“The notion of resonance is something I feel that’s really missing from a lot of popular music right now,” Le’aupepe says. He has a strong desire for his work to evoke emotion in listeners, for his songs to mean something.
Upon talking to the verbose 24-year-old, it’s clear he’s come a long way from the 20-year-old watching someone he loved fight cancer. With album number two in the works, the band felt a need for closure of that chapter.
“We needed a bridge, we needed a transition. The next album is going to be different, different levels, different sonics. It’ll be delivered on a way more personal level in so many ways, and in a lot of ways more universal.”
The result of that need is Let Me Be Clear, a collection of five tracks and a bonus hauntingly lovely Joni Mitchell cover, which Le’aupepe labels a bookend to his early 20s.
“Trying to come up with addendum to all the fucking crazy emotional bullshit that I purged on the last album was pretty difficult,” he says. There’s an element of self-loathing in many of his answers, but that’s what makes his writing so relatable. The emotion is authentic, laced with the fear and self-doubt that almost everyone experiences at some point.
Let Me Be Clear comes hot off the back of the band’s appearance at Splendour in the Grass, where they received universal acclaim for their performance. Though the idea of a crowd of 10,000 people tapping into an individual’s most personal pain could be terrifying, Le’aupepe uses it as fuel.
“It’s heroin, dude. It’s my drug of choice,” he says. “[Humans] want to connect with something, the music that lasts is the stuff that creates powerful human sentiments.
“For me, the notion of an audience connecting with my introspective material is a really powerful demonstration of that belief, because people are identifying with something, they’re finding something that resonates, and it’s the best feeling ever.”
This revelation of his desire to resonate with the audience is a recurring theme in discussion about the future of Gang of Youths, and the production of album number two.
“With the album coming out, I want to interact on a deeper level with the audience. I’m only starting to realise how fun that is, and it gives me some sense of purpose for an hour.
“I’m in circumstances as a 24-year-old, so different to where I was as a 20-year-old, and they’re more universal. I’m not in love with someone who’s dying, I’m enjoying the same, unmitigating freedom that other single people have. With that comes a whole host of ontological, epistemological questions that I’m struggling to answer, and I know for a fucking fact that everyone is after the same answers.
“I’m not going to try and convince a listener that I’m brave and I’m full of hope in the face of adversity. I’m just going to try and be as honest and fragile as I possibly can,” Le’aupepe says.
That honesty permeates his every word. He speaks with a frankness that many shy away from, and though at times he rambles about philosophical ideas, Le’aupepe’s words are laced with legitimacy, never seeming self-indulgent.
“I’m single,” he says with quiet resignation, listing the biggest changes in his life since the first album. “I’m not a drug addict anymore. I spend more time thinking before I speak. Just little things that have affected the way I tend to convey who and what I am. I’m a lot more honest.
“I have a more well rounded idea of death, now that I’ve attempted to bring upon my own so many times,” Le’aupepe pauses for a moment, “and I’m actually able to make an off colour joke about suicide, whereas before that would’ve triggered such irreverence.”
He has a dry wit, and is extremely intelligent with his complex, reflective thought processes rolling along. This growth and self-awareness has positively affected not just his life, but the band’s creative process.
“I’m less of an aggressive, despotic dictator, and more of a benevolent dictator. I was drug addicted and horrible to my friends. The greatest joy in my life now is figuring out how to get my friends so happy, by doing absolutely nothing, by just letting them do their job,” Le’aupepe says.
These changes, and more, will be heard when Gang Of Youths release their sophomore album.
“I’m starting to get a bit more conversational. I’m infinitely more influenced by the stories of people, and the interactions I have with people, than stark imagery.
“The notion of a follow up album is going to kill me. I spend review time perpetually drunk so I can deal with my own deflated ego reading all the stuff that these art student journalists have written about the record,” Le’aupepe laughs with a self deprecating drawl.
“It does all go back to hating myself,” he spills out. “We all go back to hating ourselves, but that’s okay, ‘cause we all do.”
BY CLAIRE VARLEY
