We head into the studio with ROLO TOMASSI, at work on album six.
Expect more ambience and beauty from Sheffield’s post-hardcore beloveds this time – and some fat fucking riffs
ROLO TOMASSI HAVE become inimitable. In the three years since their magnum opus, Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It, none have emulated the album’s dynamic post-hardcore. In creating full-length #6, the luminaries not only have to one-up their masterpiece, they must do so with singer Eva Korman stuck in the USA thanks to COVID. Luckily, being 4,000 miles apart has only amplified their perfectionist tendencies.
What are we getting, when are we getting it and what should we expect? James Spence (keys/vocals): “The first single, Cloaked, is already out. We’re gonna release a couple more singles later this year, as well as the album title and when it’s gonna be released. In terms of what to expect, it takes what we enjoyed about the last record and pushes it to the limit. I think there’s a lot more space for melodic moments. There’s a lot of piano and sparse moments as well. With every record we do, we ramp up the contrasts; that’s true more than ever on this album.”
Cloaked has such a meaty, djenty guitar tone. How representative is that of the rest of the album? James: “It’s definitely representative of the production. The record sounds really big and dense. I think it’s the first time Nathan [Fairweather, bass] and Chris [Cayford, guitars] tuned down to, like, C or B. That riff was one of the first things Chris wrote for the record and we knew that’s the single, even in the early stages: ‘Don’t change anything! We need to lead with something like that!’ As heavy and djenty as it is, there’s a definite pop structure to it.
It’s indicative of so much of the rest of the record, but there’s so much breadth to what we’ve done.”
One of the best things about Time Will Die… is how it ebbs and flows; each song segues so smoothly into the next. Will that carry on?
Eva Korman (vocals): “The track listing was something we were back and forth about. On Time Will Die…, as soon as those songs were finished, it made sense in the order it was in; it left us no other choice. This one gave us a lot more to think about to make sure it flowed in the way we wanted it to. It didn’t come together as easily.”
How does the new album compare lyrically and thematically?
Eva: “This new record, Time Will Die… and [2015 album] Grievances come under the same umbrella; they’re an unintentional trilogy. Grievances came from a very dark place. A lot of Time Will Die… was about reflection, forgiveness and letting go. Writing this one, I felt that I had reflected. It’s a lot more about renewal and rebirth.”
Eva, you wrote and recorded in the US while the rest of the band were in the UK. What was that like?
Eva: “I feel like it pushed us to be more organised than we’d ever been when it came to writing. Usually, during that time, James and I work together very closely with vocals and lyrics. This time around, it wasn’t something we could do in person; it was just a lot of back and forth with demos. It ended up being a good learning process.”
What moment on this album are you the most proud of?
James: “This is so selfish of me, but there’s a piano outro on the third song, Mutual Ruin, and it’s my favourite piece of music I’ve ever written. When you go to record something, you have a clear idea in your head of what you want it to be and it doesn’t always match. This sounds exactly like it was supposed to. I went, ‘Oh my God, that’s it! I’ve been trying to make that for five or six years!’”
ROLO TOMASSI’S SIXTH ALBUM IS EXPECTED FOR EARLY 2022 VIA EONE