Dayton duo The Nautical Theme celebrated their fifth studio release, Do Something, with an interview and performance at WYSO’s studios, hosted by WYSO music director Juliet Fromholt. Tesia Mallory (vocals, keys) and Matt Shetler (vocals, guitar) played two songs from the new EP live on air, and spoke with Juliet about their decade-long musical partnership. An album release show for Do Something, featuring guest performers The Sam King Trio, Eleanor Dakota, and The Shady Pine, took place at Blind Bob’s on Friday, Feb. 23.
According to Tesia and Matt of The Nautical Theme, Do Something represents the end of a period of musical stagnation. “We released another EP back in June of [2023] called Get Somewhere,” Matt said. “To get to the point where we released that one, there were a lot of starts and stops and scrapping of recording sessions.” Eventually, a fruitful session at Trojan City Sound prompted a breakthrough.
“We were invited to record a song at Trojan City Studios with Seth Canan. That song, [“Sun Won’t Rise”] wound up being the first track on Get Somewhere, and that actually got us out of our rut and kickstarted us. We recorded all the songs for Do Something sort of simultaneously back at my studio, Ready, Set, Go! Studio.”
Conceived as a sequel to Get Somewhere, Do Something splits its 20-minute run time between stripped-down acoustic ballads, like “I’m Not Ready” and “To the Flame,” and fully-orchestrated numbers like “Game Changer” and “Sisyphus.” The songs were written several years ago, Tesia Mallory said, but it was only after visiting Trojan City Sound that she and Matt felt satisfied with their arrangements. “I think it became pretty apparent as we started tracking them which ones spoke to more full arrangements and which ones sounded like they should still stay just acoustic, or just piano,” she said. Tesia said that years of collaboration have made her more comfortable taking feedback from Matt— and expressing her own opinions about their songs. “We've been playing music together for like 11 or 12 years,” she said. “At first, I wasn’t as vocal about what I thought–like in any friendship–but now I feel more comfortable being like, ‘no, that sucks, or ‘oh, I like that!’
Matt said the creative partnership is “democratic,” but added that he and Tesia make an effort to maintain their autonomy as performers. “I'm intentional about not making it explicit what the song is about, because I love the idea of somebody being able to take it and apply it to their own experience and have it elicit feelings for them,” he said. “That's always kind of a goal for me. A lot of times, I don't even really tell Tesia what the song is about… As a performer you've got to have a certain level of emotion, and I think if I superimpose my story onto it, it might change how she's relating to it.”
Do Something is available for streaming on all major platforms, or for purchase on Bandcamp. More information about The Nautical Theme is available on the website, thenauticaltheme.com, or on Facebook or Instagram.
Text by Peter Day, adapted from a studio session recorded by Juliet Fromholt on February 21, 2024.
