quarters of change - portraits - 300

Anchored by a mutual predisposition for unpredictability, Quarters of Change fuse together a signature hybrid of nineties-style alternative hooks, crunchy space rock soundscapes, and strutting seventies grooves. After piling up millions of streams, selling out shows, and inciting critical applause, the New York City quartet—Ben Acker [guitar, bass, synths], Attila Anrather [drums], Jasper Harris [guitars, bass, synths], and Ben Roter [vocals, guitar]—craft a rich exhibition of emotion on their aptly titled 2023 second full-length offering, Portraits [300 Entertainment].

“The album is made up of individualized fragments that provide different perspectives and create their own little vignettes,” says Roter. “I think of each fragment as a portrait, reflecting a separate emotion or moment. Overall, it explores themes of addiction, isolation, and exploration. At the time, I was definitely writing about the present. By discussing what was happening in our lives, we’re giving you honest everyday circumstances to latch onto.”

The group have always bottled the urgency of life-in-motion by writing and recording in a room together face-to-face. They quietly broke through with a series of independent EPs and the fan favorite “Kiwi,” which cracked 10 million-plus streams and counting. In 2022, the guys picked up the pace on their full-length debut, Into The Rift, boasting “T Love,” “Jaded,” and “Dead.” They hit the road with Bad Suns and impressively sold out their first-ever US headline tour. Earning tastemaker praise, The Aquarian hailed them as “reviving alt rock,” and Sheesh professed, “Quarters of Change has mastered the New York rock resurgence in a way that is resonating with even the best of the best.” Not to mention, they enamored notable fans such as Joe Jonas, Lewis Capaldi, Chad Smith, and Fred Durst, to name a few. 

Nevertheless, the musicians opted to shake up the creative process. Decamping to a house in Woodstock, NY for two weeks during early 2023, they collectively established the foundation for what would become the LP.

“We took a van and brought our equipment there,” recalls Acker. “When you’re in Woodstock, you immediately think of Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan. We were trying to capture the same spirit as best as we could, because we have a lot of respect for it.”

“Up until now, we’d written and recorded everything in New York City,” notes Roter. “We decided to get out of the hustle and bustle of the fucking concrete jungle though. Whether it was Queen or Bon Iver, so many of our favorite bands would isolate themselves and see what came out. It was impactful for the four of us to try that.”

Returning to the Big Apple proper, Quarters Of Change self-produced this body of work joined by a handful of collaborators, including GRAMMY® Award winning producers Mikey Freedom Hart [Jon Batiste, Taylor Swift, Bleachers, Lana Del Rey, Dev Hynes] and Dave Tozer [John Legend, JAY-Z] in addition to fellow artist Charlie Berg and producer Brandon Shoop. 

Simultaneously, they channeled inspirations as diverse as Failure, Deftones, The 1975, and Prince.

“We got out of our comfort zone and pushed ourselves,” Acker elaborates. “We ultimately learned so much in those sessions. We have four ranges of influences going on all of the time. Ben is pulling on bands like Failure, Jasper is pulling on Red Hot Chili Peppers, Attila is pulling on Tool, and I’m pulling on The Police.”

Quarters Of Change introduced this season with “What I Wanted.” It teeters on an axis of guitar tension and vocal release, building towards a disarmingly catchy hook buoyed by waves of distortion.

“We definitely brought some grunge to it, but also tapped into the swag of the seventies,” Roter goes on. “It’s inspired by a relationship to a degree. You think you know what you want, but you get it and you don’t want it anymore. Finally, you realize you didn’t know what you wanted in the first place. I feel like everyone has felt the same at one time or another.”

On the other end of the spectrum, “You & I” careens on glassy funkified guitar towards a hypnotic hook punctuated by flashes of falsetto. Co-written with Berg, it saunters right to the center of the dancefloor. “It doesn’t take itself too seriously,” Jasper observes. “It was written pretty fast, and it has an experimental and fun vibe.”

Then, there’s “Heaven.” The upbeat energy of a slick riff and buoyant percussion belie a deeper emotionality as Roter laments, “I kind of think that it’s over now.” 

“It was the last song we wrote near the end of driving each other insane upstate,” he remembers. “It talks about my love of isolation and moves into a nihilistic chorus, ‘We are born to die.’ To us, it’s a classic Quarters Of Change song that makes you move.”

“Musically, it was a moment of magic,” says Jasper. “We’re city kids, and we were at this crib in the woods, writing, eating, watching horror movies, having fucked up dreams, waking up, and doing it all over again.”

“Hollywood Baby” would mark the first time the whole band contributed lyrics, giving it another dimension altogether. “It’s another one about having a good time,” Acker continues. “Attila was speaking to us at the beginning, and we put our heads together on the second verse.”

In the end, Quarters Of Change have painted a vision that’s uncompromisingly their own with Portraits.

“On the album, we’re saying, ‘This is us. This is our music’,” Acker leaves off. “In a way, it’s our statement piece. It’s who we are.”

“Once again, we tried to preserve the beauty of what a performance by a band should be,” Roter concludes. “When you hear it, I hope you can tell we’re real humans playing instruments, and it’s honest.”