Unique Freaks: “We didn’t want to just be a psychedelic and garage band”
We caught up with Darragh to discuss their recently released album ‘Enjoyment Planted’.
Photo: Press
Unique Freaks are a psych duo from Dublin, consisting of Darragh Hansard and Elizabeth Doyle. Their new album Enjoyment Planted was released a few weeks ago, and I got to speak with Darragh about the process and ideas behind it.
You released your album ‘Enjoyment Planted’ on the 19th of September. How did the album itself come about?
I think we had the idea that we were going to do a more commercial album, like a more pop-friendly sound, just something like that. A little less ‘freak-out’ and unhinged, a bit more like ‘oh, this is a song’. We had already been like ‘we’re going to do an album’, so we’ll just try and get it all done at once, and you always think you’re going to do that. It takes months and months, and sometimes something is finished, and then you end up doing a different song, and you think ‘oh, I need to change the other song to make it sound like this song because it’s better’ — some of the songs are five years old!
How long did it take to come together?
The songs — and their actual formation, I suppose — the way they are now, probably a year. I think I finished it, or nearly finished it, in March this year, and I would have started around March last year.
What were the influences behind it? Any artists in particular?
I have a little playlist I made because, having the idea that it was going to be pop, I need to have some references that are overtly pop, and then not as well. When I heard BRAT, I was like ‘this is awesome’. I can’t believe this is pop music now, and I’ve seen videos talking about them recording it on Logic, and I can’t believe that an actual multimillion-dollar project is being done on Logic. That was a big catalyst of being like ‘pop is somewhat abrasive now’ — so definitely BRAT. Flaming Lips were a big influence, and Kate Bush too. I think she’s quite whimsical and fun, so like Hounds of Love, I was like, we need to be as silly as that, because that’s an incredible piece of music.
That’s so great that you were inspired by BRAT.
That’s definitely my favourite album of last year. So much so that my friend saw how ‘fangirly’ I was being, and bought me the record for Christmas — there’s a picture of me with BRAT in my hands, like the day they gave it to me, and it’s just so ridiculous.
Do you have any favourite tracks from Enjoyment Planted?
I don’t know, it changes a lot. Find My Way has been one that as we go on I’ve just been thinking: ‘Can we figure out a way to do this live?’. I love Somebody Special; we were doing that live, but we do it very differently — it’s still fun.
That’s definitely one of my favourites. How is it different live?
I can’t bring acoustic guitars live; it’s just not worth the extra baggage in the car. We play it a bit more Krautrock, a bit more straightforward and a bit faster. That big synth sound is still there; I think the form is the same, it’s just slightly faster and a bit more ‘rocky’.
Another thing I wanted to talk about was track titles. I love them! Especially Waste 4ever and Hairy Frog Fish were particular standouts. How did you come up with these titles?
With Waste 4ever, a lot of the songs are about getting over being a kid, coming this far and realising that what I wanted to do isn’t really working out that well. I guess the ‘4ever’ was because that’s the way you would text your friends when you were a kid, you know? I was going to do ‘5ever’ because we would say that, but I thought that might get lost on everybody and would be a little too much of an inside joke! Hairy Frog Fish, I feel like was a character in Dungeons and Dragons, and I heard that synth sound and I was like ‘Oh, this is a Hairy Frog Fish’. It’s just so swampy or something.
What’s your starting point when beginning to create the tracks?
It’s different for each one. Becoming Me, Becoming You! started by playing a little keyboard we have in the house and, one day, Elizabeth was walking in and out of the room, and she started making this song up, and I just thought, ‘that’s actually kind of good’. I came up with the first verse, and then she had all the other melodies, and we just took that two-note thing and went with it. Somebody Special was meant to be a bridge of a song, and I just kept singing that for like a week in my head, and I began to think, ‘maybe this should be its own song’. We went from there, made a kind of bass loop, and just played drums to see where it went, and it was like ‘Okay, I guess we’re doing a nine-minute song!’.
Which song was it supposed to be a bridge for?
It’s not on the album; it was a synth-y kind of punk song that was about being a loser and getting drunk, but you wanted to be somebody special, so that was the whole idea of the bridge. I just thought, ‘that’s too good not to be its own song’.
I also love the album cover! Where did you get the inspiration for that from? Who made it?
I did the album cover. I was doing collages before it of old mushroom art, and I was just layering them on each other, and I like how it looked really psychedelic. Then I started working on the cover for Becoming Me, Becoming You! and I put the polka dots in the background, and used that. I took the colours from the collage that I made, as it was just a nice colour palette, and I thought that the dots were nice and looked like pop art, so we used them.
Does the band itself have two names? Thee U.F.O and Unique Freaks — where did these come from?
We were Thee U.F.O before and we were doing kind of garage, and we thought that Thee U.F.O could only really make that type of music, and we started thinking that we didn’t want to just be a psychedelic and garage band, as we were writing all these other songs. U.F.O stands for Unique Freak Operation, so we started using the unabbreviated version and then got it down to just Unique Freaks.
You played a live show last night. How often do you do these live gigs, and is there any chance of a tour?
We swore off playing for around a year, as we did a good few gigs last year, and then in September, we thought we’d take a break, and then we got a bit itchy about wanting to perform, but no one was interested in having us play. As soon as we booked a gig for September, suddenly everyone was asking us if we wanted to play. I think we’ve only performed twice this year, we’re playing tomorrow with Adore, and then I think we have something else in December. We’re mainly working on stuff for next year, but we don’t really know what’s going to happen; it’s just about getting people on board.
Which instruments do you play? Both live and on the album?
Live, I just play guitar, sing and use a little keyboard sometimes. On the album, it can be anything. Elizabeth sings and plays keys on some of the tracks.
What can we expect from Unique Freaks in the future?
More music, endless music!
Already thinking about another album?
Yeah! I had another interview today and I was saying that I think we have like another three albums planned out. We don’t know in what sequence, but we know we have enough material for the start, or the jumping-off point, of some more albums. I got worried one day, thinking that I can only see three albums ahead, and I don’t think that’s enough — that’s only three years in my mind. I started writing different songs and I realised that I have enough to go off of for some more songs!
Enjoyment Planted is out now via Gelatinous Records.