Boone Patrello, Grahm Robinson, Madeline Dowd, and Jordan Garrett all studied at the University of North Texas but, while they rubbed shoulders with each other in the same classes and at familiar DIY venues (like the house show affectionately known as Bean Cave, run by Dowd), they didn’t start a band together until later on. In fact, even after college, the four musicians were dedicated to their other projects, drifting in and out of lineups across Denton. But life has a way of shepherding us down unexpected paths and into what feels like destiny, and the formation of their Southern slowcore band Teethe is a testament to that.
When it finally came time for their first official meetup, it was a spontaneous one. After their respective band rehearsals, the four met in a living room. Here, conversation flowed naturally, and jam sessions followed suit. Over time the members continued the sessions, taking turns in front of the microphone and swapping instruments, slowly and unknowingly crafting Teethe’s wistful, DIY sound. In their other bands, music spit out of a pressure cooker. In this space, however, notes tumbled out seamlessly. It was, after all, just for fun. “Being able to casually play music made it so easy to try new things and write music without pressure. A lot of what happened with Teethe comes from that,” Dowd explains.
Akin to beloved slowcore groups like Duster and Low, the songs created in that living room were entrancing, Southern, and warm. “ My brother’s friend described the music as hypnotic, which I like. I like the idea of people just being able to tune out and get immersed in the music,” Garrett says. While this time was intended to be nothing more than a space for connection, the band eventually began capturing their new music on reel-to-reel tapes and the songs would eventually come to form the band’s eponymous debut album in 2020. Slowly, Teethe was coming into form.
“There wasn’t a single song on the first record that was written after we had decided to make a record. Those songs all had already existed and then were fleshed out,” Patrello says. “ We put the music first before everything else.” While this album was intended to be nothing more than a vessel to get the band’s ideas into the world, it garnered the attention of fans everywhere, including big stars (and future touring mate) Ethel Cain and Kylie Jenner. This all came with no press, social media campaigns, or money. Soon, Teethe had enough traction to take things out of a living room and onto the stage, with audiences everywhere enamored by the band’s effortlessly soft, dreamy sound.
Teethe’s first album may have been assembled on a whim, but its upcoming album Magic of the Sale was a conscious effort. Inspired by bands like Acetone, Sparklehorse, and Bedhead, the record is an honest, stripped-back walk through life’s universal heartbreak, from the acceptance of our mutual exploitation to the lies we tell ourselves to just get through the day. The results are as solemn as they are beautiful. “This was our first time really approaching an album knowing that we were making an album, because the first record was put together retroactively,” Patrello says. “This record was our first time approaching it with intention, and it was a learning process for ourselves even.”
Instead of coming together traditionally in a studio, Teethe’s new album was collaged together. Magic of the Sale is, in Patrello’s words, “hybrid-remote” music. With the band now split between Texas cities, they added demos and ideas to a shared folder, which Patrello later stitched together to form cohesive songs. Garrett and Robinson would record to tape in Austin and add it to the folder, while Dowd and Patrello, both in Dallas, would add demos of their own. “Jordan would’ve had some guitar parts written and even recorded that we fleshed out, and Grahm would’ve had a handful of songs where the foundation was already made,” Patrello remembers. “We all had ideas for songs and filled in the gaps for each other.” The process meant each member’s sound morphed effortlessly into the other, Garrett says. “Because we craft these parts individually and then bounce ’em into the folder, everybody gets their hands on it. It’s cool to see it all take shape and get everybody’s DNA in there.”
Patrello worked hard to achieve the right balance in the songs during production. Afterwards, the band found other ways to enhance the music while getting out of their comfort zone. ”We got some other featured musicians to play on the recordings this time around, which was a new thing for us,” Robinson says. From pedal steel player and Wednesday member Xandy Chelmis to multi-instrumentalist Adelyn Strei and Hovvdy member Charlie Martin, Teethe called upon friends to lend their talents to the album. The prints of those players were intended to be present on just one or two songs, but it ended up becoming a communal theme throughout the whole album. “I had written some string parts on a keyboard, and we were considering just keeping the midi tracks for that ’cause it sounded good,” Patrello says. “But then we were like, let’s just have a cellist actually overdub it. Same with the clarinet, flute, and pedal steel. There’s ways of simulating these recordings, and you can hear it in some of our previous songs. I hit [Martin] up to just play on one song and he was like, ‘How about you just come over and we just hit the whole album?’ So we spent two days tracking.” The same process happened with Alan Rickman, who Patrello deems Teethe’s “fifth member.” “He has done all of our visual stuff. It’s cool to have evolved with him. He just started out doing a couple tour posters, and then that went to merch, and then he did the whole layout and design on the vinyl.”
Just like Teethe’s initially serendipitous meetup, Magic of the Sale fell into place one piece at a time. The process may have been untraditional, but the result is an album bursting with life. “We probably could’ve just put the record out like it was and it would’ve been good, but we ended up passing it off to one person and bringing it back into our world, then passing it off to another person and bringing it back, and just doing that over and over again,” Patrello says. “Every time someone new would play on it, it just kept elevating and being something that we wouldn’t have been able to achieve on our own, or even something that I didn’t think was achievable with the way that we make music. Sometimes I listen to it and I’m like, shit, I don’t even know how we did that.” Rife with sweeping strings and driving guitar lines, Magic of the Sale is the same Teethe fans know and love, but with much more depth and structure. “What a lot of people will hear is a jump in production value,” Garrett declares. “The first album is five years old at this point, and we’ve all done some learning and bolstered our ability to record and flesh out our ideas better.”
Take, for example, one of Patrello’s favorite tracks, the dreamy “Funny”: With a deep vibrato of the pedal steel, pensive piano lines, and whispered vocals, it’s the same DIY sound present in songs on Teethe, from the sparse instrumentals to honest lyrics, but with an all-around bolstered production. “It’s different,” he admits. “In the beginning of Teethe, I always leaned towards this really spontaneous writing process, like how quickly can I get this idea from my head to my computer, and not thinking about much else. I’ve always taken a little more pride in tracks like this that have a lot of intentional sections.” “Magic of the Sale” shows another new side of the band, too. The song is epic and assertive, which is new for Teethe, whose songs are generally more subdued and understated. Other members point to the evolving structures in songs like “Anywhere,” where key changes make each new chord wash over you like waves from a rising sea.
Teethe consistently expresses a deep gratitude for all the good the past half-decade as a band has brought them. “Last year we were able to open some shows with Ethel Cain. It was our first show in Europe over in Paris,” Garrett says. “That was a really beautiful venue, and the crowd reception was really good. Patrello concurs: “I remember the travel and getting there was just beyond stressful, and everything leading up to playing the show was torture. But then, once we started playing and got to this big, really loud, heavy part, just the first time going into that after all of the travel and bullshit felt like a major release. That was really something I’ll never forget.” Robinson shares a memory of the band’s co-headlining tour with They Are Gutting A Body Of Water and waveform two summers ago: “A lot of the shows were sold out, and it just felt like we were on top of the world for a little bit.”
From euphoric gigs to a new songmaking approach, Teethe is certainly enhancing the way it makes music. Still, over 5 years in, the quartet is staying true to its original goal. “It is all rooted in such a casual place,” Patrello says. “Coming out of high school, when I had my first job at a grocery store and wanted to buy an interface and monitors, it was not for any reason other than just to get my ideas somewhere. That’s just evolved into now.” While the intention is the same, of course, the circumstances have changed. The first album came with no expectations. This time, they’re got a label to answer to, not to mention fans. “It’s funny,” Patrello continues. “I remember writing music then and always thinking, as soon as you think about anybody else hearing it, that compromises what you’re doing. That’s kind of unavoidable now because we are writing music knowing that people are gonna hear it. But even knowing what the expectations are, it’s still about staying true to the music.”
Having that unpretentious mindset has consistently left Patrello in awe of what Teethe has been able to accomplish. “I feel like I am a passenger in the Teethe vehicle. It has taken on a life of its own in ways that we really had no intention of. I’m just grateful for where we’ve been already for the last few years.” His bandmates share that same sensibility. “I feel keeping that same mentality of not really having expectations is a good place to be. I’m just super grateful for all of it,” Dowd says. While Teethe is committed to keeping expectations realistic, the band still holds hope that fans will resonate with the final product. “I’m just really excited for the album to come out and for everybody to hear these songs. We put a lot into them,” Garrett says.
Patrello echoes his bandmate, saying, “It’s cool listening to a song and being like, ‘Damn, how did they do that?’ At the end of the day, it’s just a song, but there’s a lot of layers and it’s really dense and there’s a lot going on. If you listen closely, there’s a lot of small stuff that’s in there.” The band retains its humble beginnings, but a strong work ethic is what has brought the four-piece here. From a shared living room to international festival stages, Teethe has claimed an earned spot in front of a rising sun. As Patrello stresses, “All the groundwork we’ve laid has led to this.”
