Yak

It’s been two years since Yak dropped ‘Alas Salvation’ and there’s no doubt that every indie-rock connoisseur has been restlessly awaiting its follow up. Their latest album, created amidst a time of personal crisis and reckless hedonism, is their rawest work yet. We caught up with frontman Oli Burslem over a cup of tea to chat about the recording.

Q: So it’s been two years since your last record, and it seems like the new one has everything thrown at it... I read that you sold all of your worldly possessions and moved into your car. Was this out of necessity or you pushing yourself in order to put everything into the record?

A: I mean it was necessity really. At the start of the record we didn’t have a label or a full band...there was a good chance it was going to be the end of it. So we had to fight to make the record exist. But that said, any form of desperation is good for creativity, whether it’s financial or ego driven, maybe that’s the thing that keeps you pushing. But there’s 24 hours in a day, I don’t just sit in my car, going I can’t wait to tell everyone about this, this record is going to fly off the shelves…

Q: Did you feel any second album pressure?

A: I definitely cared and put everything into the record but then you get to a certain point where you’re like, I couldn’t do much more, and it’s honest and real, a document of that time and then you move on really. Someone asked me if I care what people write and I’m just like, well I obviously prefer reviews to be favourable but at the end of the day it’s just an autopsy, the thing they’re writing about, it’s dead by then, the music is done for me.

Q: Would you say that this album has a strong narrative?

A: By the end, when we’d chosen all the eleven songs that were going to be on the record, there kinda was a concept to them, which wasn’t the idea at the start at all. They were all written around the same time...so this idea, obviously the album is called The Pursuit of Momentary Happiness, and when you’re living with that mindset it’s not about longevity or thinking about the future, it’s about pursuing immediate happiness, which are usually the things that can destroy you, whether it’s going out and getting wankered or just sitting back and going, ‘Oh god, what’s all this about?’

When I think about how bare it is, it’s quite embarrassing really, but if you’re going to do something in 2018 that’s as regressive as being in a rock band then you might as well try and say something worthwhile. Otherwise it really is the pits then…

Q: Did you approach writing a little differently on this album? It’s contains some very tender, sentimental tracks, like ‘Words Fail Me’, it seems as if we’re hearing a new side to YAK.

A: I suppose it was my headspace but also not having anywhere to live, during the writing of the first record I had a bedroom with a little studio setup. With this album, there was limited time and all I had was my guitar which meant things became more chord heavy. Initially, I was wondering if ‘Words Fail Me’ was even a song for the band, at the time I was coming into sessions with quieter song after quieter song and Elliot was like, ‘Are we ever going to do a rock song again?’

The recording for that one was quite emotional actually, I think pretty much everyone was there, like Marta and Jason Pierce, and when I did the vocal, it was the first time everyone had really heard it all pieced together and I was quite embarrassed about it. I remember everyone being slightly emo about it, which was nice as we’ve never had that before.

Q: This could be your emo hit then...

A: It’s funny because at the time I was listening to loads of soul music, but in the context of the album it doesn’t necessarily translate. I was really influenced by people like Aretha Franklin, Curtis Mayfield....not emo at all, these beautiful soul records, which I was getting a lot of comfort from when I was going through a difficult situation at the time. Sometimes I think, ‘Pull your socks up mate, get a grip, get a job’, what with all the ballads, but that’s just the stuff I was into at the time. Elliott and Vinny were understanding though as they could see what was going on in my personal life. I’m kinda embarrassed by certain songs on the record though because I’m not usually like this.

Q: There are some amazing characters on this album too, both producer Marta Salogni and Jason Pierce (of Spiritualized) how did these collaborations come about?

A: Marta’s wicked, I bumped into her and she’s like, ‘What are you doing?’ and I was just like ‘come down to the studio, we haven’t got any money, we’re not doing contracts or any of that nonsense.’ So she joined on the weekend, she’s great, she did stuff with Bjork. We shared sensibilities about guitar music and how it should be relevant and how you make a record that sounds exciting - we wanted it to be sonically bigger but without sounding like a rock opera or Meatloaf. And then Jason’s a friend, I met him when I sold him a table while I was working a stall at Spitalfields market. With Jason it’s more the little details.

Q: So there was that session at Kevin Parker’s studio with Jay Watson that didn’t quite work out, was there anything that you took from that experience regardless of the outcome?

A: That it would have been easier to just be a three piece rock band, turn everything up and do some songs. Easy. Record everything in the place down there like loads of great records have done, but it just became apparent that I didn’t want to make a record like that. I wanted to do something else. It was hard on the boys though...I just didn’t want to be doing a rocking, bang it out record, didn’t want to make a record for the sake of it just so we could go on tour.

I wanted to make something that was real. We did a few bits there, like that soul cover that we released and ‘White Male Carnivore’....I just try not to get too bogged down, you just have to do it and you’ll hopefully surprise yourself. Then you’re left going, wow, that’s mad, how did that happen? I could never do that again. And then you do...

Words by Eleanor Philpot | Illustration by Andreea Dobrin Dinu