Deaf Havana on new album The Present Is A Foreign Land: "There are some especially raw moments that hit hard"
21.07.2022 - 14:17
/ officialcharts.com
We almost didn't get a sixth record from Deaf Havana. In 2020, the Norfolk-formed pop-rock outfit very nearly went their separate ways after a decade, and three UK Top 10 albums, together.
When the pandemic hit, the group were forced to stop. But, despite the band initially calling it a day, it was brothers James and Matty Veck-Gilodi who decided to continue in the band's name as a two-piece.
This week, James and Matty release the result of their first recording sessions as a duo. Hoping to claim the group their fourth Top 20 album to date, The Present Is A Foreign Land sees them at their most 'raw'; introducing fans to a 'more expansive' sound.
We caught up with Matty to talk all about it.
Sonically, I think it’s more expansive. Previously, we’ve always kind of backed ourselves into a corner of how we’ve thought we need to sound; but on this record we just wrote the songs we wanted to hear and I’m super proud of that. Thematically, I think it's different as our whole perspective is a few years older and we've done a fair bit of growing up.
It was just really natural and productive, to be honest. I think it was the first time we felt no pressure whatsoever to please anyone other than ourselves with the music we were writing.
It had often been me and James doing a fair bit of the writing prior, but it was a lot more even on this one; pretty much exactly 50/50, which was a lot of fun. I loved taking the reins a bit more on some songs, but then also being able to work out what synth parts or guitar lines and piano parts can really bring something out of the songs that James was bringing to the sessions.
I think it probably is, yeah. There are definitely a few moments that are especially raw that still hit quite hard when