Approach Influenza as a series which serves to help give insight as to where music is born; these are the thoughts, influences and the inspirations directly from the mind of the artists. In the second of two editions featuring New York City’s Metermaids, Sentence breaks down and divides the title track from the duo’s recently released Nightlife. Mentioning that the song’s synth-base helps to embody the duo’s approach to the album, Sentence’s words parallel those of Swell’s who said that Nightlife is their starting point when meshing “indie rock with hip hop in a way that took the best from each style of music.”

On “Nightlife”:

“Nightlife” is one of those songs that started with a beat that Swell and Stine made one night. When I heard it, I was blown away. See, Metermaids have an unhealthy attraction to synths. It’s always like, “can we add synth to that?” So when this beat was done, it was something we felt really good about. I think we even referred to the beat as the “Bravery” beat for a while – in reference to the band and their heavy synth usage.

My first impression of it was something cinematic and grand. It gave me the feeling of stepping out of a subway tunnel after the world above had been annihilated. You know, Cold War apocalypse, or zombie attack, or whatever. From there it got much less George A. Romero and evolved into this tangible feeling of times when life changes and the quickness in which it can change. Like for example, the night you want to last forever verses the next day. I think that says it all. – Sentence

Metermaids “Nightlife” (stream)

(Official) (MySpace)

Also: (INFLUENZA with Swell of Metermaids)