“I read this about J.K. Rowling,” Vander Gucht says. “How with Harry Potter she had written a book about the book prior to even commencing writing. She had built up this whole universe in her head where the books were only five per cent of what she’d actually created. That’s really how Anthony [West] and I write. We sit down and come up with this huge narrative. I mean, we write the chords first and the melody, but prior to approaching lyrics we’ll come up with this world that has a beginning and end, that has reasoning behind each word. That’s something that’s very important to both of us. We’re both big fans of lyrics that aren’t necessarily descriptive, but they come from a place that isn’t just gobbledygook. Each song has an individual story, and each comes from a place that isn’t really even in the song at all.”
The wonder is that with so much left unsaid, the result remains a collection both universal and unflinchingly personal. The ethos behind their creativity is not some abstract force that only influences the album obliquely, but is inherent to each song’s composition. For proof of this, one need look no further than their genesis; each month, Vander Gucht and West would write and upload a song to SoundCloud. This monthly deadline led to the slow, thoughtful completion of the album we hear today, and while the band is unlikely to repeat that experiment in future, it has certainly paved the way for the next creative expedition.
“Looking back, we are pleasantly surprised,” says Vander Gucht. “It was a way of showcasing our songwriting skills, as a way to challenge ourselves and get better. But in terms of moving forward, I don’t think we’ll do this again. It’s really stressful [laughs]. And it would be interesting to make an album more traditionally.
“We want to try going to a different place, a different country maybe. I definitely encourage anyone to set themselves a goal like that. I think the structure and having that routine, setting deadlines, is something to be celebrated, and is really important if you’re a creative person to instil in your work ethic. It’s been magical and bizarre and inadvertent, but we’re really blessed by it, and really excited that we’ve been able to build this platform to now jump into something else even weirder.”
It is inspiring to find artists who are that engaged with the world they are creating, where songs are not casual radio fodder but entire narratives that take the listener on something of a journey. In this eponymous instance, that journey – or perhaps portrait is a better term – is sustained by two very different characters.
“The whole album to me has an overarching theme of loneliness, certainly, and a lot of the songs address loneliness in some way,” Vander Gucht says. “Whether that’s Dazzle, which we wrote about gambling addiction, which is obviously a very isolating and lonely world. Songs like The Rain and Landslide are about being on your own. All We Do is about being on your own and not aspiring towards anything greater than your inhibited viewpoint, lost in monotony. But then a lot of the songs are also about being there for someone, about showing that you have their back. The whole album is kind of a conversation between two characters – one who is feeling really lonely and fearful, and the other character who is saying that they’re still there holding their hand.”
BY ADAM NORRIS
