I’m not usually one to crib directly from a band’s bio, but in the case of the Los Angeles duo After, it would be hard to top the quoted description of their music, so I’m not going to try. “Massive Attack meets Michelle Branch” is what they lay out, and it’s not incorrect. Venessa Carlton meets Sneaker Pimps would be another idea. The group calls their music “trip pop,” which is an apt descriptor of a sound that combines Y2K pop rock moves with breakbeat heft. We sent a few questions over to Graham Epstein and Justine Dorsey; give the band's answers a read and listen to their newest single “300 dreams” below.

How did After start? And where is it going?

Dorsey: We met on Hinge three years ago and just became friends. We were both doing different projects that were ending, and Graham hit me up after we hung out at a party one night and was like “we should make a y2k pop/rock band lol.” And it was like, immediately yes. As for where it’s going, we’re always writing. We’re putting out an EP on April 4th. We just want the songs to reach as many people as they can, and we wanna keep challenging ourselves to write the best songs we can.

You call your music “trip pop.” What does that term mean to you?

We take a lot of production inspiration from trip hop. Every time we try to write something vibey and low-key, we end up writing a really structured song with, like, a bridge LOL. So that’s why we’re a little bit of trip hop, a little bit of pop. It’s more like hook-based trip hop, like Dido or Frou Frou.

How are these songs made? Are you using any period correct drum machines or synths?

Epstein: We write together and then bring whatever we have to one of our producers. Sometimes it’s a fully written song on acoustic guitar or a drum loop with a string part. I’m hyper-specific about drum sounds but I’m not a gear head. It’ll be like an old video game sample pack or one of our producers and me just honing the sound ‘til it’s right. Actually I think we’ve used some old Korg synths like the Wavestation a couple times.

What is the key to writing a great chorus?

You know it when you feel it!!

Do you feel like you have contemporaries? Where do you see this music sitting within the vast, confusing musical landscape?

Dorsey: There’s a lot of genre-hopping and references in mainstream pop. And we have been really welcomed by the underground and by the shoegaze world in LA. Right now, we feel we don’t have a lot of contemporaries. I think this music is born of a vast, confusing musical landscape. I know there’s people hearing our songs thinking, what year is it? It’s obviously referential to a lot of stuff we grew up with. But we see it connecting with people. We always wanted After to make you feel nostalgic for a memory you never had. And people will literally say that to us. So it’s finding its place.

Your music makes me think about VH1 in the early 2000s. Did you watch any VH1 growing up? Does that reference mean anything to you?

Epstein: I used to watch the countdowns on VH1. But I loved this program called Subterranean on MTV that played a lot of underground music videos that I’d watch with my dad.

What does the dream live situation for your band look like?

We want a full band eventually. We’re playing with a drummer for the first time at our EP release show which will be cool. And we can’t wait to have a budget for visuals because we have so many ideas for that. 

Favorite restaurant in Los Angeles and why?

Epstein: Chengdu Taste in Alhambra. I’ve loved Sichuan food ever since I went to Chongqing in China a couple years ago and they do it the best there. 

Dorsey: Traktir in Weho, my friend Haley brought me there and I can’t stop thinking about their horseradish vodka and herring and potatoes. They also play old Russian music videos there, which is sick.

Photo Credit: Nicholas Vaughan Eliot