Welcome to HeartSongs, our regularly scheduled (probably) look at songs and the people who write them. Deep Sky Objects have a new single and EP due out shortly and they’ve just played their first London gig in support of their recent single ‘Bones’. We spoke to lead singer/ guitarist Kevin about the song.

“It was our first trip to the UK to play. We originally reached out to a few venues to put together some shows for later this year. The Hope & Anchor replied to us proposing a much earlier date for May 25th, and we couldn't refuse. We booked a ferry, drove to London from Cork, and then back. The gig was very special. The venue was located in a small basement in Islington under the main Hope & Anchor bar, and the audience reached capacity at 80 people within the first 10 minutes of the gig. We played a mix of our new songs with some tracks from our debut EP. The crowd really enjoyed it and we loved it.

After the gig we met up with some lovely people and got talking about the music scene in London and what gigs are going on. It really was an eye-opener as to what's happening outside of Ireland. We'll definitely be heading back very soon, maybe with a few more dates across the UK later this year.

‘Bones’ was written over a long period of time. Originally we came up with the verse sections a couple of years ago but we never had the opportunity to fully develop the idea. At a rehearsal one day DD showed us this bass & guitar riff combination so we made it follow the verse section. It was then the foundation of the song was made. Over time I wrote the vocal melody and lyrics by singing into a voice recorder app on my phone, and later applying it to the music. After adding some distortion and effects, ‘Bones’ was born.

We had the pleasure of working with Ciaran O'Shea at Whitewell Studios in Cork. We recorded, mixed and produced our new songs with Ciaran at the studio and he really helped bring out what we wanted in the songs. It can be tough sometimes to get on the same wavelength but Ciaran knew what sound we wanted from our demos and did a fantastic job with the tracks.”

‘Bones’ Lyrics

Verse:

I hope you understand,

This was never part of my plan,

I see it in your eyes,

I see it in your eyes tonight.

Chorus

Oh, oh, oh,

I feel it in my bones,

I feel it, i feel it, i feel it,

I feel it in my bones,

I feel it, i feel it, i feel it.

Ryan Lott is one of those restless musicians, collaborating and experimenting across genres and instruments to produce music that is both completely original, but having its roots in far more familiar sonic terrain.

Son Lux is now a trio, with Lott on composing, vocal and keyboard duties, and the sound being filled in with the noticeable addition of drummer Ian Chang and guitarist Rafiq Bhatia. These two musicians add a completely new sound and dimension to Lott’s work, but still carry on the general aesthetic that was established on 2013’s Lanterns and 2014’s Alternate Worlds EP.

So, the album is book-ended by the atmospheric, meandering Pink Floyd like tracks of ‘Breathe In’ and ‘Breathe Out’ respectively, but between these two quality pieces, a lot of musical ground is covered. From the slow Ultravox like tracks of ‘Change is Everything’ and ‘Flight’, whilst the Jean Michel Jarre keyboard squiggles of ‘You Don’t Know Me’, mixed with a brooding, relentless slow rhythm, and the male and female vocals add to a track that is both new and reassuringly familiar at the same time.

A different drum is employed during ‘This Time’, but the use of a repeating Binatone Tennis like bleep is slightly distracting, although the displays of guitar shredding virtuosity from Bhatia adds a touch of both humour and impressive musicianship.

The use of highly treated vocals adds a lot of atmosphere to the music, which has that early ‘80s synth band vibe, and interesting, undulating rhythm and percussion tracks. The music is technically quite glacial and cold, but the fact that a lot of though and effort has gone into the both the construction of the songs, and their production means that the album will find fans amongst people who like both new music, and music with a novel, retro feel to it.

Bones is available from Amazon and iTunes.