“I want my music to heal people.”
Durand Jones speaks to Stevie Chick.
What was your aim for Private Space?
“To expand our horizons and establish a sound that felt timeless, rather than retro. The band’s communal Spotify playlist, ‘Indications Inspirations’, used to feature Little Anthony And The Imperials, Sam Cooke, The Shirelles – vocal groups and sweet soul stuff. But while we were working on Private Space, it was all disco, ‘bedroom R&B’ and cats doing really cool stuff today. We wanted to discover new things about ourselves.”
Is the song-title Private Space an allusion to lockdown?
“It’s one of a handful of songs we began in late 2019, and it was about being with someone in a crowded place but seeing only them in the room and, like, really wanting to get them out of there so you can get it on. And then, in January, the pandemic happened, and it took on a completely different meaning – this thing everyone could relate to, being home alone and within our private space. It just felt like the perfect title for the album, and I love all the effects on Aaron’s voice at the end. It almost feels like some psychedelic tiki/jungle shit, and I’m all about it. (Laughs)”
The line in Love Will Work It Out about “modern-day lynchings in the streets” is incredibly powerful. What inspired it? “George Floyd was a black man in Minneapolis who was arrested for allegedly passing counterfeit money, and a police officer kneeled on his neck for over eight minutes and killed him. And that happened right after Breonna Taylor was killed in her bedroom by police. I felt, ‘Fuck this – I don’t want to write a song, I don’t want to talk on social media, I can’t do anything but breathe right now. I need to keep my soul and my sanity intact.’ How much more do we have to take? How many more people have to die by the hands of police for us to truly receive justice? This shit is just exhausting. I took a step back from everything. I knew that the universe would make the call when it was time for me to make art again. Fast forward to last November, and I got that call. I wrote this poem, about everything that happened in 2020, and that’s where the song came from.”
The message of the song is ultimately positive, however… “That comes from my grandmother, who raised me and really believed in what Dr [Martin Luther] King stood for. She’s long gone now, but after George Floyd died, and I was feeling despair and doubt, I’d think about things that she would say. And that song is the sort of thing she would tell me, like, ‘It’s hard right now, but don’t give up.’ I miss her every day. I feel like she’s still here with me, and she lives on through a song like that. People ask me if I want to be a star. But I just want my music to heal people, man, to recharge and rejuvenate their spirits.”