5 things you need to know about Deaf Havana's new album 'Rituals'

Deaf Havana’s new album isn’t what you’re expecting from the previously rock focused five piece. Determined to go where their creative muse takes them, their new album ‘Rituals’ is an explosion of pop colour. Here, frontman James Veck-Gilodi tells us five things we need to know about the band’s brave new era.

‘Rituals’ was deliberately a quick follow up to previous album ‘All Those Countless Nights’

“It came together really quickly,” explains frontman James Veck-Gilodi, “because previously we’d taken four years between ‘Old Souls’ and ‘All These Countless Nights’, and I just did not want to risk that again. Everything’s so fast-paced now, I didn’t want to leave people waiting.”

“I understand why fans might be taken aback by it,” James confesses. “The only thing that’s changed is the instrumentation. I’ve always written songs in a pop format, verse chorus verse chorus middle eight chorus. It’s still got the same miserable lyrics; it’s still got the same lift in the choruses as I’ve always had. I think the only thing that’s different is that there’s more electronics. I’ve realised we have a keyboard player and we’ve never really utilised it.”

“I definitely wanted it to be different, but I didn’t realise it would be this different. In terms of the production, I remember listening to that Justin Bieber record when it came out. Although it’s Justin Bieber, some of the sounds they’ve got on this record are insane. A lot of it was experimental; we just sort of tested how weird we could go before it became ridiculous.”

“A lot of the lyrics are about, although I’m not religious, what could be perceived as sin. Some of its semi-fictional, I’ve elaborated a bit, but the way I’ve treated people in the past was a big subject matter on this record. I like playing with the idea of them being sins and the record was like a confession.”

“I think people can dance to the record, which couldn’t be said of our previous stuff. I think that’s part of the reason I wanted to get it out in the summer as well, that’s something that we’ve never done. It’s always been winter records and misery. But even though the lyrics are miserable, some of the songs are quite upbeat, so I think it might be cool at festivals.”

“I definitely wanted it to be different, but I didn’t realise it would be this different. In terms of the production, I remember listening to that Justin Bieber record when it came out. Although it’s Justin Bieber, some of the sounds they’ve got on this record are insane. A lot of it was experimental; we just sort of tested how weird we could go before it became ridiculous.”