For over a decade, Los Angeles indie-rock quartet Atta Boy—composed of high school friends Freddy Reish, Eden Brolin, Lewis Pullman, and Dashel Thompson—has occupied a remarkably cozy, self-contained box. But when it came time to craft their fourth studio album, Silt, they decided it was time to blow the walls off.
They shopped demos. They dreamed of far-flung destination studios and big-name producers. The universe, in its typical, unbothered fashion, answered with radio silence.
"Eventually, there was no label interest," the band recalls. "Our dream producers and studios were out of budget, busy, or unresponsive, and we were left to pivot."
Hence, a brilliant act of economic imagination was needed: "What came of it was this sort of dreaming big on a budget and asking ourselves questions like 'if we had our dream producer, how might they elevate this song, what tones might they throw out there, what harmonies might they suggest that we would never have thought of.' So that kind of opened up an opportunity to pivot," they say.
The result is Silt, a beautifully textured, emotionally heavy, and sonically daring record that swaps their past acoustic-leaning safety for fuzz pedals, regal horn arrangements, and a deep dive into the emotional mud of adulthood.
If Silt sounds like a band sifting through the wreckage of a chaotic world, that's because they literally were. The bulk of the album was tracked in Los Angeles in January 2025—right as devastating wildfires tore through the city.
"It’s hard to describe just how surreal it was being in the city at that moment," keyboardist Thompson says. "Back in my hometown, doing this really fun thing with my friends, but at the same time the city was literally on fire. 2025 was a really tough year for the whole band in general, and working on Silt was challenging, but was also sort of a relief in some ways."
That physical and emotional claustrophobia bled into the workflow. Historically, Atta Boy operates on a tight, two-to-three-week deadline—a frantic pace that naturally kills the impulse to second-guess. Silt didn't give them that luxury. Songs were sent back and forth across oceans (drummer Pullman was framing the album's artwork while working out of Australia), leading to a protracted, cross-continental game of telephone.
"With Silt there was a lot more time to overthink," Brolin admits. "Which I do believe eventually benefitted the process, but it was significantly more mentally exhausting."
When asked what exactly sparked the emotional and lyrical foundation of the record amidst all that external and internal chaos, Brolin didn't mince words about the messy reality of the human condition: "Thematically, I would say a giant pot of crap that if I were to boil it down might be the following: creek bottoms, light and how it hits different objects, nature (especially similarities between human physical traits and the natural world surrounding us), endings and death, sifting through generational crap and how it forms the lens through which you see the world."
Ask about their favorite songs on the LP and you’ll get a different answer from each band member. "We’ve listened to all these songs probably billions of times," Pullman says of the album, but the title track, "'Silt' is the gift that keeps on giving for me. I find something new in it every time. It’s a little giving tree tune." For Daniel, “Oh, Mama” is the track that excites him most—"The addition of the brass arrangement really elevated the song in a way I love. In the recording process we tried a bunch of different instruments but Eden always had a vision of there being brass on it. So, the fact that we ended up using brass feels really satisfying, and the fact that it turned out so well is even cooler." Brolin divulges that her's is “1st Street Bridge" as "It’s a bit of a different tone than we’re used to." And as for Reish, “Pale Blue Sky” takes the cake as "It was hard for us to finish this track and I think we landed in a really nice place."
Though to fully understand the DNA of Atta Boy, you have to understand what they listen to when they are completely delirious at 3:00 a.m. on a highway in the middle of nowhere. Their "No gas left in the tank driver seat tour energizer bunny pick me up guilty pleasure #1 bangers" proved their taste is delightfully chaotic:
Brolin:
"Angel of My Dreams" by JADE
"Scream & Shout" by will.i.am, Britney Spears
"Num" by Linkin Park
Pullman:
"Butterfly" by Crazy Town
"Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot
"Parked Out By the Lake" -" by Dean Summerwind
Reish:
"The Saga Begins" by “Weird Al” Yankovic
"Where Is The Love?" by Black Eyed Peas
"Fuck Up The Friendship" by Leah Kate
Thompson:
"Lovefool" by The Cardigan
"C’est La Vie" by B*Witche
"America Pie" by Don McLean
And if a band can bridge the gap between Elliott Smith-inspired indie textures and Crazy Town's "Butterfly," they can survive anything.
Silt dropped on June 26. Dial in, pay attention, and make sure you catch them on their limited run of summer release shows this July before they head back out for a full tour in early 2027.
Listen to Silt here.
Photo Credit: Josh & Kathryn Brolin
Album Art: Lewis Pullman
