Sylvan Esso are finding ways to laugh among the doom

Sometimes, you can’t help but laugh, even when times are tough. For Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn, the duo behind Sylvan Esso, humor has become an increasingly important part of the band’s DNA over the years.

“Being able to laugh or poke fun at something with other people who are also in the doom with you is such a necessary part of the emotional arc,” Sanborn says.

Today, Meath and Sanborn join World Cafe to talk about how humor, community and experimentation shaped their latest album, Ow ∞. It’s a curious title that Meath describes as “a promise, a dream, a decision to continue living despite the fact that we continue being hurt.”

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.