On September 25, Prize Collect returns with Even Light Gets Dark, a new six-track EP from guitarist and songwriter Marzio Scholten. Balancing introspection with moments of widescreen indie rock, the record also points towards what might come next. We spoke with Scholten about unsettling opening lines, cinematic melodies, working with producer Sam van Hoogstraten, and why this EP feels like a prelude to Prize Collect’s next chapter.

The opening lines of “Even Light Gets Dark” have been haunting me. Where did that song begin — and what was happening when you wrote those first lines?

I understand why those lines might have been haunting you; it’s pretty dark. The opening line, “Let me tell you how to suffocate yourself using a pillowcase,” came to me during a summer in France, while listening to a demo of this song. It seemed like such a heavy way to start the song, but I think it works because it puts the listener on the edge of their seat. After that line, the lyrics kind of wrote themselves. I wanted to show the contrast between light and dark, happy and sad. I think it’s kind of my way of saying that even though people seem happy on the outside, they may have dark things going on in their lives. It’s one of my favourite songs on the EP.

“The Last Day” has such a huge, almost cinematic melody. How do you stop yourself from going full U2 when a song starts reaching that big?

First of all, I wish I was as good at writing songs as U2 are, but I do understand what you mean. For me, “The Last Day” actually has a kind of classic Beatles-esque chord sequence and harmony. When I was writing this song, the chords came first and the melody just seemed so natural on top, maybe because it has such a classic feel to it. Anyway, back to your question: while producing, I think there’s always a point where you can choose between going “all out” or staying on a more understated path. It’s a cliché, but the song tells you what to do, in a way. The producer, in this case my friend — and guitarist in the band — Sam van Hoogstraten, was also a huge factor. The nice thing about all of this is that live you can make the choice more organically and in the moment, so during a concert a song that’s understated on the record can go “all out”, and vice versa.

How did Even Light Gets Dark come together? Did these songs grow out of the same period, or did you gradually realise they belonged together?

I’m continuously writing songs and demoing them. After the Prize Collect debut album came out, I already had more than enough for a new album. Sam van Hoogstraten (who I mentioned before) and I got together for dinner and talked about how to move forward. He said that he wanted to produce the next Prize Collect releases, and we came up with the idea of just grabbing a couple of the best songs that I had demoed and starting to work on them without any clear idea of how to release them. First, we thought it might be a few separate singles, but soon we realised that we had six songs that fit together and decided to work towards an EP.

Was there a moment during the making of the EP when you thought: “Yes, this is exactly what Prize Collect should sound like”?

Ehm, no, not really. I mean, I think that writing music is always a work in progress. There are songs on this EP that give me the feeling of exploring that side more, like “Inside Your Soul”, which has this Britpop-ish vibe to it. The nice thing about this being an EP is that it feels like I can still experiment a bit. I feel that the next LP, the follow-up to our debut, should be a very coherent batch of songs that maybe sets the tone for what Prize Collect should sound like. This EP is a prelude to that.

What do the coming months look like for Prize Collect? What’s next after Even Light Gets Dark?

Well, it’s a relatively small release, so we’re not doing a huge tour or anything. To present this music live, I decided to do one bigger show instead of a few small ones. On October 28, we’re playing at dB’s in Utrecht. I invited Coparck to join us on the bill, and they happily agreed. It’s going to be a great evening of indie music. I’m very much looking forward to playing these new songs live. Next year, we’ll do a few more shows. Meanwhile, I’m writing and demoing, and the contours of a new album are already forming.