As they continue to touch hearts hitting home with relatable lyrics, London's soulful art-pop duo HONNE are back with the final sneak peak of their new album 'Ouch'.
Singer-producer Andy Clutterbuck speaks about the inspiration for newest single 'Say That You Will Wait For Me', which relates to his long-distance relationship with his wife. "We've been together for 20 years and for a lot of that time, we've always been in long-distance relationships, like at uni, when we're on tour, or she moved to Japan for six months when HONNE was first starting.
"So we've always had these little periods of time where we've not been together. 'Say That You Will Wait For Me' is just a continuation of that topic. I think because it's constantly happening, but I've had two kids since we released any music last time. So, there's just more to miss when we do go away."
With the song having being reworked in the studio countless times, Andy and band mate producer James Hatcher struggled to get across the perspective changes between verses before enlisting singer-songwriter Liang Lawrence to collaborate on the track.
"Liang was someone that we just found when we were looking for someone to sing with us on tour," James says. "We like it if they've got their own artist project, so that we can give them the opportunity to support as well. Having been in a band in the early stages, we know what it's like, like how expensive it is to do support slots.
"It definitely made everything lift [in the song] because of the type of voice she's got. For her verse, it's really smooth and front and centre, but then in the choruses, it means that it can go behind Andy's vocal really nicely and make the chorus go really wide and feel big and elevated, whereas before, it was a little bit more two-dimensional in a way."
For the accompanying music video, Andy shares how they decided to film their own clip. "The whole idea came around very quickly," he says, "and it was, I'm not going to say a rush job because that doesn't make it sound very good. It was a very spur of the moment.
"I've always wanted to do a music video where I've been running. So we decided to film and lip sync the words to the song whilst running. James was basically the cameraman for the whole time in the back of our manager's car, and we found a road, ran down it. I sang the song. It was raining. It was windy."
With the anticipation for their new album growing with every release, Andy speaks about the overarching themes that tie each song together, focusing on the theme of "life's so good until it's gone".
"During the last few years, I've had two kids. So [the album] mostly covers becoming a father, some of the troublesome times that we've had, me and my wife, like childbirth. There's been some tricky moments, but equally, there's been some fantastic moments as well – and it covers the ups and downs of that whole process, and it also looks to the future.
"So there's some messages, like, to my kids in the future when they know how to speak, which they're starting to already, which is kind of scary, and there's also a build up to the point that I met my wife.
"I think overall the feeling that our albums deliver, like, historically, have always been positive, and I think that is still the same, like, even though we're touching on some more dramatic moments during this album, I think there's still an overriding feeling of positivity."
Without a doubt, HONNE have fostered more than just a fanbase, they've fostered a community. "It's just nice to be visible again and putting music out and we're really trying to connect with our fans more. I think everyone really appreciates being seen and being heard."
Teasing a little bit more for their Australian fans, James adds: "We love you. We love you, and we'll be coming back to Australia at some point. We will. We're planning it now. So keep your eyes peeled."
'Ouch' is released 6 September, 2024. Pre-order it.
