DIVIL
- bizzarre
- 9 minutes ago
- 3 min read
Dublin trio DIVIL release second single "ORANGUTAN" taken from debut EP DIVIL I, out 19th of June.
Dublin trio DIVIL, Danny Dempsey McMahon (vocals), Jocelyn Vance (guitar) and Conor Cusack (bass), released their second single "ORANGUTAN", taken from their debut EP DIVIL I, out on the 19th of June.
For these three lifelong friends, DIVIL has always been about shared catharsis. The band was born out of the loss of vocalist Danny's father, followed within weeks by the news that bassist Conor Cusack had been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive cancer. Together, the three opened up musically in a way they never had before, processing grief, fear and ways of coping through song.
That story has taken a new turn. Conor has been summoned to Belgium on next to no notice for emergency surgery, a pioneering procedure that could remove the majority of his cancer and that, four years ago, would not have been possible for his case. The Irish music community, and many beyond it, have responded with an outpouring of support, rallying behind a GoFundMe for Conor and his young family that raised over €100K.
DIVIL I was made while all of this was unfolding. These are songs about grief, illness and friendship written in real time, by three people who needed them as much as anyone who might listen to them.
If "Thanks A Million" was about being pulled out of a dark place by the people around you, "ORANGUTAN" is about what you do when you resist them. It's a song about escapism, trying to feel better by doing all the wrong things. The sound of a man alone in a house, pacing, fighting his own cravings, screaming into an iPad.
The track began with Jocelyn arriving early at the studio one afternoon. He had been listening to a lot of Dean Martin. He had a loop pedal running.
He says:
"I was listening to a lot of Dean Martin samba music, and the chords for "ORANG UTAN" grew out of that - it has that kind of rhythm to it. I remember getting to practice early one day and having those chords playing on a loop pedal.
I was noodling over them, cycling through different ideas for what sort of riff or voicing could go over that set of chords. Danny came in and latched onto it straight away. He took out his iPad and recorded about a minute of me cycling through ideas.
That minute eventually became the basis of the demo. We doubled it up and used it as the foundation for the song."
Danny took the recording home and waited for the right moment. It arrived on a weekend alone, under what he describes as a self-prescribed period of detention.
He says:
"I remember walking up the stairs to the studio and hearing some sinister sounding guitar pumping out of the room. I was happy to find it was Jocelyn playing over a loop of himself. I just wanted to grab a snapshot of what Jocelyn was doing and take it away and go over it when I felt suitably manic to match the energy.
Eventually the weekend came. I had the house to myself; at the time I was under a self-prescribed period of detention where I was not allowed to go out to let the hair down.
I started looking through recent files, periodically getting up and nearly leaving the house, fighting the urge to bail on my disciplined evening of creativity.
I was delighted to find the loop I recorded Jocelyn doing a few days previous, and I just so happened to be feeling just as manic as the music. I spent the evening screaming into the iPad and pacing the house.
The resulting lyrics reflect recent bad driving events, a lot of frustration, trying to strangle my own cravings into submission, and on reflection, a snapshot of the fairly chaotic headspace I was in. I'm happy to say, as always, writing about it was the perfect catharsis and helped me slow down and come out of it - thanks, music.
I'm glad to have a musical snapshot of that sped-up, manic feeling, but I'm glad I don't feel like that now."
When it came to recording, the band made one decision that defines the track: they kept the original iPad recording. Conor added bass. That was it.
Jocelyn continues
"And when we went to record the track, we actually used that original iPad recording because it had this great kind of immediacy to it that was impossible to replicate. Then Conor came in and did his thing with the bass, and that was basically it."
"ORANGUTAN" is out ahead of DIVIL I, the band's debut EP, due on the 19th of June. The EP also features debut single "Thanks A Million" and closing track "Chewing Gum", which deals with grief and the moments along the way that define you.
