NYC-based artists Sedona Schat and Noah Yoo have been recording alternative pop songs together as Cafuné since their days as NYU students in the mid-2010s. From there, much changed, but their synergy and ability to produce infectious, whimsical and minimalist tunes. Now, they unveil their latest musical endeavour, a 5-track EP, “Love Songs For The End”, their first project since their signing to Elektra Entertainment.
Elaborating on the EP’s inspirations, Cafuné shared: “As we wrote this EP we realised that everything is always ending – in the world at large, within each of our lives. We hope listening to these songs ease your journeys because writing them definitely helped unburden our own.” The launch follows the release of their 2021 debut album Running, a self-produced project almost entirely recorded by the duo at their homes, mostly during the pandemic.
Here, we connected with Cafuné to discuss their new EP, inspirations behind the project and what they are most looking forward to in their future as a duo.
Listen to the EP…
Read the full interview…
Congratulations on your new EP. Can you tell us a bit about the singles and the story behind it?
Noah: Thank you! We started working on the EP in earnest after coming off our first tour in 2022 and we finished it between tours and shows throughout this year. It’s our first time working with other producers and collaborators so it was an exciting learning experience for us.
Sedona: “Perspective” was the first song we wrote with our pal Imad and had an immediacy we thought would be a good way to come back after our lil viral moment. “Demise” we thought would be a great summer song, it’s got this poppy Michelle Branch 2000s thing that we thought people would enjoy. “Unchained Memory” was the song on the EP that is the clearest continuation of what we’ve been doing, and it felt like a good way to signal the overall tone of the EP.
How did you first get into music, and who were your earliest influences?
Noah: Played violin for 10 years before quitting orchestra as a teenager and teaching myself guitar. I was definitely influenced by a lot of alternative and electronic music growing up, like Radiohead, Daft Punk …
Sedona: I started with music when I was 4 years old, and my path has always been pretty haphazard. Started with Violin, moved to vocal + piano lessons, guitar lessons, choir… all throughout my youth. I started writing songs in high school. My earliest influences were The Cranberries, Fiona Apple, the Beatles, Tom Petty, Fleetwood Mac, Red Hot Chili Peppers. Later I got into Joni Mitchell, Ella Fitzgerald, and motown girl groups like Martha Reeves & the Vandellas and the Supremes.
How do you approach the creative process when writing and producing your music?
Noah: I never think about whether or not what I’m making will be a Cafuné song whenever I work on a new piece of music, personally. Usually it reveals itself as something for us very quickly and then I’ll bring it to Sedona to see what she thinks.
Sedona: Our process over the last 10 years has varied a lot, at times we haven’t been in the same room so Noah will send an idea and I will germinate some melodic ideas and search for the emotional center from which to write lyrics. We write together in the same room and also write with pals!
How do you think this new chapter represents your musical evolution since your debut EP?
Noah: Cafuné as a project feels like much more of a band now than it was when we started out in 2014. We have a much clearer idea of how the music presents itself live and I think that has begun to reflect in the studio recordings in a fruitful way.
Sedona: I think this particular chapter thematically is a bit darker than our previous work. Sonically I think because we brought other people into the process we gave ourselves permission to embody different permutations of the genres we inhabit. We arrived at a point where we felt free to be as pop or as emo or as rock as we wanted.
Can you share a pivotal moment in your career that you think helped shape who you are as a duo today?
Noah: There was a months-long period when the two of us both felt like we had to take time away from the band, and it was after that time that we wrote “Tek It.“ I think being in a band with anyone for a long time is like any important relationship, with ebbs and flows, and sometimes you need to step away from something in order to make it better, stronger.
Sedona: I don’t know if it is a “pivotal moment” but Noah and I were camp counselors together while we were still in school and I feel like that experience was important to our development together. We spent the summer seeing young people discover what they could do in music and simultaneously writing music ourselves. I look back on that fondly.
