Impulsive Hearts is the brainchild of Danielle Sines, and like so many of the city’s musical projects, it was born of house-bound winter boredom. After a single solo performance that Sines likened to karaoke, she roped in two friends and they are now at work on their debut album that showcases the band’s penchant for dark, guitar-driven pop. Here is an edited transcript from a recent conversation with Sines.
Q: How did you get started doing this?
A: It was the result of that really crappy winter — 2012 — and I started writing a bunch of stuff and then played one live show as Danielle and Her Drum Machine. And I hated it. It’s not as much fun as a band or playing with people. It felt like karaoke (laughs). John (Paul) and Dan (Julian) are some of my best friends and musically inclined, and so we started doing this thing last winter.
Q: Why music and not something else, knitting, or powering through entire seasons of TV shows like the rest of us?
A: I have always been a music and arts person, that’s where I fall into, creatively. The album we are working on right now is my version of my story, and it’s where I am right now. It’s a space for that creativity. For me, this is the way that I naturally express myself. I enjoy writing catchy, poppy songs people can sing along to. With everything I do, there has to be meaning. The story doesn’t have to have much weight, but everything I do, everything we do as a band — the meaning is clear. To us. The lyrical component touches on darker themes and coming-of-age stuff, from my experiences. A lot of this is just an outlet for me, working as a family therapist; this is my own safe place.
Q: Your songs are studies in contrast, sweet melodies and then distortion and rage. How deliberate is that?
A: It is all deliberate. We have some (songs) that are studio recordings, and I wasn’t really happy with them, how they came out. But the rest of them, the band and I, we went up to a house in Michigan and we worked on every layer, so that there is a punch in certain parts. We really spend a lot of time thinking through our parts, and that’s why I really love working with them. Everything we are doing has both — the negativity and the pop, the polish and the dark grunge — crashing together. And not too much pop, I don’t ever want it to be too deliberate sounding.
Q: Going from making this really private personal project to playing venues with a band, making an album. How has that transition been?
A: It’s been a process, mostly an overwhelmingly positive process; I started playing guitar for live shows and that gave me more control over the sound and that was a big shift. It helped me break out of my shell and feel more confident in expressing myself. There are so many awesome people in the scene who are so very nice and helpful. I think a lot about how there is this reputation for hipster snobbiness, but my experience (of playing in a band) hasn’t been about who you know. Just people being like “I really enjoyed your sound” and they help you navigate. The only really negative thing at all is sometime we get booked with other bands of women, other girls and while it’s not degrading to be booked with other women — it’s awesome — just the ideas of “We’re going to have a ladies night!” If that’s going to be the rule, then put more women on stage.
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Q: It can be ghettoizing, women still being posited as outsiders in rock, essentially.
A: I think it’s really interesting. This summer, we went to Pitchfork Festival as a band, which was awesome. And one of the things I naturally gravitated to was all the “girl” bands, and it felt like when you have so many women musicians included in something like that, it’s not a matter of them being on display. I am hoping things continue to go like that in Chicago’s live music scene.
When: 9 p.m. Thursday
Where: Hideout, 1354 W. Wabansia Ave.
Tickets: $8 (21+); 773-227-4433 or hideoutchicago.com