Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, WA-based sibling quartet Coterie share their affection for The Beatles’ ‘Here Comes the Sun’ (1969).
Brothers Tyler, Josh, Brandford and Conrad Fisher comprise surf- and soul-leaning pop rock outfit Coterie. The Fishers’ music is inspired by their Te Aupouri, Ngāpuhi and Ngai Te Rangi heritage, as well as the surf and art culture of their home on the Western Australian coastline. These influences come together on Coterie’s latest single, ‘West Coast Drive’.
Coterie’s Love Letter to ‘Here Comes the Sun’
Coterie: If there is one thing we all froth, it’s the beauty of a record by the humble Beatles, ‘Here Comes The Sun’. These dudes captured an entire summer season in one song, lyrically and instrumentally. You’ll often catch us driving down the coasts of Western Australia at the break of dawn looking for good surf with these fellas on the aux.
‘Here Comes the Sun’ is one of those songs that you fully understand in the first minute, super easy to relate to and simple enough to be singing along after the intro. We’ve drawn ideas and creative inspiration from how The Beatles could write global tunes that are widely relatable while also making groundbreaking music that would impress a muso’s muso.
Just to flex my super impressive muso brain: the intro features chromatic melodic drops in the backing vocals landing on a dominant seventh chord, which is real churr. To most people, these words make no sense, but the feeling these melodies add to a vocal mean a lot to us all.
Gnarly fact: this song was written by George Harrison and not the power duo of Lennon-McCartney. Alongside Eric Clapton, each Beatles member had their own magic to put on the table. We incorporate this thinking into our own writing – any one at any time could have the spiciest song idea drop and it’s important to run with the wind.
‘Oh, Darling’ is an unreal tune too. You could listen to the entire Beatles catalogue back to front and never get bored.
We’ve all gone on our own musical wave since being groms and first learning to play guitar, but I’d easily say Abbey Road by The Beatles, and in particular ‘Here Comes The Sun’, has made its impact on each of us individually. It’s a beauty of a track and everyone should add it to their playlists right now.
Coterie – ‘West Coast Drive’
Coterie’s ‘West Coast Drive’ is out now.
Here’s What Happened at Foo Fighters’ Taylor Hawkins Tribute Concert in London
An All Star Cast Features In George Harrison’s ‘My Sweet Lord’ Video
