particularly fun one live for those same reasons!
Do you have anything else you’d like to share with your fans or All Punked Up readers?
Thank you for listening to the album!
Let us know what you think about Carly Cosgrove’s album ‘The Cleanest of Houses Are Empty’ below!