INTERVIEW: Circa Waves
Photo by Katy Cummings
By Katie Leigh
Circa Waves’ new album is a unique one. The UK-based band is releasing their 4th studio album SAD HAPPY in two parts—the “happy side” will be available January 10, 2020 and the “sad” will be released on March 13.
We recently had the chance to speak with Circa Waves bassist Sam Rourke about SAD HAPPY.
Rourke says that the band decided to release the album in two parts early on: “It was during the recording process when we started to think about what this album was actually about and what the title should be. It became obvious that we wanted to talk about the see-sawing emotional extremes of life at the moment and the songs we recorded just fell into this clear pattern. Also, I think the idea of putting out these long albums every couple of years is slowly dying and this was the perfect time for us to experiment with new ways of getting music out there.”
The record’s first single, “Jacqueline,” is a positive and bright track that I think perfectly depicts the happy side of Sad Happy. Lines such as “good times, oh well, oh well, they’re coming ‘round the bend” set the mood for the whole album.
The music video, however, tells a different story. Set in a lavish mansion, an awkward-looking boy and girl get roped into a party-turned-horror movie. For Rourke, the creation of the video was more playful: “For me, it's just a great way to mess around with the song. We got this treatment from Theo the director and he'd cut together different conga and horror scenes to show us how it would work and it was amazing. After seeing that, we just had to make it.”
Other songs from the album, however, are not as cheery. For example, on the beautiful but chilling track, “Birthday Cake,” lead singer Kieran Shudall sings, “I feel like we’re growing old faster than what we were told.” This is what I think Circa Waves is trying to accomplish, though.
Life is full of both sad and happy scenarios and we must accept both of them with arms wide open. Rourke cites this concept of juxtaposed emotions as the main inspiration for the album: “We were in a hotel room flicking through the TV channels one day and seeing this almost endless list of death, destruction, and empty entertainment all on top of one another started to feel totally unreal. It wasn't long afterward that the album concept started to emerge in the recording process.”
When asked about his favorite song on SAD HAPPY, Rourke responded with “I'm the most proud of ‘Hope There's A Heaven.’ It has some of my favourite lyrics that Kieran has written and I think it's going to really surprise people when they hear it.”
The lyrics certainly surprised me in the best way possible.
“Why’d you have to go? I swear the best is yet to come. Why’d you have to go? The doctor gave you weeks or months.”
The song alludes to death but it’s filled with upbeat synths and has a fast tempo, which I believe ties back to the album’s theme of parallel emotions—happiness and sadness existing together.
SAD HAPPY is a refreshing and worthy listen. Sam Rourke describes the album as “the best thing [they’ve] ever done” and I would have to say I agree with him. The album is full of beautiful emotion and it is a step in the right direction for Circa Waves. I am excited to see them share this with the world!
You can look forward to listening to the first part of the album starting January 10th and, in the meantime, stream “Jacqueline” now.