In many ways Darwin Deez in the quintessential indie musician. He's quirky and comes across as odd at times, but is also hugely open and introspective about his work and methods. He explores themes of love and sorrow, hope and despair, but fills his shows with choreographed dances and talks about his emotions matter-of-factly.
His self-titled debut, released in 2010, was a relatively lo-fi affair, made with the intention of showcasing Darwin's songwriting above all else. Songs For Imaginative People, released this week, sees the musician demonstrating more advanced production techniques, and his new found ability to play all six strings on a guitar. But it's still very much a Darwin Deez record.
You’re pretty into your existentialism. Was Songs For Imaginative People a bit of an exercise in philosophy for you?
Well, I've got a couple songs that are more philosophy than emotion on the record, and ‘Constellations’ on the last one was pretty philosophical, although I think it kind of slipped past most people, I don't know, I guess I feel it didn't start an discussions.
Do you aim for your music to start discussions?
I just feel so turned on and excited by existential thought, and also by rock music, and so I dunno I guess it's kind of an awkward thing to share through a song, I think philosophical ideas are kind of an awkward thing to relate to as a listener, but you've got to try and I don't know how people take it. I guess the thought is that it's something I would be excited by and would relate to in a song. I'm all for it.
What would you pick out as the key themes on Songs For Imaginative People?
In the first five songs there’s kind of an whole progression through a love relationship. The first track ‘(0800) Human’ is basic existentialism, and ‘You Can't Be My Girl’ is about when you first meet somebody and describes that situation of first impression and being attracted and repulsed at the same time. Then the third song is about moving forward in that relationship, and skipping forward to the end of a relationship that used to be good but has gone really sour. The next song, ‘No Love’, fast-forwards again and is discussing the unsavoury parts of having just broken up with someone and seeing them and you're not talking, but you know each other way better than everyone else in the room knows each other. ‘Good To Lose’ is about enjoying being single.
The first half of the record is kind of a whole progression about being in love, and then the second half of the record is more of the same really. Track six is about love with someone that's far away. Track nine is about life in general with slightly broader strokes. The last song is kind of like a torch. It’s all about love.
Did you set out to do that? Was the progression through a relationship something you planned?
It wasn't you know, I was just trying to cover some different subjects and ended up sequencing it that way for musical purposes and then realised that, ‘Wow, they tell this whole linear story together’, and I thought that was kind of funny I don't know if anyone else will pick up on that but I liked it.
Watch the video for recent single 'Free (The Editorial Me)'
The first track on the album, ‘(0800) Human’, seems to deal with issues of what it is to exist. What’s it like to be Darwin Deez, as opposed to anyone else?
It's hard to put that into words. It's probably a case of 99% similarities and 1% difference. If I had to guess what the differences between myself and other people are I'd probably say - and I mean I'm not the only person like this - but I'm probably part of 10% who have a feeling of not fitting in and I think that’s why people become hipsters and that’s why they style themselves differently and kind of outlandishly, because on a deeply unconscious level they just don't believe that they're going to be able to fit in so they give up on that and think it will be easier to stand out. I think I’m probably one of those people and most people probably aren't like that. Most people feel that they're close enough to fitting in that they can swing it.
It's not something that I even feel, I don’t wake up and say, ‘I'm different'. It's just something I suspect is true of me and not of most people. My dad is a psychologist so that colours my perception on the world, he's also really into spirituality. One of the things that he's told me a couple of times - he's half black and half white, so that makes me a quarter black so I'm mixed race, even though you wouldn't necessarily know it because I look pretty white - but that my psychologist dad has always mentioned as a reason why I might have that feeling of being different on an unconscious level.
Do you think that musicians need to put more thought into their songs, or is there room for empty, meaningless tracks in the music scene?
I do like my formula I like the way that I do things and that involves lyrics that make a little more sense. But no one has a monopoly on creativity and there're plenty of fun things to be appreciated about other music. But, yeah, if I were running the world I would have people do things my way. I think if you just push yourself as a writer to just be a little bit clearer you can make something that is accessible and relatable as well as poetic.
Comparing the new record to your debut, it seems that you’ve grown more as a producer than anything else. How do you think you’ve changed?
One skill that changed since last year is I learnt to play a six-string guitar, because I used to just play a four string guitar and that was something I just became enamoured with so i spent a long time, probably about 500 hours, learning to play a six string. That's something that's changed.
My debut was all written and recorded on a four string guitar electric, at that time it was something I did to kind of freshen things up and make sure I’m sounding unique and different. Then I got so used to the chord shifts I’d discovered that I had to break out from that four string style again.
Watch the video for 'Radar Detector', taken from Darwin's first album
Do you feel that in the process of making this album you grew at all as a person simultaneously?
Well the thing that happened in my personal life was that I moved house for the first time since I was 19 – I’m 28 now - I guess one thing that I learnt about myself this year was how much I need my friends, because music is kind of my life and I'm very independent and I nurture it and I tend to lean on my music and independence. You have an innate ability to adapt to a world and then you lean on that. I came to Ashville and got my own house here and there would be a lot of times when I wouldn't see anybody for four days in a row. I can now recognise the sort of subtle sad feeling that creeps in when that happens. The best thing I've found to do is just to call up a friend and hang out. I learned how much I need connection with friends in the time I was making this record.
You seem to explore the dichotomy between hope and despair quite a bit on this record. Is that a contrast that you feel is part of your personality?
I don't know. I think I've been indoctrinated to have hope. Hope has a spiritual value to it, hope is encouraged in most religion. There’s a song about hope and despair called ‘It's All In The Wrist’, I think that as sad as I’ve got, what it says about me is that even at my sadness there's still a part of my brain that saying ‘No, this is a solvable puzzle’. I think at the end of that song that message is kind of repeating. Even out of despair things end up working out. When everything’s despair, your heart is broken, the song is saying ‘No, it's all in the wrist’. I think that's me.
I’ve had suicidal thoughts but I’ve got over them. Now when they come up I just recognise that they're part of my emotional cycle. There was a point when that really bothered me, but now you just recognise them and think it's sad that I'm thinking that but you know you're going to get over them.
Watch Darwin play 'It's All In The Wrist' live at XOYO
Are you a musician that prefers to write when you’re happy, or are you most creative when you’re down?
Here’s what I've observed in the last month. I go through a cycle of being busy with kind of logistical work, like admin stuff, and I'll take a few days off and just watch TV all day. And then right there, at the end of that cycle is when creativity happens for me. I'm composing in the shower or something and I’m like ‘Wow, the music's back’. Then I'll go back to taking care of logistics, doing the shopping setting up a bank account, that sort of thing. Watching TV all day is when I fully cut off and relax and it's right after that that I get that creative urge. I need a period of doing nothing to get myself ready to do creative things, and before that I need a period of being really busy doing other things. I need to be rushed to so I can have a period of doing nothing, and I need a period of doing nothing to feel creative.
You’ve got a reputation for putting on impressive live performances. What is it about you music that comes across so well in a live environment?
Well my first thought is that the rhythm guitar parts are really well synched up to the drums and the bass and I think when you're in a live venue the clarity of sound is always effected by that. You can’t really hear the words that I’m saying unless you already know them. I think having gaps in the music where the lyrics show up helps, and using different rhythm guitar patterns. If you listen to the first album the production controls the role of the guitar parts, but in a live venue you don’t have that control over production. I think also we're not afraid to show our humanity a bit on stage and that forms a bond with the audience.
You played at the last Glastonbury we had back in 2011. How was that?
To be honest I wasn’t in the mood for that show, not at all, but I don’t think anyone knew because it didn’t show. We only did about 30 minutes so it wasn't hard. But I really didn't want to do it.
Would you want to play the festival again, or are you done with it after that?
I’d definitely want to play it again. You can never predict what mood you're going to be in. I would do it every year if I had the chance. I hate to do things that I have to do, and have people telling me I have to do a show. I definitely felt that day that I was being told i had to do the show. And the person telling me that was not wrong, but it just felt a bit like going through the motions. But that's all part of it. People never get the impression that you don't want to do it. I speak to people afterwards and people tell you how great it was, because there's so much going on that you don’t notice the performers not enjoying it. I'd love to play Glastonbury again and really enjoy it.
Watch Darwn's live antics at Reading Festival
Darwin Deez' second album, Songs For Imaginative People, is out now.
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