Young Fathers have spoken to NME about their 2023 Mercury Prize shortlisted album ‘Heavy Heavy‘, playing with Depeche Mode and the “abundance” of ideas they have for their next album. Watch our interview with the band above.
Having already won the Mercury Prize back in 2014 for their debut album ‘Dead’, the Scottish trio of Kayus Bankole, Alloysious Massaquoi and Graham G Hastings find themselves nominated again for their 2023 fourth album ‘Heavy Heavy’ – a record they told NME was driven by “sense of togetherness”.
“When we were making the songs, we recorded a lot of music, and the thread that held all the songs together was this communal aspect,” said Hastings at the launch of the prize yesterday (Thursday July 27). “Strangely we recorded this in a studio in a basement with no windows, just the three of us. That helped us punch out of the room and make a record that sounded like a bunch of people being together.
“We were reacting in moments, rather than going down a typical songwriting avenue. We’ve known each other 21 years now, so we’re all very comfortable in telling each other if something is good or something is bad. We’re not shy and we can all be spontaneous. That’s all we wanted to lean into with this album. We didn’t really talk that much. If we did, maybe the album wouldn’t have been made. The talking comes out in the music.”
He added: “It wasn’t a planned thing. We just wanted to see what would happen. This is what happened.”
Admitting to a shared “telepathy” (which extended to the band wearing the same brown outfit colour scheme to the Prize launch without even discussing it) they also said that spirit joined them on stage, and has led to a blossoming number of fans going to see them live.
“More people are on board,” said Bankole. “You hear the music, but it actually has life when you see it live. As much as we can see through the recording process, being together, having this bond and telepathic communication where we don’t even have to speak in the studio – that translates on stage.”
Thousands would also have caught Young Fathers when they supported Depeche Mode at their huge Twickenham stadium gig last night. After Martin Gore hailed them as “just so different to everything else” when speaking to NME, the trio described the synth-pop icons as “chilled and very welcoming – and revelled in the challenge of performing at a such a huge for them.
“Aye, it was an experience – playing in front of a stadium full of people and some of them not really wanting to be there, but it was good,” said Hastings. “It was our first time playing to crowds like that. For us, it was just another notch. You go through something, and you realise the good and bad of something, and how to work it. We always leave the live show to be open for the spontaneity and things to happen.
“It’s a different beast, especially when you’re the support in a stadium and no one is really there for you. It took us back to how we always operated before when we were always playing to a wee crowd. How do you make an impact in 30 minutes with people who don’t know you?”
Being up against the likes of Arctic Monkeys, J Hus, Jessie Ware, Jockstrap, RAYE and Ezra Collective for the Mercury Prize, the trio concluded that there’s “no competition” really with all shortlisted acts already winners, but that you should “always bet on yourself”. Beyond that, the rest of the year offers more extensive touring for the band, with their sights set on making even more new music.
“Hopefully we’ll have time to enter the studio again and formulate these ideas that we’ve been grabbing from the air while we’ve been on the road,” said Bankole. “We have a lot of songs that we recorded during the process of ‘Heavy Heavy’, that we still think are great. Maybe we’ll be working with those too. There’s an abundance of ideas.”
Hastings added: “We all have multiple thoughts all the time about the next album. We’ve been enjoying working with a live band and more people and that sense of communality. It’s quite infectious so it could be something like that, or the complete opposite.
“Whatever will be, will be. As with this record, there was never an over-arching concept. We needed to just get back together in the studio and see if we could still do it. After two minutes we realised we could, so we kept going.”
The winner of the Mercury Prize will be announced at a live ceremony at London’s Eventim Apollo on September 7.