Exclusive Tape Wounds Premiere: School of Design – "Astrid's Song"

Formed in Atlanta by five longtime friends and scene veterans—Samantha Kranz, Brett Miotti, Dustin Ragland, Luke Thornton, and Matt Turner—School of Design are quickly proving to be one of the most compelling dream-pop outfits on my radar. Having already delivered two stunning singles—both of which I fell in love with the second I heard them—I am honored to be premiering their brand new third single, "Astrid's Song," exclusively right here on Tape Wounds.

Image Credit: Amanda Tanner

Here is what the band had to share about the story behind the track, writing after a Hum show, and enlisting Damon Moon and Slowdive’s Simon Scott to shape its final sound:

"The first couple of songs we made were heavier and more synth-driven, but we wanted to try something with a lighter feeling. We came up with a jangly, breezy idea, took it to the rest of the band, and riffed on it until we captured the right sonic tone. The songs Sam had written before were so depressing that every article was like, 'Wow, this girl needs a health check.' So she wanted to do something way more lighthearted. After going to New York City together to see Hum, Sam was so pumped on the train ride home that it came out as a cheerful song for once.

The title 'Astrid's Song' is actually a two-part story. It's Sam's niece's middle name, but on that same train ride home, there was this wonderful traveling nurse named Astrid. She helped Sam find the cafe cart and all the tricks of traveling, and Sam was like, 'Freaking love you.' And that's Astrid.

Sonically, we recorded the track with Damon Moon. We record all our stuff with him because he's a great engineer who really gets the band. He gets deeply involved with us in the studio, especially when helping write and arrange the vocal harmonies; he has a very careful, supportive hand with the vocals. From there, we took it to Simon Scott from Slowdive for mastering. He has an expert hand, and we absolutely love how it came out.

We really hope everyone enjoys this track. It's one we keep coming back to as our overall favorite. We usually gravitate toward a dreamier, more somber space, but this one just makes us all feel really good—and in our current climate, we could all stand to feel a little better. It’s a collective pop song, heavily inspired by The Cardigans, The Sundays, Ride, and Cocteau Twins, and we absolutely love playing it live."