On October 24th, Home Counties release their new album Humdrum. Coming a year after the excellent debut Exactly As It Seems, the band look to keep their momentum rolling. From touring all over Europe, landing on EA FC soundtracks, to dominating the mind of a music blog obsessed with oranges – the sky’s the limit.
From the singles released so far, the new album aims to hit the same heights of the debut, with a sound that’s just as varied but with more wisdom behind it. Produced by Al Doyle, the band utilised his vast range of keyboards and everything ever to create some serious earworms in the likes of lead single ‘Spain‘ and the more introspective ‘Meet Me In The Flat Roof’.
With only a few days to go, we had a chat with Will to discuss all things Humdrum. Thank you Will!
Hi Home Counties! How’s it going? Will: “It’s going well thank you! We’ve just got back from doing some dates in France and Belgium which were a lot of fun, and are now looking towards the album release and the UK tour. The schedule looks a bit mad, especially alongside us all working full time, but we’re very excited!”
Your new album Humdrum is out this week. What can you tell us about it? “We’re very happy it’s finally coming out. Although it’s only been a year since we recorded it, it always feels longer with the release cycle with a load of decisions being made about the artwork, videos etc. It’s a great feeling (and sort of a relief!) when it’s finally all pulled together and out there in the world.
We’re very proud of it. I don’t think it’s a dramatic departure from what we’ve done before, but is definitely an evolution from our last record, moving into slightly moodier and more melodic territory. Whilst being slightly more melancholic in parts, it’s still a proper fun record with some classic HC moments. It’s maybe just a bit more dynamic than anything we’ve done before, with higher highs and lower lows. We can’t wait to get on tour in November to play it live!”
It comes one year after debut album, Exactly As It Seems. Was that quick follow up something you always wanted to do? Was the new material ready to go? “We were very keen to start writing another record quickly as we had heard stories from other bands who didn’t and sort of lost momentum. Whilst there were a few older songs that we revived from years ago, most were written fresh in summer/early Autumn last year, ready for the 2 week studio stint in October. It was quite a different (and refreshing!) approach, in comparison to our debut, which was written and recorded over a much longer time. We had to be a bit more instinctive and trust ourselves on these ones, trying to not overthink and overdo them!”
What made you decide to choose ‘Spain’ as the lead single? “‘Spain’ was one of the first demos for ‘Humdrum’, which like ‘Bethnal Green’ for the last one, makes you naturally think of it as the first song people should hear. The early songs you write for a new project are like your own first impressions of the album, and are also often a creative springboard which leads you down different paths. ‘Spain’ is quite moody and melodic, but also strongly dance-orientated, which I think reflects a lot of this record’s sound.”
Humdrum seems to be more introspective than Exactly As It Seems, with a lot of feelings explored throughout its songs. Was that something that weighed on yourselves after experiencing the first album rollout? “‘Exactly As It Seems’ was very much an album about a set of experiences over a short period of time, the first year of moving to and living in London. ‘Humdrum’ is definitely less contained thematically and is not place-specific in the same way, looking at more universal feelings. I don’t think this shift is borne out of releasing the first record necessarily. Our lives haven’t changed all that much since ‘Exactly..’, but it would have felt sort of weird to do the same sort of social-commentary thing again, so I guess it was time to look inwards!”
The vocal duties between yourself and Lois play a big part in the Home Counties sound. Is it fun coming up with different dynamics and trading duties and harmonies? Is there a particular song that features your favourite vocals? “The interplay between mine and Lois’s voices is definitely something we thought about more on this album. We started to think about how we could use each of us to shape narrative, rather than just purely allocating parts on what sounds good. I think the opener ‘Take You Back’ is a good example of this – where me and Lois voice different characters in a song about miscommunication, creating a conversation lyrically. It’s something we’ve tried to do elsewhere on the album too, either to emulate conversations or voice multiple perspectives.”
What was it like working with Al Doyle? I feel a lot of the album reflects the early Hot Chip and LCD Soundsystem albums, and stylistically brings out the electronic side of your sound. “It was great! Al is a hero of ours. LCD and Hot Chip have been big inspirations for Home Counties since we started, so it was quite surreal being able to work with him. We wrote most of the record before we got in the studio, and it was already sounding more electronic than the last record. Al’s collection of synths and drum machines, and his immense knowledge on how to find unique sounds, was a game changer. It really elevated the sonic breadth of the electronic elements, especially if compared to what we did on ‘Exactly’, which was basically just one battered old Korg MS-20 and a Casio keyboard. Al was also great at helping us build dynamics in the longer dancier songs, like ‘When In Rome’ and ‘Meet Me In The Flat Roof’. We hadn’t really done songs like that before, so his input was great on how to build tension and keep things interesting!”
‘Cheeseball’ finally found its home on Humdrum. How long had it existed until that point? “Way too long! ’Cheeseball’ started as a demo that me and Dan made when we like eleven. We recorded it live in Dan’s shed with drums and guitar, and me singing very cringe lyrics in a very unbroken voice. Years later when I first started messing about on synths, I randomly remade it as this synth-pop thing, replacing all the guitars with ripping cheesy synths and removed the cringiest of the lyrics. It sat on our HC demo SoundCloud for years, never seeming fit for any of the EPs. It nearly got on ‘Exactly’ until we decided it wasn’t quite the vibe. When we came to writing ‘Humdrum’, with its heavily electronic instrumentals and some more tender moments, it felt like ‘Cheeseball’ finally made sense. We’ve finally got rid of it!”
You guys tour a lot, and perform all over Europe. Is there a certain country or festival you’ve enjoyed playing at the most? “We always enjoy playing in France. We played Transmusical last year at 3am to 3000 very drunk French people, which was probably the craziest gig we’ve ever done. The next day we played a tiny bar in Nantes, to about 30 people, which was equally great in a different way. We’ve been treated with such amazing hospitality regardless of the size of shows over there, and you feel like they really respect musicians. It’s been the same in Belgium and the Netherlands. The crowds are also so open-minded, turning up not knowing the band and really getting into it. We also recently drove 14 hours to play a festival in Switzerland and back the next day, which was a long but hilarious trip, playing on an outside stage amongst the Alps in the pissing rain. We have never received so much free food and booze, which resulted in us bringing Dan’s granddad on stage to play maracas and dance like Bez.”
And finally, what’s your favourite fruit? Pear was bigged up last time. Is that still top dog now? “I’ll have to find out from Lois if she still likes pears. I think pears are OK but nothing to write home about. Call me basic, but when they’re good you can’t beat an easy peeler (e.g. Sainsbury’s Taste the Basic or the M&S ones sold in service stations).”