Luke Temple started Here We Go Magic as a solo project—a "stream-of-consciousness" recording session captured to a Tascam 424 Portastudio. The self-titled HWGM LP garnered a lot of attention in the indie music circles (mostly because it's damn good; give it a listen), and Luke put a band together to tour the material. Here We Go Magic recorded their follow up album -- Pigeons -- as a full band, but they didn't head to a studio to track. Instead, Luke upgraded his recording setup to a slightly bigger Tascam 388 8-track reel to reel, with impressive results.

We spoke with Luke and HWGM keyboardist Kristina "Tini" Lieberson at Pitchfork, where we only had a little time with the band. Still, we covered the recording of the new album, the sound of Toft Audio mixing boards, and the benefits of cloistering yourself away in the country when writing and recording.