Part 2

Many writers have claimed that as soon as they enter into the process, certain aspects of the narrative are out of their hands. Do you like to keep strict control or is there a sense of following things where they lead you?

Carmody: I think Tal and I both share the belief that it’s good to have a balance of both.

I think we felt in control in terms of wanting the songs to work acoustically and recording them live with a band. But when we were in Wales the band would suggest different things, particularly with ‘Friends in the Clouds’ and my vocal delivery and, although it was difficult to get my head round a first, their thought to sing it almost like a whisper brought a totally new quality to the music and I felt like it changed the direction of the song for the better.

It’s also been great working on two music videos with a little team who interpret the songs slightly different and take the music and visuals to a new, exciting direction that brings it alive again for us.
 
There are many descriptions of the creative state. How would you describe it for you personally? Is there an element of spirituality to what you do?

Tal: This is a really important side to music for me. I studied jazz for a significant period of my life and that process for me was all about learning. But when it comes to performing, it's about letting go. You have access to so much more when you’re not trying to control everything.

There’s a spiritual element to this and it opens connections to the people around you and the deepest parts of yourself. I see it as allowing yourself to become part of nature, there’s so much order and complexity in the world but there’s an element of surrender. So for that early stage of writing, I try to have the same approach.

Then after that there’s editing and shaping whilst trying to retain the initial energy.
 
Once a piece is finished, how important is it for you to let it lie and evaluate it later on? How much improvement and refinement do you personally allow until you're satisfied with a piece?

Tal: I think it’s a feeling, you know when it’s done. For these songs we were trying to not sit on any part of the process for too long though. We wanted to keep it fresh and exciting for ourselves. Carmody was also pregnant whilst we were recording so we had a deadline to finish production by the time she gave birth!

I think as I progress in life and my musical journey, I’m learning to trust my instincts and execution more and more. I think any part of the process involving editing, refinement can be part of the flow state too.

I think finding your people helps massively too because you develop a language and trust and work towards the same goals harmoniously, although it's definitely good to have varied perspectives through the process.
 
In terms of what they contribute to a song, what is the balance between the composition and the arrangement (including production, mixing and mastering)?

Tal: Recording ‘Friends In The Clouds’ was really interesting.



We had written the song just guitar and vocals, with me playing drums a bit whilst writing. The recording and production choice in the studio really shaped how this song came to be. We ended up playing incredibly quietly and used compression etc to get the intimacy in the recording.

The energy of how we wrote the song changed quite significantly from to how it was recorded and you need an open mind for this. When we started recording, I had Nick Hakim as a reference in my head, his guitar playing and voice can have such an intimate quality and he lets all of the noises of his instrument sing through, which I love.

I love roughage and all the ‘imperfections’ of a recording.



There’s so many micro-details and choices within all of these stages which contribute to the final result of a recorded piece of music but all stages need to serve the song. For this album, the most important thing was the sound and feeling of people together in a room. I think it's fun and exciting to enhance that through production, that's what can also take you out of your day to day whilst listening.

For me there’s an element of ‘quality control’ for me in each stage, it just makes the next stage more fluid. If it's a well written song that stands on its own, there’s less friction when making recording choices and so on. I think getting the sonic identity in the studio and then enhancing in the production stage is my preference, rather than getting a bland recording and trying to make its identity in post production.

I'm also aware of not leaving or making technical problems for the next stage so people can be more fluid and creative with their parts. But also, you often need to be messy whilst being creative! You’re sort of trying to carry and enhance this ball of energy from the start to finish.
 
After finishing a piece or album and releasing something into the world, there can be a sense of emptiness. Can you relate to this – and how do you return to the state of creativity after experiencing it?

Tal: I definitely have in the past.

I think in more recent years I’ve been trying to have the perspective that you're documenting parts of your life experience and it's only natural to then move on to the next thing. Seasons and cycles are part of the natural world and the same applies for us in creativity and music, starting and finishing projects.

I think nowadays once you finish the music, you then have to put your energy into releasing it which can take away from creating, so that's something I'm juggling at the moment. I'm really feeling like I need to get back to writing so I'm just warming myself back into it to get excited about music by learning some songs that I love and making space to play without any pressure.
 
I would love to know a little about the feedback you've received from listeners or critics about what they thought some of your songs are about or the impact it had on them – have there been “misunderstandings” or did you perhaps even gain new “insights?”

Carmody: What I always find interesting is how often people interpret the songs to be about love or a break-up.

‘All I can do’ is often thought of as a break up song, but this was never our intention. One person messaged us to say how it became the theme tune to a romance that was wonderful, but ephemeral, and that they carry the song with them as a memory of that time.

I think it’s beautiful how songs metamorphosize into something new when they reach someone and, in turn, we start to see the song differently too.
 
Creativity can reach many different corners of our lives. Do you personally feel as though writing a piece of music is inherently different from something like making a great cup of coffee? What do you express through music that you couldn't or wouldn't in more 'mundane' tasks?

Tal: I guess all creative acts have the potential to transport someone. What I love about Japanese culture and parts of Shintoism, the belief that spiritual powers exist in the natural world, is that you get craftspeople in Japan who spend their lives honing a craft and understanding the spirit of what they're dealing with.

There's so much depth and potential in everything around us, it depends what you resonate with and how open we are to experiencing and expressing those things.

I was talking to my partner about cooking on this topic. I’ve realised it's a bit of a love language for me and also something I’m constantly thinking how to get better at when doing it. So I guess in that sense I’m expressing something, creativity, my voice and essentially love through food.

Maybe someone who has put the same amount of energy as I have into music, into their respective craft would express who they are, the history of the craft, a feeling, innovation.