Foreign/National on new LP, globe-trotting & isolation
{interview by Holly Blackmore}
It’s with great pleasure that we share our chat with Foreign/National — discussing all things travel, inspiration and isolation.
This Melbourne-based ensemble has spent the past few years on the road, beginning with a run of headline shows across Europe, alongside psychedelic-rock legends King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Their sophomore album The Garden (out today!) was birthed in Berlin, mixed in Aireys Inlet and mastered in LA — with endless exciting pit-stops along the way. The boys’ stirring and sophisticated new sound not only embodies their cultural explorations, but also serves as a comment on the world unfolding around them.
Stream The Garden today.
First things first, we are huge fans of your existing work and cannot wait for the release of The Garden. What have you all been up to since your last LP in 2017?
It feels like an age since we released that album. Shortly after its release the band relocated to Germany for a year. We played some shows and toured a little bit, but mostly we worked on what would later become the basis of The Garden. We came back to Melbourne at the beginning of 2018. We had the intention of recording the album straight away, but the songs we had put together and essentially written on Ableton didn’t translate very well as a live band. So we spent most of the year re-working the album as a live unit. In 2019 we finally recorded and mixed it. Our first album was at best a modest success, so we didn’t feel any need to follow it up quickly. It took three years to make, but it was nice to do things completely at our own pace and not have to make any creative compromises.
We had noticed you’ve been bouncing around the globe — everywhere from the hidden gem of Aireys Inlet to the bright lights of Los Angeles. What is your favourite place in the world to settle and/or produce art?
If we look back at the tracks on the album, they were conceived all over the place. ‘Love Control’ in a dacha in northern Russia, ‘Balmy Evening’ in an apartment in Neukoln, the lyrics for ‘Honest Man’ were written in a van in Northern Spain and the outdo of ‘Diamond Mine’ was re-written about 10 times in a house in Thornbury, Melbourne. All of these were great places to produce art for their own unique reasons. If we’re talking about a place to settle in general, then you can’t go past Lyon, France. Always has and always will be a second home.
How does ‘The Garden’ differ from your earlier work? Have your travels influenced it at all?
It’s funny. The Garden differs a lot from our first album Dépaysement. But at least lyrically speaking it’s less influenced by our travels. A lot of the songs on the first album were based on travel experiences and referenced cities or places we’d been. Lyrically The Garden basically has no connection to travelling. However, perhaps instrumentally it is more influenced by our time outside of Melbourne — particularly outside of the Melbourne music scene. Being in a new place meant we didn’t (at least subconsciously) feel inclined to be influenced by what was going on at local level in Melbourne.
Is there a particular song that holds a special place in the heart of the band?
I’m not too sure about the other guys, but for me it’s ‘Love Control’. It’s the oldest song on the album (I think I wrote the first demo in mid 2016). It’s super simple compared to a lot of the other tracks and the lyrics are sparse. It’s probably one of my favourite choruses I’ve written and on the few occasions we’ve played it, it’s really hit live.
And now the world is in this weird, lockdown phase. On a personal/creative level, how are you all coping with this sudden shift?
I think for most of us, on a personal level, it’s been ok and we are all still in work. One of our member’s partners is in a high risk category and for him it’s definitely been tougher, but overall things could be worse. Creatively speaking we haven’t been doing anything new with Foreign/National. However most of us have been working on new musical projects and ideas that will hopefully see the light of day toward the end of 2020.
And if listeners take one message away from this brilliant new LP, what should it be?
Take the time to slow down, put some headphones on, get comfy in a chair and just listen to the album from start to finish. We don’t do it as much any more, with playlists and stuff like that. But if you do do it, I guarantee it’s super satisfying!