“No one’s better than him at that”: Bartees Strange on where Jack Antonoff excels as a producerBartees Strange recently spoke to NME following his set at Reading Festival this past weekend, where he opened up about his relationship with super producer and Bleachers frontman, Jack Antonoff:
“I produce a lot of records now, and I think the biggest thing is you become who you’re working with and you help them take a few extra steps they wouldn’t normally take,” Strange says. “The way you do that is by building trust. In the beginning, they’re only gonna listen to you so much, but by the end, they should trust you with everything. No one’s better than him at that.”
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Beyond his ability to build relationships with his collaborators, Strange went on to laud Antonoff for his work ethic and taste:
“I think it’s because he kind of approaches records like a plumber. He’s not a precious guy. He’ll pull up there early; he’s working hard. Everything’s set up. We can throw it at the wall. No idea is bad,” Strange says. “He’s not a tremendously talented player, so when he plays, it disarms the situation. He’s not a freaky guitar player or drummer. He’s just good at getting the ideas out. So after he plays, you’re like, ‘Oh, I can play that better, ’ and then it becomes a conversation. It’s very low-stakes, and it becomes really beautiful stuff because he has great taste. That guy’s great.”
Antonoff only came on to Strange’s third album Horror, the one that predicated his set at the legendary music festival, when it was in the final stages. However, Strange is quick to note that Antonoff “added a lot.”
“He helped me take it from 80 to 100 per cent, for sure. There were some songs that completely came alive once he got involved. He’s really good, man. I really like him,” Strange says. “All the structures and stuff stayed the same, and a lot of all the lyrics, but for example ‘Too Much’, he just kind of made that song sound like it was from outer space. [He added] all these weird ship noises and the synths, swells and dynamics were all things that he was able to build around the framework of my production.”
Watch the full interview with Strange on NME
 
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