Vyvyd is out now.
Italian psych band New Candys have just emerged with their new album, Vyvyd – a record boasting otherworldly themes and sounds. Personified by religious, pagan and archetypal symbols, Vyvyd explores the contradictions of light where good/God is up against evil.
Across ten tracks, New Candys immerse their listeners in a haze of fuzzy guitars and foreboding rhythms. To celebrate the record’s release, we caught up with the band to chat about how they’re travelling amidst COVID, how they perceive their own music and a future Australian tour they have in the works.
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The pandemic has made it super tough for the global music industry, and it has forced many of us to rethink and reimagine what we are doing. How has the band been going through it all? Has it impacted New Candys’ creative output?
It was a really bad period for everyone this last year and a half. We had to postpone the release of the album, delete a Canadian tour and now wait until December to start the first tour in Europe and then North America and Australia in 2022.
Basically we erased 18 months from our lives as musicians. We couldn’t practice so we haven’t been able to work together on new music much, the only benefit of the pandemic was that we had more time to finish our mixes and our promo material.
There’s no denying the specialty of psychedelic rock as a genre. It’s not superfluous or excessive and always hits the right note when done well. How would you describe New Candys’ slant of psych music?
When we think about the word psychedelic in relation to us, the things that come to mind are some long instrumental outros that we have in some songs, or when we have parts that can act like a mantra when you listen to them. If we’re included in the so-called “psych rock” scene that’s cool for us, but it is not something we’re targeting on purpose, we’re just concentrating on sounding as contemporary and personal as possible.
Your fourth album is now with us, Vyvyd. Tell us a bit about the release and how it differs from your past records?
It’s the first record by the new lineup, so it’s like a debut album in some ways. We wanted to give the album an ancient feeling, playing with the meaning of good/God and evil, and mix these symbols together in an imaginary world, kind of like creating a mythology. Everything can be found in the music, lyrics and artwork… with those three inputs you can get your own result.
Musically speaking, we wanted to push the boundaries of a “classic” four-piece band with two guitars, bass, vocals and drums by adding synthesisers, electronic loops or drum machines. All these elements were new for the band and it’s been exciting, it felt fresh and right, a natural evolution.
A lot has happened in the world since your last album, including the global pandemic of course. Describe the journey to writing and recording Vyvyd?
Vyvyd was written differently than our previous records. Some early demos that Fernando [Nuti] recorded on his own started when the lineup was changing, so they couldn’t be practiced and played with the full band until Alessandro [Boschiero] joined in June 2018. From that point on we started to work together and develop those demos and jammed other songs until we were all happy.
We’re lucky because Andrea [Volpato] owns Fox Studio, that’s where we practiced and recorded the album and we had to do it in between tours so it took us more recording sessions to have enough songs ready. We finished recording and mixing the record right before the pandemic hit, then Tommaso Colliva finalised the mixes.
What do you hope listeners will get out of the album?
That they can escape reality for some time and enjoy the journey, we love when listeners make the album their own, interpreting the songs sometimes differently than how we perceive them.
You most recently toured Australia in 2018, and will be looking to return here in 2022. Through the likes of King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Pond and ORB, Australia has been experiencing its own psych rock ascent. What is your connection to Australian music?
Our biggest connection with Australia are Melbourne band The Baudelaires. We toured the country with them and loved the experience. They are great friends and a brilliant band, their album Musk Hill is amazing and we can’t wait for their new LP to come. Speaking about Australian music, we really like The Vines, Tame Impala’s early records, Andrea likes Pond, and Alex is into Nick Cave and The Saints.
For those who haven’t seen New Candys perform, what can music lovers expect from your live show?
We like to be as heterogeneous as we can when it’s time to perform live, playing different kinds of songs to vary the mood, ranging from energetic to some more dreamy and atmospheric moments.
Vyvyd is out now. Give it a spin here and find out more about New Candys at their website.
