Continuing their quest to bring experimentation and ambition back to pop music, Everything Everything’s third album Get To Heaven is released on 22 June. They head out on a full UK tour in the autumn and play various festivals, including Leeds, this summer.
Sonically what can we expect from Get To Heaven and how has it moved on from Arc?
Frontman Jonathan Higgs: It’s more energetic and hopeful sounding, angrier, brighter and more colourful. It’s very much more ‘alive’ than before.
Lyrically Arc tackled some dark subjects. Is Get to Heaven born of a happier place?
In a sense yes, the album comes from a more alert place, more “switched on” sounding and less passive. Get To Heaven is slightly less personal and tackles more themes about the world.
Is the contrast between polished pop and primal sounds and brutal lyrics in Distant Past designed to unsettle listeners and is that representative of the album?
Yes, we’ve always been a band to combine light and dark, or pop and non-pop. If we have a bright sounding pop song like Distant Past then you can be sure we would never match the lyrics to that feeling, as we think that’s too easy and too one-dimensional. It’s always far more interesting and exciting to have a contrast between the music and the message, or between different styles or attitudes in the music. For example, a sad sounding song with a sad meaning is very boring, and vice versa.
When you emerged there was a lot of talk of a new breed of intelligent pop. Do you think the musical landscape has become more thoughtful and complex since then?
Not really. There have always been bands making complex music and there are some today. The mainstream is still mostly shit on the whole. It will always be!
Are you excited about festival season?
Yes, we love festivals. We’re excited to return to Australia to play Splendour in the Grass. It was amazing last time and we can’t wait to get back down under.
ANTONIA CHARLESWORTH
Leave a reply
Your email address will not be published.