Isaac Lekach sounds a little tired. His band, Acute, is getting ready for their final show of a large package tour. Even so, he sounds eager to talk about his band and his record. Selections, an EP of songs from their forthcoming full-length, serves more as an introduction and a teaser, but it's a pleasant collection of punky, poppy songs. Yet beneath the surface of the songs' polished, well-arranged sound are some quite intelligent, interesting, thoughtful records. I'm particularly fond of the song "Take a Step Back," though the entire EP is quite captivating and enjoyable. They're a young band to pay attention to for 2007!I take it this is the last night of your tour? (Confirms) How was the tour for you?It couldn't have been any better. We were out with Owen, Appleseed Cast, and Copeland--all really great bands that have been around a lot longer than we have, but the people who came out were really respectful and responsive to us, and it was extremely flattering. We're a new band, so it was nice.
Tell me a little bit about how Acute came together.Our bass player, Cole, and I had been playing together in a band, and we were about to leave on a tour, and the guy who was playing drums for us decided he didn't want to tour, he wanted to focus on his own music. We were introduced to Patrick, who was on hiatus from his band Ozma, and he decided to come out with us, which was a really nice thing for him to do. Shortly after that tour as Poulain, Ozma broke up, and then Poulain broke up, so the three of us kept playing music together. Jason Borger, who did the arrangements on the record, has been playing live with us, so there are four of us now.
How was the experience of working with Dave Trumfio?Phenomenal. We had some demos and we sent them around to people we were interested in working with. He liked what we heard, so we had a meeting with him. Everything he suggested turned out to be what we had in mind; the visions he had for our songs were a lot like our ideas. We were fortunate enough to have enough time with him to develop the songs and have them meet their full potential. Having Jason in the band, we were able to add strings and horns and a bunch of orchestration to the songs, and it was great. Dave, on top of having a wonderful ear for melody and songwriting, he knows his sounds. So we spent a lot of time developing them, to find the right microphones and amplifiers and guitars--just everything, really, in order to get the sound right. We are really happy to have worked with him.
I understand he is very meticulous in his approach. Oh, yeah. There's a definite method to his madness, and it sounds like it might have been tedious, but it really wasn't. It was exciting, all the way.
He does what he does in order to get the best performance out of people. For a young band like you, just starting out, working with him is an excellent beginning.Definitely! We've recorded and worked in other bands, and have done so for a number of years, but because of all of that, we were ready to work with someone like Dave. We used the time we had with him the right way.
One thing I've noticed is the positive, uplifting nature of your lyrics...I'd say that overall, we're a positive group, and we like to focus on the bright side of life. Each song is about a person I know. They're personal to me, and I think I've written them in a way that there might be something that everyone can relate to, and therefore the songs are somewhat universal. But lyrically, the album is very personal. It's just about some hardships some friends have endured, or some wonderful moments I've shared with people. I don't think there's one specific theme.
Yeah, I like how some of the songs are uplifting; it's hard not to appreciate the message.Thank you, I'm glad to hear you feel that way. There are definitely a few songs I wrote out of a bit of angst (laughs), but I feel there is a balance, where the uplifting, positive message overrides the personal anguish I had in writing them! (Laughs)
What do you have planned for 2007, besides the record release?Definitely more touring. I think we've been asked to play some big Superbowl after-party or something. (Laughs) I don't know the details about
that one. We don't have anything confirmed as far as touring, but there are definitely some exciting things in the works.
I'm sure right now you just want to finish up the tour and catch up on your sleep!(Laughs) Yeah, but to be honest with you, this tour's gone
so great, I really don't want it to end. Every time I look at our itinerary and I see that this is our last show to play, it makes me a little sad. It's been really, really fun so far. I can't complain!
Selections is available now on Help Records 
