Mystery Jets: "Getting some of those songs out was like an exorcism"

Mystery Jets are basically one of the bands of the year whenever that year has an album of theirs released in it. Because they're great, you see. 2016 has seen the release of their latest effort 'Curve of the Earth' - so here we are, nearing the end of December and pestering frontman Blaine Harrison about his previous twelve months, and what he's up to this weekend.

Hello Blaine! How are you today?

I’m very well thank you. I’m at Jets HQ today on Eel Pie Island have a big window in front of me and the river is bathed in a wonderful golden light. I’ve just finished a new song so I’m feeling rather bouncy.

How has 2016 been for you guys? Has it been a good year?

Ironically, it feels as if things have come together very nicely for us this year, we had a great summer of shows and a lot of fun touring either side of it. I say ironically because it feels like chaos everywhere else I look. I could go on about the madness that has been grating on us all but I feel actually people are very conscious of the world we are living in for a change. Maybe the purpose of music is not to comment on that but to provide an escape from it. Records are like books, if you believe in them, a whole new world opens up where anything is possible. We need to feel that kind of hope to see how to change the situation you've gotten ourselves into.

You released both an album and EP - were you pleased with how they were received? Did they open any new doors?

The release of Curve' came as a huge relief. We started writing those songs while we were still touring ‘Radlands' in America in 2013 so from start to finish it was over a three-year creative process. We amassed quite a substantial amount of material in that time and it wasn't until we invited Richard Formby (Wild Beasts, Spacemen 3) round to hear some music that he pointed out we were essentially already producing the album ourselves. We had an excellent co-pilot in Matthew (Twaites co-producer) and building the studio ourselves was essential in getting the sound that we were after. In the past, we've always been quite precious about holding back outtakes and tracks that didn't make it, but in this case, the songs that made up ‘The Whole Earth EP' were just as important to us as the ones that had made it onto the album. I think we played everything off both the Album and EP live at least once on tour.