London four-piece Delaire The Liar have spent the bulk of their 2021 building towards something big: a new EP release. With three taster tracks already out there on their new label Rude Records, and a UK headline tour not long wrapped up, frontman Ffin Colley stops by to tell us more about what they’re up to.
Hello Ffin! How are you lot at the moment? How’s the tour going?
We’re doing swell, thank you. Honestly, we couldn’t have asked for a warmer welcome back to live music and touring than this run with (the absolute loveliest) Vukovi and Press To Meco. The crowds have been super engaging and have shown us a huge amount of support every night. It feels amazing to be back at it.
What else have you been up to lately? You’ve not long released a few new singles, ‘Halloween’, ‘Furnace’ and ‘No Thanks’?
We’ve certainly been busy. Since signing to Rude Records and the rollout of those singles, we’ve been keeping our attention on the art surrounding everything to come. Our aim is to create a cohesive, common thread throughout these releases that ties a knot at the end. A place to cling on to, or release from.
They’re quite dark, aren’t they? What is it that drew you to those feelings?
There’s a line in The Chariot’s ‘In’: “We are all capable of love, we are all capable of cancer”. Whilst not a direct influence in the tracks, it really spurred an interest in the nuanced dynamic of human emotion and the depth of its capacity. The things we choose for ourselves and the things that are chosen for us aren’t separate; they’re inextricably linked. What interests us is exploring that and looking introspectively, how we have been affected and affect others with these choices. With as much honesty/objectivity as possible, trying to accept the darkness and light as something that resides in everyone: two sides of the same coin with unlimited potential and not necessarily something to shy away from.
Is that vibe present in a lot of your music at the moment?
Yeah definitely, it’s something we’ve been sinking our teeth into and developing for a while. This coming record is particularly focused on it, though.
You’ve got an EP coming up, right? What can you tell us about it?
It’s called ‘EAT YOUR OWN’. The title itself has a few different interpretations, whether it’s protecting what you have or sacrificing it despite yourself. Which all feeds back into the idea of duality that runs throughout the record. Lyrically it’s pretty fucking sharp and can be a little abrasive, but that’s not necessarily from a negative place. It just tries to be reflective without so much sentiment. Musically it certainly still falls under the umbrella of emo/punk, but we tried to challenge ourselves with its delivery. Each song performs its task in a targeted manner, but as a whole, we’ve tried to showcase our versatility and dynamism in our writing practice and our influences.
Were the featured tracks always intended for an EP release? How did you approach curating the tracklisting?
Yep yep! We had time over lockdown to really hone in and develop our writing style. Focusing on creating a body of work where we feel all of its moving parts are complimentary of one another. It took a little separating the old wheat from the chaff in our demo folder, haha, but we’re all super proud of the final product and its consistency.
What makes for a good Delaire The Liar song?
It’s got to be evocative and impassioned. The dynamics of the music and lyrics have to marry, sometimes in a way that involves compromise but ultimately for its benefit. and it will almost definitely involve me exasperated, face down and screaming into Chazzy’s floor for about a month until finally a good idea for a hook comes haha.
Is there anything else we should know?
There’s plenty more to come; 2022 is looking very exciting.
Taken from the December 2021 / January 2022 issue of Upset. Delaire The Liar’s EP ‘EAT YOUR OWN’ is out 10th December.
