In Conversation With #258 - Current Affairs
Glasgow and Berlin based band Current Affairs have just released their debut album ‘Off The Tongue’ via Tough Love Records. Written from within the world of crumbling services, broken bonds and wounded spirits, their debut album 'Off the Tongue' rolls off an ecstatic rage, filled with hope for you, them and everyone else.
‘Off The Tongue’ is ten short, sharp bursts, written in pieces over a long time and distance, but fully formed in the instant of the recording room across just a few days by producer Ross McGowan at Chime Studio. Current Affairs’ song-writing process has always been collaborative. Songs are developed responsively, with each of the band’s members sending/bringing elements or hooks to each other, but practices being the place where the songs flesh out, structure and are fully realised. These new songs feel a little brighter than their previous offerings, yet still hold true to their propulsive and caterwauling sound. Still embryonic in the most exciting way that that can be. Current Affairs’ music straddles new-wave pop and gothic post-punk in the way that you should expect a Glasgow-Berlin band to do so: with grit and panache.
The band took a moment to talk to us about how the album came together.
Hey there Current Affairs - how are you? So your album is out now - how does it feel to have it out there in the world?
Ymai: Feels good. The album was recorded in parts and nearly finished in May 2021, so the anticipation has been brewing for quite some time.
Andrew: It's a landmark for us and I think it’s a great record, so I’m really pleased and proud of us. Hope people are into it, and I kinda know they will be, but it feels like a great achievement either way.
Joan: I’ve never been in a band that managed to get to a second 12” vinyl outing (our first was a compilation called Object & Subject in 2019), so it feels like an accomplishment in and of itself. It’s a little scary…and exciting to be putting something out that you’ve not had the chance to play to people, but like Andrew I’m brimming with confidence/delusion.
It is called ‘Off the Tongue’ - what is the meaning behind that?
Ymai: It’s a reference to the phrase “roll off the tongue.”
Joan: Which is both a joke and sort of true – it took an age to finish, but the actual coming together of the songs and lyrics at the end was very natural and quick.
Where was it recorded? Any behind the scenes stories from the creative process you are happy to share with us?
Ymai: We recorded it at chime studios with Ross McGowan. Because of lockdown we used the few open frame times we were able to gather, to write and eventually record. It was like putting a puzzle together. Very compartmentalised, from home demos we would send each other to then try them out at the rehearsal room to then record them. For a while only the basic instrumentals were all we had and until we could gather again and do vocals and overdubs, nobody knew really what the songs would sound like. It was really fun when Joan did the vocals, the rest of us were in the other side of the recording booth laughing because it was so startling.
Joan: Once I realised they were giddy laughing and not rinsing me, it was fun for me too. Everyone started joining in with ideas for backing vocals and tweaks which made for a really lovely couple of days with us all in our elements as a group.
What are the key themes and influences on the album?
Ymai: For me, I really wanted to make a record that sounded less like more songs piled together. We had been doing so many sporadic singles and I wanted that period to culminate in an album. That meant that there’d probably be a departure (that very, very few people would really notice tbh) but that also meant for a nice new start.
Joan: A fresh start for sure. It’s been a pretty shitty few years for so many people and I’d hope that the different songs on the album can let you burn that world down and push for or remind you of something better. Let your inner brat sing out and have a dance with her for a little while.
If the album could be the soundtrack to any film - which one would it be and why?
Ymai: The Little Mermaid if The Little Mermaid was dubbed in Mexico, pirate copied and with a fag as a protagonist. With a squeeze of basement stench.
Joan: I think it would suit a Gregg Araki film like The Doom Generation. Something lurid, saturated and full of teenage angst.
Do you have a favorite lyric on the album - if so, which one and why?
Ymai: ‘Out of all the wreckage, I’d keep the cannonball’ or ‘you turn everything into nothing - yeeew, yeeww’.
Andrew: Joan sure has a way with words, but my fave is from Get Wrecked - "Out of all the wreckage I’d keep the cannonball", I think that's a brilliant visual trigger that is not only emotive and quite funny but kind of transports you – it’s the first line in the song - and straight away you're in the song's world. What a great metaphor as well delivered with real defiance... and I'm not 100 on exactly what Joan is conjuring up, but for me it feels like destruction can be beneficial. You might need to completely rip it up and start again.
Joan: Andrew got that in one. The lyrics on Her Own Private Multiverse are probably most important to me because it’s about having some self-compassion and feeling good about yourself. That’s probably the sentiment I’d most want to pass over to someone listening, although you’re welcome to rage with me on one of the other songs too.
Now the album is out there - what next?
Ymai: Remember how the hell all these guitar parts went, all the infamous middle eights and of course do the album justice. I’m joking, hopefully a smooth fun tour and meet new faces.
Andrew: We will be pounding the pavement, pleasing the provinces and bringing the songs to the UK with an 11 date tour! Come see us!
Joan: Lots of ginger tea to de-rust my vocal chords in time for tour and hopefully make some new friends and hear some good music along our way.
