An organic process: Water From Your Eyes seamlessly create 'Everyone's Crushed'

May 11—When it comes to creating music, Nate Amos and Rachel Brown let everything happen organically with their project Water From Your Eyes.

This is exactly what the duo did with its 2023 album, "Everyone's Crushed."

"There were four songs on the album, tracks four through seven, that existed in that order before we started sequencing the album," Amos says. "Then the other five songs just kind of fit in around that core."

The same year, Matador Records released a remix album called "Crushed By Everyone."

Amos says for that album, the duo didn't really have a lot to do with that album.

"The songs on that album are ours, but another musician found inspiration to remix it," he says. "It just became its own idea and we ran with it. It's really amazing to see how our music inspired another musician to create something."

Water From Your Eyes is currently on tour and will make a stop in Downtown Albuquerque at 7 p.m. Monday, May 13.

The duo started making music together in 2016 while living in Chicago, after Amos played Brown some New Order and they decided they wanted to start a "sad dance band."

Both musicians in their own right, and a couple at the time, they made their self-titled debut EP in a week.

Over the next few years, Water From Your Eyes' music drifted toward rangier and less conventional sounds, incorporating serene industrial polyrhythms, ambient drone music, and a contemporary composition.

Eventually, Amos and Brown broke up, moved to New York, and began working on "Structure," which was released in 2021.

That album found harmony between the duo's pop and experimental impulses, the track list bookended by gossamer pop songs that were a testament to both their keen grasp of vintage hooks and their trollish sense of humor.

Despite finding solace in the band, both describe 2021 as one of the worst years of their lives — Brown grappling with the malaise they felt upon seeing the way that capitalism and establishment politics were kicking back into overdrive as the pandemic entered its later months, and Amos working through substance abuse issues with Brown's support.

Brown says the set list consists of songs that both know how to play live.

"We haven't had a lot of time to rehearse," Brown says. "We're not home for long enough to properly work on every song live. I feel that there are some songs that feel fun to play live. Our set list is tried and true."

Amos agrees and says the title track of "Everyone's Crushed" would be impossible to perform live.

"It wasn't made for a live performance," he says. "We would have to do a three-week boot camp in order to play that one song. The amount of effort would be worth it, but it would take a lot of time to get it right. I feel like we touch on every album on this tour."

Brown says recent live performances have featured more guitars than the actual recordings.

"I think the live performances are turning into more of a rock band," Amos continues. "I like guitars more now."