30 Days, 9 Songs: White Denim Releases ‘World As A Waiting Room’

The Austin band set itself the challenge to produce a complete album in one month – while everyone was stuck in quarantine.

By Leah Scarpelli & David BrownApril 17, 2020 2:01 pm

Write, record, mix and master a full-length album in 30 days. That was the goal the Austin band White Denim set for itself in March. And they’ve done it: a digital download of the album “World as a Waiting Room” dropped Friday.

Texas Standard host David Brown spoke with White Denim frontman James Petralli midway through the process. And Petralli spoke to Brown again this week to reflect on the project. 

“It was a marathon for sure,” Petralli said.

The task was made more challenging by stay-at-home orders from of the coronavirus pandemic; for most of the album process, band members worked in separate spaces. But Petralli relished the challenge.

“I personally like to work under pressure,” he said. “I love deadlines.”

The band members recorded their tracks first. And after eight days, Petralli and an engineer got to work in the studio, mixing and seeking feedback from band members and friends.

Petralli said the idea for the title, “World as a Waiting Room,” came before the pandemic – from the title of a single the band released in its early days. But now it seems perfectly appropriate for the moment.

“We knew that the title would be relative to what everybody was going through,” Petralli said. “That’s been the most fun thing about making this record, and knowing that people will hear it and that it will be fresh.”

Web story written by Shelly Brisbin.

 

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