Following the consistent success of radio playlisted singles, critical acclaim and selling out shows across the UK and beyond, Sea Girls have released their highly anticipated debut album ‘Open Up Your Head’ on Polydor. I caught up with drummer Oli Khan last Friday (release day) to see how he’s feeling about the release and talk about the album’s conception as well as his hopes for live shows. 

“I’m good, I’m a bit tired. I guess, you know it feels a bit like Christmas Day. I mean like straight away at midnight there were a lot of people listening to it so it’s been great to see so many positive comments already and I guess it’s gonna be loads more throughout the day, hopefully.“

The band had a live stream chat with fans just before the album was released and got an idea of what fans thought of the album. 

“We just went to Henry’s house and sat on the floor. Just like chatted and vibed and you know got some of the fans involved. You can do a split screen on Instagram and we did that with a few of our bigger fans and yeah it was great.”

Sea Girls have built their songs superbly, creating tracks which are bubbling indie gems and lyrically moving. Tracks such as ‘Do You Really Wanna Know’ lyrically display feelings of self-loathing and uncertainty while the vibrant backdrop makes the track anthemic and infectious.It seems that dealing with these real and raw themes in an upbeat way connects with listeners and makes an impact.

“Yeah, I guess it’s like, we’ve always been a fan of that kind of really upbeat indie music. But we did want to create some sort of like, very personal to us but also you know something people can relate to and I think naturally that’s kind of a timeless thing, you know the sad banger like someone like Robyn who we really love. ‘Call Me Out’ was kind of based around or been inspired by Robyn and it’s that you know, dance through the pain kind of vibe that we really like and strive for in our music as well. We do have happy songs as well.”

The album is a collection of some of Sea Girls’ best tracks from previous EPs and singles and for the band it’s an album that follows the journey of their career and musical growth so far.

“Yeah, I guess because there was never really a point where we were like, ‘All right, now we’re recording our album’. There’s bits where it wrapped up more but essentially we’ve just been making it since we first started recording because it’s got ‘Call Me Out’ which is our first single and that’s on it. I think it was just once we had a good collection of songs, it was just trying to find these 14 songs that all fit together. And I think it was important to have some of these older songs because I think it tells the story, like I said, Call Me Out’ and having ‘All I Want to Hear You Say’ on there. That was definitely like a turning point for us so definitely it felt right to honor that, and also lots of these songs the fans really love, we just wanted to include them for that reason, as well.”

There are so many wonderful moments within each track. Sea Girls move from epic bittersweet guitar refrains to blazing basslines, anthemic drum pulses and even surging rushes on synths. Each track oozes emotion from every anthemic note. It’s the knockout combination of all four members of the band and their influences that creates such passionate and vibrant tracks. However there are some tracks written that didn’t make the cut for the album.

“So normally with the songs either Henry or Rory will come with a full song, and then it’s just like hashing it out in the studio. We’ve been lucky with making the album. Quite a lot of these newer songs, we’ve been able to take our time and do them, and quite a few have gone through different versions. It’s just kind of finding what the vibe is for the song, because we want all the songs to be different and have their own character, and it’s then just plugging away at that and finding, little guitar riffs and little synthesizer parts to make the song shine. But, you know, ultimately its about making that core song as best we can do it. All four of us are really creative so it’s just like throwing everything we can at it to get it to that point. 

There is quite a few songs we did in the same sessions that didn’t make it so maybe they’ll eventually get re-jigged and find the way out but like ‘Shake’ which is on the album, we first played that maybe two years ago, I think, it was just the verse we played in practice and we thought this is really cool and then we never really ended up finishing writing it. Then when it came around to the album we tried it again and we were actually like, okay. I think this could work and with the help of our producer, we fleshed it out into a full song and then recorded it. So yeah it definitely happens and there’s a few songs like that when we’ve been playing them for ages and then finally got them right for the album.”

One track that didn’t make it on the album is in fact the title track of the album, their 2019 song ‘Open Up Your Head’.It’s quite unusual for a band or artist to have a title track that does not appear on the album

“I guess we had the collection of songs before we chose the name….I think with the kind of themes of the album about mental health and you know, exploring, you know just what it means to be in your early 20’s and a little bit lost and I think that Open Up Your Head, the name just kind of spoke to that. It’s also like a little callback for fans who liked that song as well. It seemed fitting and I don’t think they really mind that it wasn’t on there.”

When I first heard the album ‘Closer’ was one that definitely caught my attention with it’s blazing guitar and rapid rolling drums, it hooked me instantly.I wondered if Oli has a particular track he loves on the album.

“Ah, changes all the time. I really like ‘Transplant’ which is the first song. I think as soon as we did our first play through in the studio we were like okay this is something really special for us. I feel like it showcases all of us at our best, but there’s a song called ‘Weight In Gold’ which I also really like. I think that was one when we weren’t really sure what people were going to think of it but so far that seems to be one that stands out to the fans so far, so that makes me like it even more even though maybe it shouldn’t ”

Sea Girls are renowned for their frenetic, sweat-drenched sold-out live shows and they have planned to kick off their rescheduled April UK dates by upgrading the venues to play their biggest headline shows to date in November 2020 – which sold out in minutes. It will also see the guys play a career defining night at London’s legendary O2 Brixton Academy on 6th November. Oli is grateful and surprised that people still are supporting them even though their is so much uncertainty with live shows at the moment. It shows just how dedicated and loyal their fans are.

“Yeah, definitely because it’s been months of doing no shows. There has been moments where you think ‘oh is this falling apart or like are people going to lose interest’ but yeah having the fact that when we get back, Brixton Academy in London, is gonna be one of our first shows back, and it’s gonna be the biggest show we’ve ever played by far, that’s really exciting and then like you said, even though people don’t necessarily know or are sure its going to come back it’s amazing that they’re still buying tickets because they know eventually they’re going to be able to see us.”

Brixton Academy in London is a big first show back and it is a little nerve racking but Oli is excited to get back on stage

“Yeah, definitely. I mean we did our first practice a couple weeks ago and we didn’t sound very good, there’s gonna be a lot of re-remembering the songs. I think everyone’s so up for a gig like us and fans and stuff it’s just gonna be so cathartic when it finally happens, it’s gonna be such a release of energy and, you know, coming out playing that first song I think it’s gonna feel crazy, something I’ve never felt before I reckon, just amazing.”

Touring and gigging all the time sets the band up for some bizarre experiences and as we sat chatting about shows Oli chuckles as he reminisces on one particular odd experience the band had early on.

“We played a venue in London, one of our earliest London shows but then, because when you go off the stage you have to go onto the street before we go into the dressing room and there was just some random lady walking past, she was like ‘oh what’s going on in there’ and we said ‘there’s a gig’ and she was like, ‘oh ok who’s gig’ and we were like ‘oh ours’. We just come off the stage, and we opened the door and you can hear everyone screaming one more song and she goes ‘oh Ok’. And then we went back on stage and as we’re playing the last song I turned around and she had let herself in the back and was just standing on the side of the stage watching us.”

The band are keeping busy during this crazy time, creating songs and they might even have their next album underway already. I wondered what the next album would sound like and if these new songs were in keeping with the bands dynamic style.

“ I guess we’ve already just started writing the next one. Naturally when we have all this free time you just end up gravitating back towards writing so hopefully we can get a load of songs written while we’ve got this downtime. But yeah, ultimately, we’ve got some shows for November so fingers crossed they can go ahead. But, you know, it might be, unfortunately a bit of waiting around. 

“I mean at the moment we’re just kind of filling out new songs and just trying everything but you can kind of hear from the last few songs that we recorded for this album which was, I think ‘Lie To Me’ and ‘Moving On’, they’re already quite different, and I think we definitely want to try. It’s like we’ve established what we do and now it’s time to kind of mess with that a bit and try and do some more interesting stuff. So definitely, I think there’s gonna be some kind of progression there, although too early to say exactly what. Probably not gonna be, you know, jazz or any surprises like that but you know definitely some more influences.”

There are talks of socially distance gigs and I wondered if this was something that Sea Girls could do especially with the frenetic energy they bring with their shows or if shows could even go back to the way they were

“I hope so I mean, eventually, I think. Like I saw Sam Fender did his socially distanced show but I don’t know if that’s the kind of vibe for us because for our shows and such [we are] like a community, the crowd is all part of the show. Having everyone in little pods, or spread apart I don’t know. I don’t know how I feel about that. It definitely strips away some of what our shows are known for. I think if we can’t give the fans the real experience I don’t want them to feel like they have missed out on that but hopefully smaller shows can come back as normal sooner, that will be really great. I think some places in Europe are already starting to have, a few hundred capacity shows so that would be nice.

For us playing Brixton, that’s like 5000 people who would have to distance. We’d have to do like 10 nights or something. Obviously that sounds cool but it’s not ideal really. “

The song I have been recommending to people who ask me about Sea Girls is ‘All I Want To Hear You Say’. The track is incredibly catchy, hook-filled and well written but Oli has a different song he would suggest.

“ Yeah ‘All I Want To Hear You Say’ is a good one. I’d say start with ‘Call Me Out’, it’s like our first single, and it’s just kind of everything that we do. It’s like big guitars, bittersweet lyrics but with a catchy chorus for everyone to kind of sing along to, and you know just release those emotions. That was the first one we’d written, we’re like okay this is what we want to sound like this is definitely the start of something.So people should start with that.”

There is something extremely absorbing about Sea Girls’ songs. Their ability to capture and harness raw emotion and express feelings in catchy and relatable earworms is impressive. Through clever lyrical content ‘Open Up Your Head’ deals with difficult emotions through heartwarming and explosive musicianship. Sea Girls are expanding their music with each release.This debut album marks an important point in this fantastic bands musical journey. Check it out and enjoy.

Stream ‘Open Up Your Head’ below 

Author : Danu