He also mentioned how "eople of generation are scared to express selves" since they are "stuck on phones communicating with people on the other side of the world, but find it hard to hold a conversation with people across the table". Regarding the album's title, Petricca said to Fuse that "alking is the way that communicate everyday, all day, to each other, but words just don't fully convey everything that you have inside," which is "why have music" to express "ll those thoughts and feelings". Maiman stated that the final cover used was "just supposed to be a promotional shot" and that the band had "a whole other cover planned that didn't have on it at all". During the photo shoot, the band was having fun improvising with the photographer to explore a new look for them "that was not all wild colors and tank tops and Peter Pan". The album cover for Talking Is Hard features a photograph of the band members taken by Shervin Lainez. Maiman also said that the band "weren't afraid to explore different influences and different sounds" to stray away from making their previous record again.
Guitarist Eli Maiman spoke with Alternative Addiction about their experience working with Pagnotta, saying that he "very quickly became part of family" and "made the whole process easy and fun" due to how natural the fit was. The band members ended up choosing Sugarcult frontman Tim Pagnotta to produce Talking Is Hard. Drummer Sean Waugaman primarily used a 1965 Ludwig black oyster pearl drum kit with Paiste 602s, Signatures, and Zildjian Constantinople cymbals. The album's drum tracking was completed over a span of ten days. The band then flew to North Hollywood, Los Angeles to record their songs at Rancho Pagzilla. They wrote about 50 songs for the record, which later got cut down to 14 before settling with the 12 tracks that made it onto the final track list. The majority of the album was written in June 2013 in a building located in northern Kentucky that used to be an old Masonic lodge, dubbed the Mason Jar by the band. The band took a long-anticipated break from touring soon after. While they were still considering producers at this time, Mark Needham, who had previously produced the band's self-titled album (2012) and the Tightrope EP, was mentioned as an early favorite. Lead singer Nicholas Petricca stated to Billboard that the band had "a bag of songs that are in different degrees of completion" and were looking "to go in the studio sometime in the spring and get started". The album is Walk the Moon's most commercially successful record to date, peaking at number 14 on the Billboard 200 and receiving a platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).Īround the time of the Tightrope EP's release in 2013, Walk the Moon had already begun working in the early stages of their next studio album. It was also an international hit for the band, reaching the top ten in multiple countries. Three singles were released from Talking Is Hard, with the lead single " Shut Up and Dance" becoming Walk the Moon's biggest hit in the United States, peaking at number four on the Billboard Hot 100. Described as an indie pop, new wave and pop record, the album takes inspiration from multiple artists of the 1980s. The band chose to work with Tim Pagnotta to produce an album that would explore different influences and sounds to differentiate it from their self-titled major label debut (2012).
Talking Is Hard is the third studio album by American rock band Walk the Moon, released on December 2, 2014, by RCA Records.