A buoyant French horn dancing above an upbeat drum groove tied together by a jaunty melody and honeyed vocalization. When listening to Better Weather’s first single “Too Close for Comfort,” it’s unfathomable that the works of both Tyler the Creator and Fleet Foxes laid the inspirational groundwork for their upcoming album. And it’s even harder to believe that the band has been in operation for just a little over a year, as opposed to decades spent refining their sound. 

As most bands bred out of DU do, Better Weather came together by necessity when they played at Convocation, a performance event at the Lamont School of Music. 

“Afterwards we just decided to keep being a band I suppose,” vocalist and guitarist for the band, Skyler McCoy said. “Then I wrote a song, it was cool and everyone liked it. It was our first song ‘Too Close for Comfort’ and we were like, huh, let’s keep doing this.” 

Perhaps concerned about making it sound too easy, or maybe too egotistical, in a rush of self-awareness McCoy added, “And then I wrote a couple more [songs] and they were kind of bad.” 

That reflexive humility sums up the general impression of Better Weather–talented beyond their single year of operation, but humble and unafraid to be self-critical when and where it’s due. Of their first released song, McCoy expressed how his tendency to passively ridicule himself comes into play lyrically. “It’s pretty self-deprecating like, ‘I’m a loser’ all the time. ‘Too Close for Comfort’ is…based off of [feeling] like, here I am sitting around wasting my life, why am I doing this?”

On their second single “Stage Fright” McCoy explained that this thematic pattern comes into play again, where he speaks on having anxiety when pursuing a girl, despite the comfortability of performing as a musician. McCoy plays on the irony present in those feelings and calls them out, however embarrassing or self-revealing they may seem to himself and others. “But every other song has that ‘I kind of suck’ energy to it, it’s kind of just my personality I think,” he added.

But Better Weather is much more than a guy on stage whining about his inability to talk to girls and slandering his self-image. In fact, that’s quite the opposite of the attitude that the band gives off. Despite McCoy’s nonchalance and modesty upfront, the inner workings of the band’s music present a slew of intricacies and complexities.

Getting into discussion about their upcoming album, set to release on July 21, McCoy referred to contemporary artists, Tyler the Creator and Fleet Foxes as creative inspirations. Drawing from the rapper’s ability to craft covertly profound poeticism, McCoy was able to bring depth into each song by adopting different characters when writing that extends beyond the facet of his personality that defaults to self-critique. 

“That’s the kind of artistry I really like…I’m always trying to be subtle and every single lyric is either a pun or a joke in some way,” McCoy said. “I wanted that part in all the songs, but I also wanted it to be a vibe that your grandma could listen to,” he continued.

Even beyond the lyrics, simply seeing Better Weather perform live, it’s obvious that a lot of moving parts are at play. Consisting of McCoy, as well as Will Eisenberg on bass, Trevor Freed on keys, Zach Regin on the French horn, guitarist Sean Perman and drummer David Vincent, the band is jam-packed with personality and instrumentation. 

Although their songs may appear uncomplicated, due to their palpable sound achieved through a cellophane layer of pop elements, each track from the band is extremely composed. Taking on the roles of engineer and producer as well, McCoy explained that each song has about 100 or more tracks in order to achieve the elaborate layering of instrumentation that he aspires for. 

“For me, it was kind of like…what else could we add to this you know? Let’s add more instruments…even the verse of a song that’s 16 bars long or something I was like, we need to add more instruments,” McCoy said.

Within his songwriting specifically, McCoy explained that a lot of his compositions are influenced by the band Fleet Foxes. Having previously taken a songwriting workshop with Fleet Foxes’ lead singer and guitarist Robin Pecknold, McCoy was strongly shaped by Pecknold’s creative process, integrating techniques he learned from Pecknold into his own songwriting.

Achieving a balance between maximalist arrangements and an undeniably pleasant sound allows for any type of listener to bask in the delights of Better Weather. “It kind of allows for the listener to nerd out if they want to because there is [a lot] harmonically and musically that is complex, or more complex than it sounds. But also if you don’t want to you don’t have to,” Eisenberg added. 

From the jump, the band has been putting in countless hours writing songs, recording and translating what they’ve created in the studio to a live setting. 

Reflecting on the experience so far, McCoy said, “It’s less to me about putting out music, but more [about] making something that I think is truly worth being made… I’m not virtuosic at any particular instrument and I wouldn’t say any of the guys in the band are, that’s not really our thing. But the combination of all these things happening at once, to me, is really cool.”

Better Weather will be headlining at San Francisco’s Brick and Mortar Music Hall this July on their album release tour. Listen to the band here and keep a lookout for updates on new releases coming this summer on their Instagram.