LAST week, Fauves unveiled their long-awaited debut album ‘Favourite Shade’. A record that was literally years in the making, it captures the essence of a band who have always been incredibly ambitious and creatively untethered in their approach – both towards their songwriting and everything that surrounds it, from their live performances to their visual accompaniments.
Thirteen tracks in length, ‘Favourite Shade’ is a journey that is as hypnotic as it is danceable; rewarding as it is challenging; alluring and at times, absolutely addictive. Layered with texture and meaning, it pulls from a wide variety of directions – oscillating from chill R&B to pulsing disco tones to ethereal psychedelia across its fifty minute runtime, without ever becoming lost in itself. And while it’s far removed from their very formative singles, such as indie-pop anthem ‘Hit Like This’, there’s still that appreciation for a big, impactful chorus – the high points see Fauves at their most funky and infectious, primarily on tracks like ‘Sweet Nothing’, ‘Faded’ and ‘Given’.
Awash with collaborations from the likes of The Vegan Leather, Snack Villain, Hannymoon, Basil Panagop and kitti, it’s a patchwork of genres and styles. And as is their way, the band are constantly pushing the parameters of their sound, experimenting with the tools at their disposal and never scared to tread new ground.
So, with the album now out in the world, we catch up with the band’s primary songwriters Ryan Caldwell and Ciaran Devlin to talk through each track – their inspirations and recording process.
The band launch the album on Saturday at King Tuts. Get your tickets here.
F
Ryan Caldwell – “F is the first tune Ciaran and I wrote together, so it made sense for it to be the first single and track on the album.”
Ciaran Devlin – “Yeah I wanted Ryan to introduce himself over the phone and thought it would be funny for him to take on full mumble rapper persona, so Lil Geoffy was born, and you can hear him chatting rubbish at the start and end of the track. Ryan also liked the idea of starting the record on that looped drum break that Gianluca helped me sample in, so it was a no brainer to open the proceedings.”
Serves Me Right (IDC)
Ryan – “This track was born with a chill R&B vibe and stayed that way for probably a couple of years in its demo state and initial recordings. At the tail end of lockdown, when we started fleshing out some of the unrecorded tracks, Ciaran thought to put a donk on it, and it changed the path of the track massively. He became a little doofer.”
Ciaran – “I remember hearing the half-written demo version of this track years ago and just falling in love with Ryan’s wah bass in the “I don’t care what it takes” section. Very hazey memories of sitting in Ryan’s grans house and finishing the rest of it before deciding to put a key change in at the end of the track. At one point, when we were working with Jamie Holmes, the ending of the song had a continuously rising key at the end of the track and a fade out, because i was obsessed with ‘Owner Of A Lonely Heart’ by Yes at that time. It was utter chaos, pretty glad we nipped that in the bud.”
Sweet Nothing
Ryan – “The vocals on this track are probably as high as my little voice can go. He was always a stomper, even in demo form, but now he has roided out his nut. Big MGMT inspo on it.”
Ciaran – “I wanted the end of this track to sound kinda like Delorean Dynamite by Todd Terje with that arpeggiating synth bass line, so Lizzie and I programmed in a bunch of synths and house pianos in the old 7 West Studios to get the desired effect. Managed to get the final result sounding pretty eccied.”
Spaced Out Face
Ryan – “Spaced was the first track written for the record, the demo session was created in January 2019. The original title for the track was Ding Dong, but I was vetoed so hard on it as it was too penile.”
Ciaran – “Yeah, we simply could not have a track named Ding Dong for christ sake. Lots of little orchestral flourishes on this one, thanks to sax, flute and strings. Big old school disco influence.”
Faded
Ryan – “The idea for this was started on a holiday to Greece in 2019. There was a piano where we were staying, so I jammed away and came up with the verse and pre-chorus. I think it had like three different choruses before one finally stuck. Faded is a party boy.”
Ciaran – “Yeah, we wanted this track to sort of follow the progression of a big night out to the next morning. Highs, lows, ethereal moments and meltdowns. This one is one of the most fun to play live. There’s become a bit of a tradition of Rory shouting something into Ryan’s mic at the end of the breakdown section and at every gig we’re anxiously waiting to see what comes out of his mouth. It’s Rory’s dirty secret.”
Given
Ryan – “Given is a fonky-psychy dark horse for me. We got an in-house feature with Gian laying down a thicc verse.”
Ciaran – “This one’s all about textures. It started out as a bit of a g-funk number that Ryan had came up with, and I wanted the track to have a Khruangbin type groove. Over one of the many covid lockdowns, Ryan and I added all of those spacey synths and chugging guitars. I think the middle part of the track onwards is my favourite moment on the record, and I’m fully in love with Gian’s verse. He sounds like he’s coming from a different dimension.”
Hey
Ryan – “Hey was the last track written for the album that made the cut. The initial idea and lyrics were conceived on one of those mad lockdown walks. I always loved Snack Villain’s tunes, he actually put out our EP Les Fauves on his label, Spiral Oh, in 2018.”
Ciaran – “This is the Fauves western experience. I wanted it to be like Dr Dre West Coast, but we may have gotten something more “The Magnificent 7”. Happy with the result though. Another vocal feature here from Snack Villain, really glad that we succeeded in getting so many good pals to come on and sing with us on the album. It’s a big plus to have so many talented mates and we got to show a lot of them off on our debut. Adam was the shadiest cowboy in the saloon here in contrast to Ryan, who plays the harlot by the bar.”
Beaming
Ryan – “You can hear our original celebration at the end of the track when Hanny puts down his verse. Picture this, cans of Moretti in a dark rehearsal room on a summer’s day.”
Ciaran – “This one was the furthest we ventured into 90s hip hop. We mucked about with trap beats and various things before settling on a boom bap sort of 90s vibe. Hanny just completed the picture perfectly. Was so buzzing when he first laid down his verse, he just freestyled it in a few takes and then we re-recorded it with Jamie later. That weird little outro is supposed to take you to another world before the next track kicks in.”
Maroon
Ryan – “Funnily enough, the second verse of this track used to be the chorus. This track is the follow-up to Faded in a sense, kind of like the comedown to the night.”
Ciaran – “This was written to be a balls out 90s house track with guitar solos. Managed to cram like four different solos into this track. Like everything else on the album, it’s complete overkill but that’s why we love it.”
You Don’t Know The Half Of It
Ryan – “Another track that started with a chill R&B vibe, then Ciaran skelped some Tame Impala-esque drums on it, rocked its world. If Kevin Parker and Kevin Shields had a problem child, it’d be this track.”
Ciaran – “Aye this was always meant to be a psych rock/shoegaze track. This is the best “album track” for me. Our old collaborator Basil Panagop joining us once again on the mic to lend some sweetness and really seal the deal. Very proud of this one!”
Ends of Me
Ryan – “I threw a minor tantrum in the studio over the fuzz tone on the bass. Looking back, I was being a wee whinge. Rockiest lad for sure, and I think it was the first album track we started playing live.”
Ciaran – “The second verse of this track has so much in it. Wanted to take the listener away from it being a somewhat typical rock song, as I didn’t really feel that was our sound. Put down a wah bass, some spooky kiddy horror theme piano and choir voices, Yeezus inspired drums and we had our desired lapse from reality.”
Listening To Nothing
Ryan – “Inspired by The War on Drugs with a psychy twist. There’s a synth at the end that sounds like a plane taking off; it’s barely audible but pretty funny soloed.”
Ciarn – “Yeah, I felt like that plane was our answer to something off of The Dark Side Of The Moon. We debated for ages about keeping the jazzy middle section and had to re-mix it like 6 times to get it right, it’s a propa wonky wee bit. The track has some of our angstiest lyrics which I really like, nobody understands us and we don’t understand ourselves. Rock on!”
Blue Funk
Ryan – “This is my favourite track on the record, it’s probably the most organic sounding and has a kind of orchestral feel to it. We asked Kitti to join in on the track one afternoon when recording with Jamie Holmes at Castle of Doom, and her performance blew us all to smithereens. One of the best voices going!”
Ciaran – “This is our bash at a classic prog rock album closer. The album is sort of divided into sections, and the end of the record is undeniably guitar heavy. That outro is sheer indulgence, but Kitti lent some real power to the whole thing. The song needed to have a piano and Ryan’s voice to fade the record out, and if you listen closely, you might hear Lil Geoffy from the opener reverberating around the mix as we fade to black!
Fauves launch ‘Favourite Shade’ on Saturday at King Tuts. Get your tickets here.