When it came to writing South America, THIEVES AND VILLAINS decided to sculpt the album as if they were the only four people on earth to hear it. Looking for a new sense of direction, THIEVES AND VILLAINS mentally escaped to a beautiful hiding place that they named South America. The band found that this venture in their collective minds would allow them be free, which in-turn, helped create music that excited them, and that they would ultimately fall in love with. However, the record was still being created under the same confines as many bands today; a spastic sinking ship of a country that has never been as stressed out, paranoid,or misled as it is right now… an America that is truly going “South.” The result of this is the album title that came to represent the dichotomy of one location being both the place you hate and love the most; the place you escape to, yet the place you despise. THIEVES AND VILLAINS took the same indie-rock vibe as VAMPIRE WEEKEND, combined it with the childlike sense of wonder found in an early DANIEL JOHNSTON song, and added the quirkiness implemented in the Pinkerton-era of WEEZER while crafting their sophomore record. THIEVES AND VILLAINS ambitiously recorded South America to analog tape on vintage tape machines and used all their own gear and live tones. They didn’t record hundreds of takes on any song, andapproached every section with real talent and logic. What you’ll listen to on South America is not the product of hours of tweaking, but rather the product of great friends having fun while making music the old-fashioned way.