Now Now: NPR Music Field Recording

See more Field Recordings at: http://www.npr.org/series/144918893/field-recordings

The "Graffiti Park" in Austin, Texas, is stunning from any angle: Essentially a giant public canvas, the staggered façade on Baylor Street is constantly refreshed with new eye-popping murals by aerosol artists. When the members of Now, Now met us there, they were good enough sports to haul their guitars and amplifiers all the way to the top.

Now, Now's newest album, Threads, begins with an ominous dare: "Find athread to pull, and we can watch it unravel." It's a spot-on metaphor for the on-again, off-again relationship that provides the record's running narrative. Frontwoman Cacie Dalager sings from the fraught space between breaking up and letting go, zooming in on moments where she could cut the problemoff at its source, but instead ends up grabbing desperately at its stray ends. Intense as the songs on Threads are, they're also meditative: terse, frank internal monologues which show that Dalager's lovesick narrator is at least being honest with herself. That may be why, perched on a concrete slab high above downtown Austin, the band seemed right at home. It was a spot perfect for deep thinking.

Now, Now's three members — Dalager, guitarist Jess Abbott and drummer Bradley Hale — are small in stature, but they think in widescreen. In this performance of "But I Do," stripped of its usualdrums, synthesizers and programmed tracks, the band still aims for a saturated sound. Dalager's alto chugs along the low end, Abbott's harmonies soar over the top, and dueling Telecasters burst and bloom to fill the space between.

Credits
Producer: Mito Habe-Evans; Audio Engineer: Kevin Wait; Additional Videography by: Katie Hayes Luke; Executive Producers: Anya Grundmann, Keith Jenkins