Deep Dive: KAPUT – Small Talk

With a high-octane energy similar to Sprints and possessing a fiery punk edge that’ll remind you of The Slits and The Raincoats, Small Talk typifies I, the new album from Chicago trio KAPUT.

We asked them to give us an in-depth rundown of the song as part of our ongoing Deep Dive series, and they graciously agreed. A big thank you to Nadia and Brian from the band for taking part.

Genesis of the song and lyrics

Brian: Small Talk was actually the last song to come together for our album, I. Originally, the song was just a bass riff played over and over again. We actually had another chorus written for the song, but it was just way too repetitive, so we tossed out the chorus and wrote a completely new one, both lyrically and musically.

For a minute, we even thought it wasn’t going to make the record. With this song, similar to Runner, we were really shooting for having a ton of syncopation. We wanted the listener’s heart to race from the very start of the song.

For the music, we took a lot of inspiration from records like Remain in Light by Talking Heads or Zombie by Fela Kuti. Listening to songs like The Great Curve or Zombie, immediately you feel like your heart is racing. All of the percussion and movement – everything feels like it’s about to come off the rails in the best way.

Nadia: For the lyrics, I was thinking about the state of information sharing and the things we tell ourselves. How easy it can be to lie to ourselves to avoid facing hard truths. I was thinking about that on a personal as well as societal level, and how those truths eventually catch up to us no matter how hard we try to avoid them.

It was definitely a process getting the lyrics to where they are; I think I wrote about 3 different sets of lyrics for this song. I’m really glad we kept at it and got this song to where it is for the record.

Instrumentation and recording

Brian: We recorded most, if not all, of this song at our writing and recording space, Altered States, on the northwest side of Chicago, IL. A lot of our writing process for this album went hand in hand with the recording process.

Most of the instrument tracking itself wasn’t too unusual in any way as far as the basic instrumentation goes. We definitely have a bunch of auxiliary percussion (tambourines, shakers, etc.) to add to the racing element.

A lot of the weirder elements you hear in this song are us playing around with a Casio SK1 or a Microcosm pedal. We love to experiment and play a lot, so we end up recording a lot more than we need and then use what we like.

Where does this particular track fit within your wider body of work?

Nadia: Small Talk is a good example of the way we like to make music, playing with a song in the studio until it feels complete. The song is on the aggressive end of our work but fits pretty well thematically with the rest of the album.

What are you up to in the coming months?

Nadia: We just released our new LP, I, and are currently working on a follow-up. We also are looking forward to playing some shows later this year.

I is available to download on Bandcamp, where you can also pick it up on black vinyl. It can be heard on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify and YouTube Music. To keep in the loop with live dates and new music as they’re announced, head over to Instagram and hit that follow button.