Since interviewing the band back in October, in earnest have released their self-titled debut EP and have been busy writing new music at home as the UK entered its third lockdown. The Southend-on-Sea indie trio are back with two brand new singles 'your dog/good boy' a beautiful tribute to their dogs. Recorded entirely at home by front-couple Sarah and Tom, the track provides a personal reflection on the love we have towards our pets, with stripped back instrumentals and delicate vocals. I caught up with the band to discuss their brand new singles and the reaction towards their debut EP, in addition to their work as ambassadors for the mental health charity 'My Black Dog'.
Hi in earnest, how have you been since we last spoke back in October?
Hey! We’ve been good, although it has been slower paced since the lockdowns again. We are missing rehearsing with Toby mostly!
You released your self-titled EP last year, what was it like to finally debut your EP
into the world?
It was a long time coming as we’d had the first EP in the works for about 2 years before releasing it, but it definitely gave us the bug for releasing more stuff! We feel it was a big step towards chasing the kind of sound that we want ‘in earnest’ to have.
Were there any songs from the EP that seemed to be firm favourites among your listeners?
For some reason, everyone loves ‘fables’ and we’re not entirely sure why! We didn’t release that song as a single, so it’s lovely to get feedback about an EP track that was so unexpected.
You are back with two brand new singles ‘your dog’ and ‘good boy’, what can you
tell us about the meaning behind the songs?
The first track is written about our dog Murph and all the questions we would ask her if she could talk. The second track is about our other dog Doug who passed away about a year ago and discusses the topic of grieving for a pet.
What has been Murph’s reaction to the singles?
She’s being very modest about the whole thing! We keep telling her she has a whole release based around her and that she features on the tracks but she’s doing what she does best - being in the moment.
Is there a reason why you decided to release the singles together rather than separately?
As they are two songs about our dogs, they just felt like they went together as a pair. We knew we wanted to do double vocals on both of them and have them sound similar sonically, so I guess it just felt right to have them be released together. One deals very much with happiness, and the other sadness, so they have this great duality between them.
You recorded both singles during lockdown, what was it like recording at home
compared to a studio setting, and was it difficult to work remotely with Toby who
features as the violinist in your band?
At first, we actually tried to record the songs at the studio where Tom works but they didn’t have the intimate feeling we wanted. So we made a very simple setup at home in our lounge and it was very relaxed, with absolutely no pressure at all to get ‘the right take’. Murph just wandered around while we played the songs and I think that homely feel comes across in the recordings. Ordinarily we would’ve had Toby come over and play in the room with us, but with the restrictions we had to work remotely. It was quite fun though as we never really know what Toby is going to add to the tracks (sometimes we don’t even know what instruments he will record!) so it’s always a nice surprise when he put his finishing touches on the songs.
Will ‘your dog/good boy’ feature as part of a larger project? Are there any plans to
release another EP or possibly an album?
‘your dog / good boy’ is just a standalone project really, so it won’t feature on a larger body of work. Last year we recorded a second EP but we didn’t feel we wanted to put it out just yet, so the two dog songs felt like a nice project to occupy us until EP2 comes (hopefully in the autumn!)
When writing ‘your dog’ and ‘good boy’ did you (Tom & Sarah) discuss how you
would relate the two songs, or was it the case that you wrote the songs separately
without a specific theme or concept in mind?
Tom wrote ‘your dog’ about a year ago while he was sitting on the floor with Murph. And then about six months ago I (Sarah) kept thinking about an old song that I had written years ago after we adopted Doug - I liked the song but it never truly felt finished, so I revisited it. I wanted to do Doug’s memory justice and since losing him I now had a different perspective to explore lyrically. So the writing of ‘good boy’ was spurred on by ‘your dog’ being finished.
What would you say is the main difference between the new singles compared to your
previous work?
I would say that we weren’t afraid to strip things right back to basics. The first EP was very much an exploration of what sound we wanted, whereas the dog songs were just very song-focused and we did whatever we had to do to make the meaning of the songs shine through. The production of the new singles is very much simplified compared to normal, and we did a lot more stuff in-house - we recorded everything by ourselves and Tom was the mixing engineer!
Are there any plans to release visuals for the singles?
We are currently working on some video ideas for both of the singles - you’ll have to keep an eye out for them!
Your music is known for initiating honest discussions about topics concerning
mental health, and you are proud ambassadors of the mental health charity ‘My Black
Dog’. Could you tell us a bit about the charity and their work?
My Black Dog is currently the UK’s only online peer-to-peer chat service that is run by volunteers who have experienced mental illness of some kind themselves. Being able to talk to someone who has been through those difficult times too is such a valuable asset, and they do some incredible work. We hope to be supporting them for a long long time!
What do you have planned for 2021? Do you plan to do any live-streamed gigs?
We’re not really planning on doing too many live streams - we would love to be doing real gigs but I think that dream is a little way off yet. As well as the two singles and EP2 in the works, we are using this year to be as creative as possible. We’re writing lots of new material and hoping to demo it all - otherwise, we’ll mostly be sitting at home sharing videos of Murph on social media!
What advice would you give to someone who may want to start writing music in lockdown? Do you have any tips for new songwriters?
Just write. Even if it isn’t very good at first, you have to flush out the dirty water from the tap and soon it will run crystal clear! Also find what works for you - I personally feel lyrics brewing for a while and it will all come spilling out in one sitting, whereas Tom can come up with an idea for a song and sit on it for months, even years before sitting down to try to write a complete first draft. Having that distance between concept and creation can give you time to ruminate on your subject matter and help you decide what you’re really trying to say with the song.
Could you recommend some music for our readers? What songs/artists are you loving
at the moment?
The ‘Go Father In Lightness’ album by Gang Of Youths is permanently playing in our house lately. We’ve also recently discovered an artist called Keaton Henson who you HAVE to check out - you can thank us later!
Check out in earnest's brand new double single 'your dog/good boy' in the link down below!
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