‘Cry a Little’ was recorded at Hunting Ground Studios with Wolfe Peterson (Blonde on Blonde, Golden Age of Ballooning). The song was originally written as an homage to the late Roy Orbison, and so when planning for the recording the band worked with Wolfe to lean into the classic sound of RCA Studio B. To achieve this, it was all about the microphones. The song was recorded live, with no click track, with as few mics as possible, and a healthy dose of vintage ribbon mics as well.
At the time when the studio session was booked, Chloe Turner had just played their first live show with the band, and was an easy sell to join in on this recording. Since there was the whole gang slated to sing the “shoo wah” parts together, the choice was made to record group vocal takes, where everyone sang at the same time rather than doing separate individual takes. That was one of those decisions that happens in the studio, which, as they often do, worked out really well as it sits a little more authentically 1950s in style. “Recording that way really makes you sweat,” says Cheeseman. “You don’t want to be the one that makes a mistake when everyone else lands a great take – so every take is 200%!”
And finally, probably the most important piece of the puzzle was the sunglasses. Wearing sunglasses was contractually required for the entire recording process (thanks John from 4000 Records for specifying this in advance), even though it ran very late into the night.
Format: digital single