More about: Babeheaven

Over four years after introducing their soulful, trip-hop flirting, dream-pop infused musical project to the world in the form of the dreamy single ‘Friday Sky’, Babeheaven is finally bringing us their gorgeously honest and personal debut full-length Home For Now.

After having had their US tour postponed earlier in the year due to the coronavirus pandemic, the West London duo made up of lifelong friends Nancy Andersen on vocals and Jamie Travis on instruments and production, refocused and found themselves spending lockdown channelling their energy into recording and perfecting their much-anticipated debut album. Having teased us with singles such as ‘Craziest Things’ and ‘Cassette Beat’ during the summer and autumn, the duo continued to showcase their multifaceted yet coherent musical pallete and kept us on our toes in anticipation.

Despite having been finished at a time when many of us were more or less confined to our own homes for a foreseeable future, Home For Now is not, in Nancy Andersen’s own words, “a whole album about us being stuck indoors for four months”. Having been crafted for four years rather than four months, the album is very much full of life and can be described as a patchwork of the relationships, good as well as bad, that have entered, accompanied, exited and shaped Nancy Andersen and Jamie Travis' lives.

The introductory strings on opening track ‘November’ paint layers that captures the listener in a warm and welcoming soundscape. The track, initially released on the duo’s 2019 EP Circles, will sound familiar to fans, but will also kindly embrace anyone else that may come in its way. Continuing the musical journey with ‘Human Nature’, a song about Nancy Andersen’s personal struggles with Instagram comparison, comes the introduction of the band’s signature combination of soft yet prominent drumbeats, melodic guitars and hazy vocals. Combined with lyrical themes that are frank and thoughtful all the way from the start of the album through to the end, Home For Now is both lyrically and sonically a perfect balance of personal and relatable.

The album continues in a way that feels much like floating through layers of fuzzy cotton, gently it moves you forwards and backwards and sometimes rocks you from side to side. The 14 tracks that make up the album nicely tie together and blend into each other, with contrasting elements of pure clarity shining though at times, like the vocal harmonies on the track ‘How Deep (Love)’ or the upbeat Massive Attack-esque production on ‘Jalisco’.

In these times of turbulence and uncertainty, Babeheaven’s debut album Home For Now offers a much needed sense of calmness and warmth. The band has said that they “really wanted the listener to be able to feel the world around them, even if they were just in their living room”, and whilst listening to the album through living room speakers we can confirm that they have accomplished just that.

Home For Now arrives 20 November via AWAL.

More about: Babeheaven