Tilly and the Wall steps it up for third album

By Laura Leebove
Published: June 20th, 2008 | 11:45am

Though it appears that Tilly and the Wall's third LP is titled O (and iTunes imports it as Album 3), the truth is that it has no name. It's a concept that is mildly confusing, though not at all atypical of the Omaha-bred quintet of friends and lovers. The idea is that the “O” is the shape of a frame on the album cover, and each album comes with an original piece of art, which sits inside.

The art comes from nearly 20 artists — photographers, silkscreen printers, or painters — hand-picked by the band members, many of them friends who have helped the band in some way. Each piece is handmade, most of them in runs of 1,000. Eventually, fans will be able to submit their own ideas and each month Tilly and the Wall will pick one to produce their own line of covers.

Getting more creative with the cover art is right on par with the direction of O. While the new album doesn't stray too far from Tilly and the Wall's older material, it adds more elements and is more like an extension of it. The 11 tracks are filled with the same cheeky boy-girl harmonies, spirited chants, and, of course, the band's trademark: Jamie Pressnall's tap dancing, which, until this album, was almost the band's sole source of percussion. But for its third full-length effort on Conor Oberst's Team Love Records, the band experimented with added noise, amplified effects, and more feet.

During a three-hour drive from Kansas City to Omaha, Pressnall took time to talk about Tilly's new tunes, the weather, and the band's upcoming stint on Sesame Street.

How did you come up with the idea for the cover art?
It was [my husband, guitarist-vocalist] Derek [Pressnall's] idea. We wanted the artwork to be really special, and that's an idea he came up with. I was like, “God, if we can pull that off it'd be awesome.” The technical part of it seemed to be really overwhelming, so our label's basically taking care of [that]. We were able to pick all these amazing artists and just give them free reign to get their work out there …. None of [the band members] are professional visual artists. But we've all always been interested in that, and study it, and it's part of our lives. We've just met so many talented people that we thought it would be a great way for them to showcase their work.

What influenced the heavier and more punk-rock–like sound on the new album?
It's funny, because all five of us write songs, and the songs that are more punk-sounding are [vocalist-bassist] Kianna [Alarid's] songs. I think that's just her vibe right now, which we all love. We all love punk music, so it's been fun to explore that genre a little bit more. Kianna's been really developing as a songwriter and it's been fun to be a part of the process with her doing that.

On the album there were tracks where there were more people dancing. Can you tell me about that?
On "Pot Kettle Black" and "Poor Man's Ice Cream," we had a stomp troupe. I wanted to do it with Bottoms of Barrels [2006], but it really didn't fit any of the songs. On this record there was more punk rock stuff. I thought that would be perfect, so I wrote up stomp parts. We recorded it in a gym with nine other girls and it was really, really fun to do that. It was definitely a challenge but we had a really good time.

You also recorded the tapping through different types of amplifiers. What was that like and what kind of sounds were you going for?
With certain songs, like "Too Excited" and "The Jumbler," I wanted them to have a classic, traditional sound — I guess exaggerated, because it's within the context of Tilly. But I wanted it to sound like it was on a wood floor, how it would in a theater. With certain songs I wanted it to sound dirtier, more punk-rock sounding and loose. And certain songs I wanted to have a high-end, trebly sound. Then [producer] Mike [Mogis] had his ideas as well, so we did all the ideas. Each would take five hours of micing and testing things, trying different amps, and different rooms, and on different surfaces. It took a while but it was really fun to experiment with different sounds.

You've had a lot of songs that talk about the seasons and the environment. I remember there were four versions of your old Web site, one for each season, and you could pick which season to view the site through. What influence does the time of year have on the band's songwriting and why are seasons and nature so prominent in your music?
It's not a conscious thing we do, but the weather in Omaha is so extreme. We're usually writing in Omaha, and it definitely comes into the songwriting. I feel like we're all really sensitive to the weather. All of us are really aware of our environment. It just kind of seeps into the songs, and every record ends up that we're always talking about the weather.

I heard that the band will be appearing on Sesame Street?
Yeah, we will! We were so excited. We had heard that they were looking for independent bands and that they were interested in us. Eventually they [asked us to perform], and we were so excited. We did our version of the alphabet song. We green-screened it, and they're gonna animate it around us. It's gonna air in the fall. We're hoping it will become one of the songs they air every once in a while, because it's a song they use a lot in the show. We were really, really honored, and I can't wait to see it.