Seated on the floor of the Catacombs at Epiphany Center for the Arts, I met up with Neptune’s Core to discuss current projects, influences, and whats next for the band.

Sofie Richter (vocals/guitar)

Hannah Richter (bass)

Jackie Cywinski (guitar/vocals)

Kaitlin Cywinski (drums)

Amplified Chicago: How are you guys feeling? Is this your first time playing at Epiphany?

All: Yeah!

Sofie: It's beautiful. The acoustics are really nice.

Amplified Chicago: And you get to play in the big hall too, that's the best spot here.

Jackie: We walked in and were like oh my god! Harmonies will be really fun.

Sofie: I'm really excited for the harmonies. And just like hearing the natural reverb of the place for sure.

Amplified Chicago: What's your setlist looking like for tonight? Anything new?

Kaitlin: Yeah, so there's going to be three new songs on the set that we actually just wrote within the past couple of days. We wrote them specifically for the new album that we're working on which will be coming out earlier this summer or later this spring. We have three completely new songs that haven't been performed yet. And the other ones, a lot of them will be on the upcoming album.

Jackie: So mostly unreleased stuff. And we have two covers. It'll be fun.

Amplified Chicago: Is one of them the single that you put out?

All: Yes. Be My Baby!

Kaitlin: That song means a lot to us. I feel like a lot of the sixties girl group stuff has been super influential with harmonies and recording.

Amplified Chicago: I can hear that, yeah I was going to ask if there's any special significance to that song. But that makes sense.

Sofie: When we did the cover, we wanted to kind of deviate from the original sound and add more grunge to it. I feel like it was a really good foundation for us to kind of experiment with it.

Jackie: Whenever we had band rehearsal, we would always just play it in between our songs just for fun. It starts just with that big open E and we're always just, like, messing around with it… and we were like, let's just actually do the cover.

Sofie: It's so iconic too.

Kaitlin: It gets us amped up.

Sofie: And the other cover is “Hammond Song” by The Roches. It's sisters and they're harmonizing. It’s just their vocals and a guitar. And we're two sets of sisters, so we like to do that one.

Amplified Chicago: Can you share one standout memory from this past year as a band?

Kaitlin: Recording the new album… The creative freedom and connection that you can feel in the studio, I think is so special. It's just so enjoyable to be in there. We'll be in there for twelve hours in a day and it kind of just flies by.

Jackie: There's this one song, “Lemon Car,” that will be on the upcoming album… At the end there's harmonies and a cool guitar part that I love playing... The melodies are so sweet but also catchy and fun, and we would just blast it in the sound room when we were listening back to it.

Sofie: I've gotta say the studio as well, I feel like it's just really special. We'd cry and we'd laugh and experience all the emotions together and it's just a beautiful time. But also we went on a little tour to Iowa and Urbana that was full of so much love… We had a really good time in Iowa. We played with J.W. Francis.

Amplified Chicago: Oh I just saw him. Was this after his canoe trip?

All: Yeah!

Sofie: We just felt very inspired by him, and also we played with Mr. Sam. It was a meaningful performance from both of them and it really just stuck with us.

Kaitlin: Yeah, they were really great connecting people. And then in Urbana, we played with two like, fuller bands, Uniflora, who's from Chicago, and then Brain Sex who's based in Urbana. And that was a really great show too. There was great energy in the crowd. We had a little after party at my house at my college and it's just like, fun connecting with the people there after the show.

Hannah: I'd say the highlight was probably recording and then releasing an Audiotree. I feel like that's kind of a surreal moment for us.

Jackie: I think I have another highlight. This is like my real actual highlight… There's a song “Skeleton,” and it's like a singer songwriter type of thing. It's just me and Sofie singing and an acoustic guitar, and it was very intimate recording it. I would say we did it in just a couple takes. It was like the first real take that we're using for the album, and you can hear the two of us kind of talking and even just breathing into the mics. The whole recording, I think, captures the intimacy and the beauty in that song, and I'm excited for it to be out. It was really fun.

Amplified Chicago: Where did you record the album at?

Jackie: Trigger. They do a lot of things, but they record for Friko.

Amplified Chicago: Would you say this album is pretty similar to the last EP you put out? Or are you taking any new directions?

Sofie: I'd say it's more elevated. It's similar in the sense that it's still coming from us and it's still vulnerable, but I think we've just experimented so much more with this, and I think we've really found our sound with this one.

Jackie: I think you can hear the confidence in these songs for sure.

Amplified Chicago: What is one long term and short term goal that you have right now as a band?

Sofie: I want to travel and meet new people that we get to play with like J.W. Francis and Mr. Sam. Just be inspired and get to experience more of the world. Especially with these guys, I feel like we can totally do that together. And I'm really excited about that.

Kaitlin: Short term, I'm really excited to get this album out and I imagine, like a fun release show. So organizing that, getting that down and having music videos for the album. I’m just really excited to get new music out for everyone, and almost like a new image out to meet the new album.

Amplified Chicago: A new era.

Kaitlin: Yeah exactly.

Amplified Chicago: Do you have any other bands in the Chicago scene you'd like to give a shout out to? I know you already named a few, but they weren't all from Chicago.

Kaitlin: I think Friko is the biggest one for us right now, even just recording with Scott [Tallarida] and everything, the same producer. They've been a huge influence.

Jackie: Finom and Liam Kazar. Liam just put out an album and had a release show and it was just beautiful. He's just amazing, and that whole community of musicians. V.V. Light Body and that whole group that organizes Postock. Shout out to all of them.

Kaitlin: Minor Moon.

Sofie: We love Uniflora too. They're some really good friends of ours.

Amplified Chicago: Ok last question. If you had to write a PowerPoint presentation in like five minutes based on something that you know a lot about, just off the top of your head what would it be?

Kaitlin: Mine would probably be farming practices. Sustainable farming development. It's like my latest hyperfixation for the past, like two or three years.

Jackie: Well it's your major too.

Kaitlin: Yeah. I'm studying environmental engineering, specifically a Water Systems Concentration, [which] doesn't totally go with that farming stuff. I don't know, I'm just really into that for some reason.

Sofie: I think I'd probably talk about the importance of friendship in life.

Kaitlin: Aw, that's really sweet.

Hannah: Through my school, I did a project on sexual education and why it should be mandated across the state. So probably that, just because I can name so many statistics just off the top of my head.

Jackie: Maybe about live music in general and the community that it creates. You know, through people dancing or singing together or even discovering artists together.

For more from Neptunes Core, check out their website linked here to stay up to date with future shows and releases!

In Conversation with Neptune’s Core

January Show Recs