Following the release of their highly anticipated second album, Defocus singer Simon Müller and guitarist Jeffrey Uhlmann spoke to us about the new record. there is a place for me on earth has the band taking the metalcore sound they established on the first album, and levelling it up with electronics and sometimes even hip-hop.
Going into your second album after the first was so well received, were there any nerves?
Yes of course! Writing and recording an album takes so much time, effort and creativity from you. After releasing our first record we were pretty relieved that we managed to finish such a big project and of course we were super happy with everything that we achieved with it. Going into the second record was (at least for me) a little bit scary, because everything I wanted was already in our first album and I didn’t want to do the same thing again. We’ve had lots of discussions about how we want our new songs to sound like and everyone had different a vision for that. (Jeff)
There are more electronic elements on there is a place for me on earth than your debut, where did the idea this come from?
We really wanted to embrace the vision and creativity of everyone in the band and made a record that still sounds like Defocus, but with a lot more openness and even more creative influences. To get out of our comfort zone, we didn’t start demoing with guitar riffs, but rather samples that we really liked and then we just built songs around that. This led to some of our favourite moments on the album, like ‘hybrid anthem which is super hip-hop influenced. (Jeff)
Lyrically the album feels a lot deeper and more intense than your debut, was this something that happened naturally or something that was planned?
I sometimes had that feeling that I write lyrics about politics or society, just to distract myself from the fact that there are a lot of personal things I’m avoiding to even think about. That’s why I chose to not pretend I’m fine and process everything that needed to be reflected and I’m so thankful for giving myself the time for this. Even though, it wasn’t easy. (Simon)
‘hybrid anthem’ into ‘…to not feel anything’ goes from a track that’s almost hip-hop to a track that’s almost techno song while still keeping metal at the centre. How did these tracks come together?
This was part of the process to be completely honest. As we thought about a potential tracklist, there was kind of a gap between the songs ‘hybrid anthem’ and ‘flatlines’ and that’s when we decided to write a transition for them. Funny enough, we basically kept the first idea for ‘…to not feel anything” as everyone was super content with it already. (Simon)
The title track feels destined to soundtrack a movie with its dark feel, how did you settle on that sound?
We personally love to listen to an album from start to finish, just like that artist initially intended. And we also love melancholic album closing tracks. It actually started with some random keys and a sample I was playing around with, that sounded like a rainy day on the beach. I was listening to a lot of Bonobo and Tycho before and it felt like it needed more of that electronic influence. Simon and Vojta (our producer) really liked this dark, ambient feeling and we wanted to see where it goes. After fleshing out the idea, we instantly knew that this perfectly serves our need for a melancholic closing track. During the whole album writing process we never really cared about what influence went into the songs, because it perfectly caught our feeling at that moment. (Jeff)
The album is full of breakdowns, how excited are you to play these songs live?
Hell yeah, can’t wait to see people go crazy over the last breakdown in ‘crooked mind’. (Jeff)
What inspired you going into recording there is a place for me on earth?
Lyrically it’s definitely about coping with personal issues and everything surrounding you, musically it’s about trying new things and just having fun. (Jeff)
Following the release of the album, what’s next for you as a band?
Of course, our main goal is to get out and play as many shows as possible and show the people our new album. We are working a lot in the background right now to make it happen! (Simon)
Read our review of there is a place for me on earth HERE
Stream/Buy there is a place for me on earth HERE
