On the heels of releasing the first single off their upcoming album, OneRepublic filled CBS Local in on what to expect from their forthcoming LP. 

“We’re using a lot more analog synths on this album. For whatever reason, until this album I’ve been very against synths of any kind,” frontman Ryan Tedder admitted. “Analog synths. I don’t know why. You go through different phases of what you think is cool or what you like. For the longest time I just was not into that whole sound. Any synth band, anything that was using old synth sounds.”

Tedder said synths reminded him of “a bad chapter of the 1980s.”

“I didn’t like the ’80s at all when I was in them. I liked the movies. I hated the music though for the most part,” he said. “I also wasn’t allowed to listen to most of it so that might have been why I didn’t like it.”

Tedder said there was one big sonic shift when the band decided to use old analog synths in their possession.

“It changed our whole sound completely. We’re not coming out and sounding like the Killers, but it’s definitely changed,” he said. “This weird intersection of synth and gospel and lots and lots of tempo.”

OneRepublic also channeled the liveliness of their tour dates around the world into their LP.

“I think every band [is] always wanting that extra ounce of energy. That extra level,” he said. “It’s always easy for us to do mid-tempos. Our first big single was the poster child of mid-tempo songs and ballads. Those are easy. The hardest songs to write, I think, is a really good uptempo record that’s not cheesy, that says something and actually has emotion.”

“If you can get something that’s got some movement to it and can tap into human emotion, at least for me now, that’s the Golden Chalice.”

-Annie Reuter, CBS Local