Track By Track: Fenech-Soler on ZILLA

Northamptonshire-born brothers Ben and Ross Duffy write for us about the construction of each of the tracks on the follow up to 2013's Rituals. The Bros. Duffy built a studio in a "small farming village" to record and self-produce the album, which is "named after a close friend". There were also sessions in Los Angeles with Jacknife Lee (Bloc Party, REM).

Kaleidoscope

This was the track that made this whole record come together. The first single from ZILLA and the song that really encapsulates this album and who we now are. We wrote the verse by sampling a guitar that we recorded; it's a pretty common production technique but was something we used a lot on this record. I wrote the melody and lyrics within 10 minutes of us creating the verse but as an idea, the song didn't get finished until the last few weeks of the album process. It's the most emblematic song of the ZILLA sound and for Ross and I, represents a simplicity in writing that we've been searching for for a long time.

On Top

This song is a direct product of us rediscovering a keyboard that we were first bought when we were kids. It's extremely basic but it has all these brilliant faux-vintage synths which to us just felt like exactly the right sound for ZILLA. We did most of the this song on that keyboard. It's a positive story about finding solace and new beginnings in a different place. I guess quite simply about being on top of things.

Night Time TV

The darker side to ZILLA and a track we now open our live show with. Lyrically an insomnia song influenced by strange TV adverts that occur in the dead of the night. We started working on this song with Jacknife Lee in America but finished back in London when we shut the door and locked ourselves away for a few months. The song really came together when we recorded the bass line.

Conversation

Although we're releasing this album in the middle of winter, this song was written in the summer months. I spent quite a bit of time in California over the last year and a half and I guess subconsciously this song came about when I wasn't there but wanted to be back. It's our new single and both Ross and I are pretty proud of how this one turned out.

Zilla I

This and "Zilla II" are the same song. We had two arrangements which we loved equally and we wanted these soundscapes to act as divides across the album. No lyrics but just pieces of music that gave some space. This is the more stripped back of the two.

Grace

A mesh of swirling synths that we wanted to build a crescendo out of. Probably the heaviest track on the album with a charater - Grace - at the centre of the storm. About two minutes in and a song appears, but it's the frantic parts that we started with. We got a friend who speaks French to record the verse lyrics at the beginning of the song. Also the only track on the record that uses an acoustic guitar.

Cold Light

Written in our lounge in London on guitar by Ross, this is a special song for us. We really felt that we'd achieved the sound we were looking for. Sometimes, once you've worked on a demo for a while, there's a danger of its original spark being lost but this held its course. Not sure how to play it live yet with all intricate synth parts but looking forward to figuring it out.

Undercover

A moody, undulating song that started off on the piano. We actually kept the original piano take which was recorded first time as we were writing it. We then pieced the electronics around it and added the soundscape behind the keys. Again, recorded in our flat, i guess it's a darker, more introspective song lyrically that slows down this part of the album. It was actually one of the earliest songs to be written for the album and it went through a few different mix stages until we were happy with it.

Touch

We tend to start most album processes by recording hours of audio recordings on our iPhones. That's where it all begins. We then sift through and and try and find the good bits amongst hours of rubbish. Touch was an amalgamation of a few good bits we found on our phones. Lyrically I wanted to hone in on the simple connection of two people. I signature sound for me on this song is the verse synth.

Zilla II

Again, like "Zilla I", this is a bridge piece of music that started with Ross' guitar arpeggio. We wanted to piece the electronics around it and like "Grace", build from a very small soundscape into something with more depth. This was originally always ear-marked as the opening track to the record.

Be Someone

There was quite a time when I personally felt disconnected from what was going on around us musically and I guess lyrically I was coming from that place. We had writers block for a while and so I decided to write about that as a way to move forward. A song about standing back from life and trying to reconnect. We recorded this at our sound engineer's home studio in Los Angeles.

From Afar

Possibly the most beats per minute of any Fenech-Soler song recorded. It's a fast tempo but we wanted to offset that against an emotional story. The last drop of the song and the final build felt like it had to be the last progression of music on ZILLA. It felt like the right ending.