[Photo by: Brett Ballachino]

New Jersey rockers Save Face are debuting their stripped-down version of “Preoccupied,” taken from their forthcoming EP, Folly: On The Rocks, a reimagining of their 2016 EP Folly.

“We've toured on Folly for about 17 months. When you play a record for that long, the song-meanings start to shift and change,” vocalist/guitarist Tyler Povanda says on their decision to revisit the EP. “You start to connect to different parts of the songs in new ways; start to hear things that you didn't hear at first.

“I (and the rest of the band) have a very broad taste in music. I have a strong affinity for jazz, oldies from the '50s and '60s, and classical compositions. This EP was so important for this band, and it was the platform that gave us the opportunity to see the country for months at a time. All of this culminated into an idea to revisit the songs in a new light and make something special for the second vinyl pressing for the EP.”

Folly: On The Rocks is set to be released Nov. 17, and it's available for preorder here. Plus, Save Face will be hitting the road with Holy Pinto for a number of dates later this month. Check out the full list of dates, along with a Q&A with Povanda about the band's new EP, below.

What was your approach towards reimagining these songs, particularly in regards to “Preoccupied”?

There was strong intent from the start of the idea that every track would be different in terms of composition, instrumentation and overall vibe. I definitely wanted each song to have a unique interpretation. “Preoccupied” has proven to be one of the more popular tracks off of Folly, and since it's also the first track sequentially, I wanted the interpretation to be one of the more distinct and bold tracks on the reimagined EP.

Approaching it with just piano and a lone vocal track ended up being the way that seemed to create the most intimate mood. I was in the middle of talking my buddy Ryan Ellery about performing and recording some cello for other work I was involved with at the time, and asked him to try and write something for “Preoccupied.” We were out on tour when he sent me a rough mix of the track with his cello performance, and we were all floored. Ryan really ended up being a fifth member of the band on this release, he's a really talented and brilliant musician/engineer that added a ton of intricacies that really helped actualize the mood we were trying to create. Go make a record with Ryan!

The tracks have a very atmospheric, almost dreamy, feel to them. What was it like re-recording and revisiting these songs?

More than anything, it was just fun to pick apart songs that had become automatic after more than a year of performing them. After the EP was recorded and we started touring on them for over a year, you don’t really think about the songs as much as when you were in the process of writing/recording them, so getting to really think and examine the songs like this was like visiting an old friend.

I tracked and mixed everything; we weren't on the clock or anything like that. I tracked stuff, listened back to it, revisited it a couple days later. It was a very organic process and I think that shows in the recordings we got. Phil [McGarry] is a really great piano player, so he got to showcase that, which was really cool. He wasn’t apart of the band when we wrote and recorded Folly, so this gave him the opportunity to give his own take on songs that he’s been playing with us for so long.

Dates:

11/17 – Asbury Park, NJ @ Asbury Park Brewery

11/18 – Wilkes-Barre, PA @ The Otherside

11/19 – Buffalo, NY @ Sewing Souls

11/20 – Akron, OH @ It's A Kling Thing!