Interview: Polaroid Fade prepare to take over the world

Polaroid Fade‘s Nicoletta wholeheartedly believes in fate and destiny. When the COVID pandemic forced mandatory lockdowns, she turned to music as a cathartic release. If that society-upending event hadn’t occurred, she admits that she’s not even sure the band would even exist – at least not in its present form. “I’m a huge believer that all things happen for a reason, definitely my go-to line when things go sideways,” she shares with B-Sides & Badlands over email. “But I will say, even if COVID didn’t happen, I’m sure music would’ve found me. Not nearly as soon, though.”

The group – rounded out with Tyler (guitar), Jeremy (bass), and Jack (drums) – radiates from their core a kind of dreamy, cosmic, and transcendent pop music. It’s polished but carries an intense indie-rock electricity. There’s no real definition for the music they concoct, but they wear their influences (The Bangles, Radiohead, Blondie) on their sleeve like sparkling gold fringe. Over the past four years, there came considerable personal transformations, namely in learning to “trust my instincts and to allow myself to make mistakes and not get bent out of shape about it,” says Nicoletta. “That had to have been one of the hardest things to understand. I mean, when you’re young and immature, you have a short temper… or maybe that’s just me, in general.”

With the band’s pulsating debut album, Chaos into Poetry, Nicoletta sought to craft a collection that spoke to her coming-of-age era. “It touches on some of the emotions and things that I’ve experienced over the short course of my life so far. Most of those experiences were had by the beach. Boardwalk shops, arcades, restaurants, mini golf courses, etc., make up most of my childhood memories. I mean, I sucked at miniature golf and arcade games, but they were still good memories! My muse has mostly been my happy memories of growing up at the shore, and it’s very obvious in this collection of songs.”

The album title, drawn from the first line of “Any Other Way,” encompasses “a person that when you see them, all of the turbulence and noise of life goes away and you feel safe and calm,” Nicolleta explains. “As for calling the album ‘Chaos Into Poetry,’ it’s more about my attempt to turn the challenges and experiences of growing up into art, I think. Hopefully, I’ve succeeded on some level. I really like that line, and it seemed to fit in a different context for the album title than the song.”

Dreamy and windswept, Chaos into Poetry arrives as among the year’s biggest surprises. From the pastel “Cotton Candy Skies” to the jangly “Things We Said,” the album impresses with its genre fusions, sharp-toothed canine bite, and attention to poignant lyrical storytelling.

Below, Nicolleta discusses the pressures to make the album, collaboration, and musical cohesion.

They say you have your entire life to make your debut album. Did you feel any pressure to make this record?

We’ve probably had about five different versions of this album since 2022 when we first released the singles. We would keep writing better songs to replace the old ones. [laughs] So I guess it took us our whole “band life” up until now to release the perfect debut! We didn’t feel any particular pressure to make the record. It just sort of happened. I think the pressure was to stop writing and just release the best collection of songs that we had at the time so we could put it out and move on. It was just finding the right time to release it and our record label, Shore Points Records, knew this and helped us find the perfect time!

Is coming of age while making your debut album a special experience?

It absolutely is! Hearing how my voice has morphed and matured is really funny. I hear some of the songs on the album and cringe because some were recorded anywhere from this year to almost three years ago. I think I was 15 when I recorded “Scared.” It’s crazy to think about. But also telling people at my old high school about it and trying to promote something that they’ve never really seen in real life before was a challenge. Being younger and still learning to put myself out there was the hardest part. I didn’t want to be made fun of for making cringey media content, or posting pictures of myself on an Instagram account with not many followers. So I’d definitely say it was an experience – an experience that requires you to trust the process and grow with the music.

What’s most striking, musically, is the cohesion of the album as a whole. How important was that for your first outing?

It just sort of happened that way. We knew we wanted to keep the songs simple so we could play them live and have them sound like the recordings. There’s only so much you can do with guitar, bass, drums, and a voice, and I think that’s where the cohesion comes from. We didn’t do a lot of overthinking therefore there were not a lot of overdubs.

What song was the most difficult to get just right?

The ending of “In My World” had to be the most difficult. We rewrote and recorded that ending at least four different times. We would record one version, sleep on it, revisit it after a few days, and then hate it. It had to be something cool because we knew it was going to end the album. We just couldn’t get it right. Then, one day, we wrote a whole new part, and it just worked!

What did this effort teach you about collaboration?

Collaboration is such a unique process. I write a bunch of lyrics and bring them to my dad so he can suggest edits or tweaks. Having another pair of eyes read what I wrote to give an opinion is really helpful. He’s been there from day one, teaching me the guitar, helping me write my first songs, and hammering home the importance of The Smiths, The Sundays, Cocteau Twins etc. I always appreciate honesty, and I ALWAYS get it from my dad [laughs] especially in the studio! It helps me to become a better writer and to see things a little bit differently.

And did you learn anything about who you are as a person and musician?

I definitely did! I learned that doing something just one time won’t get you anywhere. You need to keep practicing, writing, reading, posting, etc. Be consistent! Nothing happens overnight! Someone I know once said, “It takes years to become an overnight sensation.” That became my motivation. I do everything I can during the day to progress. Even if it’s the smallest amount of growth, it’s so worth it. I also learned to understand that nobody’s perfect. In order to learn, you need to make mistakes. I definitely fall victim to making a lot of mistakes, but who doesn’t, you know?

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