Is there a process you follow or a place you have to been to start creating a song or, is it just when an idea occurs? What comes first, melody or lyrics?
Our writing process is pretty all over the place. Usually either Kieran or I will come up with a musical idea like a verse or a beat and we just keep adding to it until the song takes shape. The initial song idea is rarely collaborative but the final version of any of our songs is very much a representation of our combined input and production. For me I would say that almost 100% of my songs start as a musical idea that I add lyrics to afterward but I know that Kieran definitely gets lyrical and melodic ideas before writing any music. If you ever check the voice memo section of his iphone you’ll find a treasure trove of song fragments sung by what sounds like a crazy person.
Are the songs on the record real life tales or are there any particular stories you would like to share around any of the songs on the album?
I think the record is a combination of intensely personal experiences as well as some broader ideas that we extrapolated into songs. I’m not sure I have any particular stories to share but I will say that I think this record is very much about introspection and trying to find answers within you. I feel like in the past I would write songs as a way of telling friends or girlfriends what I really though about what they were doing with their lives. It was a way of pointing a finger or confronting them while still being able to hide behind the ambiguity of song lyrics. I wish they were as subtle as I thought they were...but they just ended up being angry and obvious (read: corny). To me the songs on Perpetual Surrender act more as an inner monologue or a way of working through self-doubt rather than being confrontational.
What was your first impression being in the studio to make you own record rather than playing on someone else’s album?
Excitement and terror. It was exciting because we were finally at a stage in our lives where we felt comfortable making music that meant something to us. For the first time we had the musical maturity and freedom to do exactly what we wanted to do. We were also in a beautiful studio with a producer (Roger Leavens) who gave us as much time as we needed to experiment and try out any silly idea we though of. Not having any time constraints was huge! No one was waiting for this record so we could just take our time and make music for music’s sake.
It was terrifying because once we finished the album it was ours to own and stand behind. We were no longer side men who could hide behind a band leader.
Why the name ‘DIANA’?
We were really into the idea of naming it a elegant woman’s name. Kieran’s partner Laurie came up with the name and it just seemed right.
How would you personally describe the band’s sound?
Mossy electronic pop music
Kieran and you met “while studying jazz at music college” What are your favourite Jazz albums and why?
There are way too many to name but I will give you three:
1) Coltrane, Ballads: Perfect song choices as well as the most unbelievably beautiful sax tone.
2) Wayne Shorter, Speak No Evil: Compositionally it’s a masterpiece
3) Count Basie, Live At
How did you come about landing on the Jagjaguwar label?
I had sent the album to Secretly Canadian right when it was done since I knew some people there through The War On Drugs. I didn’t hear back for a long while so I just assumed that they weren’t into it. Then one day out of the blue they got in touch and said that they had been listening to the album for the last month, loved it and wanted to talk about putting it out on Jag. Needless to say it was a very nice email to get.
How important do you think a record label is to a band these days with so many DIY options available?
I think that unless you have a lot of money and a lot of business savvy it’s extremely important. Never in a million years could we manage to do what Jag does for us while still managing to write, tour and record as a band. Having an amazing team of people who are taking care of the business/production side of releasing an album completely frees us up to focus on making music our priority. If we had to worry about everything that Jag has to worry about I can safely say that we would probably only release music on Bandcamp and Soundcloud.
What’s next on the horizon, now the album is done and dusted, itching to get back to the studio or enjoying life on the road?
After spending so much time in the studio actually getting to play the songs live has been a real treat. That being said I think that we are all really psyched to get back into the studio. The album was done over a year ago so for us these songs are getting old. We still love them and are constantly finding ways to make them new and exciting in a live setting ...but we have so many new song ideas that we want to record. We’re also really pumped to add Paul and Carmen to the writing process and see what happens there.
You are over in the
Honing our British accents (half kidding)
DIANA
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