INTERVIEW: The Hello Darlins on The Journey To Their Debut Album

This week, The Hello Darlins will release their debut album – Go By Feel. Here, we interview the band about the journey to the record’s release, the lead-out singles and what the record means to them.

Pre-save the record here.

Hi, it’s so good to see you guys again! You’re in the final stretch of the album release. How are you feeling?

We’re just so excited and I mean we can’t wait for the album to be released and get back out and play live again, which looks like it might be a possibility now – fingers crossed!

You both had such a rich career before The Hello Darlins, so how different does it now feel to put out this record in this way?

We’re really excited. I’m just really proud that we finally got it together to record some of our own songs and put our flag there as artists. It’s exciting and we’re really proud of the record. I’m excited for people to hear it.

We had a day yesterday with Euro Americana debuting at number four. It’s different when you’ve been on songs that have charted before with other artists, but when it’s your own, it’s extra exciting.

I mean, you can go and record something, and believe in it so strongly, but it’s so nice to be able to see the other people resonating with them as well. I mean it’s so beautiful from start to finish, it’s so rich and you can hear all the influences you’ve got going on, did you want to bring all those influences in and tell a story about the landscape of Canadian music and how it’s been?

Yeah, I think as songwriters, you just draw from what’s around you and of course, for us, that is our landscape and the stories of Canada and stories of people we know – our personal experiences – it’s part of what makes it authentic. Now, you can write from a character perspective but we wanted to just put out something that we felt was honest.

It’s stunning. I feel like people can sit with the record this summer, it’s one of those records that people will fall into this sonic landscape and spend time in that universe.

I love that idea. I think that’s one of the most exciting things – music is how you can connect with everyone and I love the idea that you can sit there having a cup of tea in the afternoon and listen to our record halfway around the world.

How did the album evolve? Was it a conscious decision to pick certain songs or were there certain songs that started the project and it lead from there? I guess how did it come together?

I think we actually cut a lot more songs than are on the record. I can’t remember how many we cut that didn’t make it to the record, we’re really lucky because we have our recording studio – so if we didn’t feel that the energy was right, or we didn’t love it 100%, we just redid it.

It’s so good to have that luxury to revisit things if they’re not 100% right.

Yeah, we just had to find the songs that just flowed together – there are a few tracks ready that are potentially for record number two or for singles afterwards. There’s a Rolling Stones type tune that I still really love and I can’t wait to put that one out, but it didn’t fit this record.

You can already start thinking about the second one, and the first one hasn’t come out yet – that’s exciting. You guys have got so much material that it’s kind of exciting to already be thinking about the next one. I mean, one of the things that really stuck out to me was ‘Where You Are’ because there’s so many ways to interpret it, but I feel like with the last year, it’s an interesting one to see everyone’s different perspectives. It feels like a very important song. When you guys wrote it, what did you have in mind and where did that song come from? 

That song was written for one of my close friends – she experienced the loss of her little one.  I think that that’s one of the most painful experiences that anybody could ever go through – that separation between people, but you feel like that connection can continue on and she gained a lot of peace and comfort in feeling like that connection didn’t end. That was the heart of the song – you’re still here, I feel you in the wind, and I want to be where you are, but it’s in a different way that I’m experiencing that. In this pandemic, we’re all so far apart right now, but we want to stay connected.

Sometimes the hardest things create the most beautiful music and the songs that people actually resonate with the most. What’s the response been like and how exciting has it been to share with people?

Everybody has a different favourite song it seems which is great. You know, the feedback has been terrific for the most part.

It must be nice to finally get some feedback and response from people, after recording the album in isolation and being able to finally share it. There’s something for everybody on this record – whatever experiences you’ve had, there might be something different for everybody.

That makes me really happy that you like ‘Where You Are,’ that was a song that we weren’t sure if we were going to put on the album and for me, that one really gets me in the heart. 

Obviously you also rounded out the album with an instrumental note, a perfect ending. 

Well, that song is a song that Candace wrote for her grandfather who’s a huge influence on her. He was actually a gypsy musician from Prague and he’s the one that got Candace singing harmonies and had a huge influence on her musically – he works for the Ford factory in Detroit, Michigan, which is right along the Red River and so it’s called ‘Farewell River Rouge.’ Candace was like, ‘Well, I’m gonna write a melody for it’. She just went out for a drive in her car, took her phone, and just sang that melody through one time and came back into the recording studio in the vocal booth back here, we recorded her singing that – it just fell out of the sky for her.

My grandfather was a violinist. And he bought his very first violin in 1920, which sits in our studio and brought it to Canada with him. It was sort of a tribute to his musicianship.

Well I’m so excited for people to hear this record and fall in love with it. Congratulations to both of you and good luck! You must be so excited.

Yes. Thank you so much. And thank you for sharing it.