ŁŚ Magazine: An interview with See You At Home EN

ŁŚ Magazine is back and the first guest comes from UK, ladies and gentlemen: See You At Home whose new EP, "Be Happy", is one of the best depressive dreampop compositions of this year. The artists talk about how sad songs are better than the danceable ones, as much is life like a party and where home is, thank you SYAH!

ŁŚ: You say you create “sad songs and stuff”. Why sad music? Would you value it more than “happy/dance music”? Or maybe it’s just closer to your selves? 

SYAH: I think sad songs always resonated with us more, and we naturally felt drawn to those themes when creating our own music. I also used to get lost in my head a lot when I was younger and sad songs usually helped me to organise those thoughts.

That's not to say we don't value happy music though. I think sad music is just a lot closer to our true selves. I'd have no idea where to begin if I were to try making a happy song - it would probably just be a sad song with happy chords haha.

ŁŚ: Longing, solitude, alienation, existential crisis. All of these topics are present in your songs. I wonder, are they unambiguously negative feelings/states? 

SYAH: Within the EP they are usually presented with a backdrop of sadness but I don't believe these feelings are all negative. Solitude and alienation can lead to healthy reflection, and there are positives that can be drawn from existentialism too. The EP is sort of a journey through these emotions to get better.

"Be Happy"

ŁŚ: Would you agree that “Be Happy” represents the, so-called, lo-fi music? Was it your conscious choice to record it this way or was it more of the only available way to do it?

SYAH: It was a bit of both really. On one hand we absolutely love the heartfelt, warm feeling that a lot of lo-fi music invokes, and wanted to emulate that, but the decision was also born out of limitation. All our EPs have been recorded in my bedroom, with 1 mic and a laptop, in any time that we could spare after work or on the weekends. We're quite busy people so creating the EP with a DIY attitude was the best for us.

ŁŚ: The title of your new album (and also the title of your first EP) seems to be a bit ironic, doesn’t it?

SYAH: With 'Be Happy' there's an element of that for sure, but at the same time I sort of wanted to reflect on the phrase itself. In many ways happiness shouldn't be a destination, something that you will achieve or not, but rather a journey of constant evolution and refinement of oneself. The songs somewhat explore the negative thought processes that can develop when you view happiness as a fixed point, which in turn contradicts the phrase.

'Everything Is Okay' was slightly different in that I wanted to explore cyclic overthinking thought patterns, and the title was almost a reassurance that the narrator would say to themselves throughout the EP.

"Everything Is Okay"

ŁŚ: My favourite track is definitely “Mid-Party Depression”.  It’s clearly more about life than a party. Or maybe there's not so many differences between the two?

SYAH: Thank you! In some ways the song is about reaching an impasse in life, and the feelings that come with that; existentialism and a person's purpose and goal, as well as how that person copes. At the same time though, those feelings can be applied to a party setting, and the wall that you hit in the middle of the party as it gets late and you start to think too much, while everyone else is seemingly having an amazing time, oblivious to those emotions.

ŁŚ: “Mid-Party Depression” is extremely self-expressing, I’d say it’s even exhibitionistic. Are those your own experiences, is it about your soul? Or maybe about depression in more generic sense?

SYAH: For this EP we did consciously try to make the songs a bit more honest, and 'Mid-Party Depression' is probably the most honest song we've written, with us drawing on our own experiences to help shape what we wanted to portray. While we tried to keep the song fairly vague in order to make it about existentialism and depression in a more generic sense, there are definitely parts of us that we've left behind in the lyrics.

ŁŚ: And finally, about your name. Where’s home?

SYAH: Hmm, that's a tough one! I'd definitely say home is a state of mind.

More about "Be Happy" here, check also out the band's Bandcamp and Facebook!