Q&A: Creating Nostalgic Indie Pop, dad sports Talks Inspiration, Return to Live Music & More
WITH ENDEARING INDIE POP — dad sports excels. With the jangly sounds of their debut spring EP, I AM JUST A BOY LEAVE ME ALONE!!!, which captures the highs and lows of young adult life, the Ottawa-based bedroom pop project of Miguel Plante epitomizes teen nostalgia. Synth songs like “nrvs again” and “this must be the place” showcase dad sports’ ability to create songs that make the listener feel like they're lost in a sunshine daydream.
Since his first release, “dog cuddles,” back in 2018, the dad sports has matured and honed his lo-fi melodies which still retain all its authenticity and organic, electric sound, as seen in their most recent music. dad sports had only performed a handful of times pre-COVID, but he’s now back to live shows, ready to embark on a joint US tour with Hala in November, and across Canada supporting Said The Whale next March.
Read below to learn more about what went down when Luna caught up withP lante to discuss upcoming projects, musical inspirations, and live music.
LUNA: Hey Miguel, I hope you’re well! Firstly, I wanted to say a big congrats on “dog cuddles” hitting more than 1 million streams! How would you describe the experience of putting out your debut EP in 2021 in comparison to if you did in pre-pandemic times? Do you think it’s given listeners a chance to appreciate the songs more?
PLANTE: Thank you :) Yeah I've wondered before if it made a difference! I guess more people were staying at home and were bored then, so they were more likely to listen. The part I feel like I missed out on is performing the songs to people — it doesn't feel super real until you’re on a stage playing the new music to an audience, if that makes sense?
LUNA: “if u want to!” is one of my favorites from the EP — it feels very dreamy and escapist. Can you share a favorite memory or backstory from writing and recording this song? How did it come about?
PLANTE: That song stands out to me because it's one of the rare times when I wrote a song in like just a day, and it all flowed out without hesitation. I found this old note I made on my phone that said “love like a cigarette headrush” and expanded it into a full song in one sitting. It barely made it onto the EP, too — I started recording it just days before I sent the finished EP to the label. I think I stayed up overnight the morning before sending it off re-recording harmonies and stuff (laughs).
LUNA: I had a listen to your Spotify inspo playlist “dad zone,” and there are so many great artists on there, new and old, from Slow Pulp to My Bloody Valentine (I’m so glad they’re finally on Spotify!!). Are there any new artists that you recommend or have been listening to a lot in the last few months?
PLANTE: My favorite discovery from this year has by far been This is Lorelei. I think I have one of his songs on that playlist! There’s this type of song where you take a melody/sound that doesn’t really make sense on its own and repeat it over and over while introducing and changing the chords/instrumentation underneath to recontextualize the lead into something really beautiful, and he's a genius at making that exact kind of song and I love songs that do that. Also, the new Hovvdy album is amazing — it's been on repeat for me the last few days.
LUNA: I saw your mini piano cover of Alex G’s “Crab.” If there’s one song you could cover and release, what song would it be and why? Or if there’s one song you wish you’d written, what would it be?
PLANTE: I'm always recording covers on my own time because it always teaches me so much about how my favorite songs were written! I actually have like five to six Alex G covers recorded on my laptop (laughs), but I don't think I'd ever really put any of them out. For me to want to release a cover, it has to feel really special and like it’s own thing that adds to the original, rather than just ending up being a kinda worse version of the original. And that’s really tough when I'm covering my favorite songs, because they’re already perfect to me. But if there was a song I wish I had written, it would hands down be “1979” by The Smashing Pumpkins. When I first heard that song when I was like 15, it changed my music taste forever, and to this day it's still my favorite song of all time. When I write music, I always try to capture the same magic that that song has.
LUNA: Do you take much inspiration from other media? If so, are there any specific books, movies or shows you’ve read/seen over the past year that’s influenced your writing and sound?
PLANTE: Yes, definitely! I've gotten back into reading over the last year which has been really fun :) I recently finished reading Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami, and it was really good. I also got into watching old French movies from the ’60s with my friends recently, which has been fun. They did a lot of crazy stuff in old movies, I never realized!
LUNA: Your music videos for the EP tunes are so cool and well-crafted, especially “nrvs again.” How important is the visual side to your songs/what does it mean to make a good music video?
PLANTE: Visuals are super important to me because they give me a chance to express stuff in a way that I can't with just sound. It's my chance to bring all the imagery I imagined as I was writing the music to life. It’s weird though because even if recording music feels like it would be a similar process to video stuff, it couldn’t be more different in reality, so it makes it a little hard to translate my ideas from my head into reality. Thankfully Noah Keckler (who did the “name & place” and “nrvs again” videos) has been so so so amazing to work with and has been able to help me make the coolest vids possible. There’s also the “MANY FACES” music video, which was interesting to make. I just took a bunch of old camcorder footage from 2018 to 2021 and just stitched it together to try to make a video equivalent of a collage. I had never really shot/edited a music video myself before that, so that was a really fun experience.
LUNA: I know you’ve got some live shows lined up supporting Said The Whale across Canada and a joint US tour with Hala! How excited are you to go on the road, and what have you missed the most about gigs?
PLANTE: I just miss everything about live music. Last time I played a show was in February 2020, so it's gonna have been almost two years since my last time on a stage when I play my first show back!! I cannot wait aaaaaaaaaa!!! But also I'm kinda scared because I’ve only played four dad sports shows ever pre-COVID, and back then no one really listened to my music. Now there's wayyyy more people that do, so that's gonna be weird. Maybe it's finally time for me to learn my own lyrics loll.
LUNA: Thank you so much for speaking with me! To round things up, are there any upcoming projects fans can expect in the near future? New music or more live dates?
PLANTE: Thank you for having me ! And uuuuuhhhhhhhhhhhh yes to music soon — maybe, I think. I'll post about it if it happens.
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