Dallas Band Electric Tongues Has a Spin-off in the Trio Faded Love Tones

The fellas of Faded Love Tones have always believed in evolution through music. The band — composed of Max Ogden, Hunter Daniel and Zach Kirkland — had their own musical projects before forming their new three-piece. Ogden and Daniel were members of Dallas funk-rock mainstay Electric Tongues, and Kirkland was an extra-rhythmic R&B artist known as Zayland. But as they merge their sound, the trio finally makes the music they want to make.

We chatted with Faded Love Tones on a Tuesday afternoon, days before their debut single as a band, “House of Cards,” is set to drop.

The band’s collaborative chemistry was in the cards for years before Faded Love Tones formed. While Daniel and Ogden had a killer run as part of Electric Tongues, Daniel also played bass for Kirkland during some recording sessions at the height of the pandemic.

“Once Electric Tongues broke up, it was kind of fate that we all linked up together,” says Daniel. "I think Zach just reached out about jamming and making music one day, and that's how it all started, from that recording session.”

Kirkland says he was a bit hesitant to make Faded Love Tones a real project, given that this would be his first time in a band. But upon their first session — the making of “House of Cards” — he knew the group had musical chemistry, and with himself on vocals, Ogden on guitar and Daniel on bass, this was sonic destiny.

“I was gonna make sure that I focus on my stuff, and then we'll make music separately,” says Kirkland. “But then after that first session — literally, the first time we ever made music together — I was like, ‘Damn, this has to be the main thing.’”

The guys posit that “House of Cards” is what the listeners make of it. Sonically, the song features silky, soft-tinged vocals by Kirkland, with Ogden supplying the hypnotic guitar licks and Daniel at the bass foundation. But lyrically, Kirkland purposely left the words open to interpretation.

The singer was inspired partially by Ogden and Daniel’s departure from Electric Tongues, as well as “any type of relationship ever.”

“Tell me how we’re here / Never had no one like you / I shed all my fears / Is that in the cards for you?” sings Kirkland on the song’s chorus.

The trio wrote and produced the song last October, around the same time that international conflicts were dominating the news.

“Praying isn’t working / Talking only hurts me too,” sings Kirkland on the song’s bridge.

“I was trying to write something from the conversations that we were having at the time,” says Kirkland. “Everything was happening with Palestine, so the bridge of the song is actually talking about [the war in] Palestine, and me saying that praying isn't enough, and things like that. The hook is basically the same thing, going back to, ‘How did we get here?’ and trying to bridge it all together. So it wasn't a concise thing. It can mean more.”

Faded Love Tones have more music on the way. “House of Cards” is part of an upcoming album, which Ogden estimates is “about 80% done.”

In the production process, the guys create an intimate feel, doing much of the recording between Ogden and Kirkland’s homes. Kirkland, who has experience as an audio engineer, handles the mix and mastering process in-house.

Ogden reveals that he believes he was “the catalyst” for Electric Tongues breaking up, saying being in the band “didn’t feel like it was going in the right direction.” But with Faded Love Tones, he looks forward to inviting new listeners in and sharing a new side of the guys’ collective craft.

“The stuff we're making is more like the stuff I listen to,” says Ogden. “It's definitely more laid back. I mean, there are elements of heavier stuff, and more like energetic things. But it feels like more of a focus on the songwriting. I'm more focused on the entire piece and making it something that I really love.”