Connected by their love for the 90’s indie rock sound, as well as their math rock and punk backgrounds, XOAN started playing with their current formation in the fall of 2017. Songwriter brothers John and Philip Lefas recorded a bunch of demos in their parents’ basement, teamed up with bassist Giannis Mimikos and drummer Antonis Charalabidis and started playing in venues all around Athens while working on their debut album. In May 2018 the band hit the studio alongside prominent Athenian producer Alex Bolpasis (Whereswilder, The Steams, The Noise Figures) to create “Greenhorn”: A coming of age record that refuses to come of age. Greenhorn consists of 8 vibrant tracks, filled with vulnerable yet visceral tunefulness that is meant to serve as a coping mechanism in the constant struggle of trying to pull yourself together. The first single, “Dirt” is a mortality-obsessed piece, full of soaring harmonies and redlining guitars that reminisce the likes of early Smashing Pumpkins records. Greenhorn will be out in the Autumn of 2019 and you can pre-order it at this location.
Dirt is the last track we finished writing for “Greenhorn“. The bridge part for this track was tricky on this one, we we’ve been testing a lot of ideas that didn’t work out but in the end we came up with a variation of the verses’ rhythmic pattern while transposing in Bm. Of course, we also added some odd measures to spice the whole thing up a bit.
As for the music video, Dirt is one of the most dramatic moments of the record, so we chose the best place to portray drama.
Credits:
Directed by Dimitris Mavroforakis
Screenplay – Yannis Lefas
Production AS – Verena Kapopoulou, Chris Papadodimas
Lighting Operation – Alex Vlachos
Technician – Stelios Plaskovitis
Gaffer – Nektarios Voutsinas
AS Camera Operator – Alex Karamalikis
Cinematography, Edit, Color Grading – Dimitris Mavroforakis
Production Company – RGB StudiosHuge thanks to: Akis Vogiatzis / Alex Drossos / Alex Mimikos / Angela Avgoustatou / Christos Kritikos / Christos Papadodimas / Danai Roumelioti / Dimitra Mitsou / Elena Argyrou / George Iorardanis / Giannis Liakopoulos / Kostas Chalas / Lilly Kitsia / Lilly Selimi / Lydia Siousti / Manos Kourkoulis / Maria Xanthopoulou / Rania Nikolakopoulou / Stavri Grigori / Theo Vranas / Verena Kapopoulou / Guy with the glasses, we never got your name.
Special thanks to Lefteris Plaskovitis & Alfa Idea Theater
Greenhorn was recorded in Spring/Summer 2018 at Unreal Studioz (Drums), PiGi Studios (Guitars), Destiny Studios (Bass) and Artracks Recording Studios (Vocals/Percussions) in Athens, GR.
Produced by Alex Bolpasis & xoan / Mixed by Alex Bolpasis at Artracks Recording Studios / Mastered by Giannis Christodoulatos @ Sweetspot Studio
