Off The Record! Whenyoung are ready to return home

As they’re eagerly waiting to take a sourdough loaf out of the oven, Whenyoung’s married couple, Aoife Power and Andrew Flood, caught up with the Limerick Leader ahead of their album release.

Currently living in Ramsgate, just outside of London, the duo is ready to move back to Ireland.

“We're actually packing up because we're moving back to Ireland. We're moving back home to Clare,” says Andrew.

Aoife is originally from Limerick, and Andrew, from Clare.

“You can only stay away from Ireland for so long. We've been here for like 10 years now, and we started our band here and everything,” continues Andrew.

“But we've never been based in Ireland as musicians, so we're kind of looking forward to being based there and feeling part of the community there again.”

Aoife agrees: “After being away for a long time, it’s nice to be closer to family. So, although we’re leaving loads of friends behind, it’s not too far away.”

The pair originally met in school. Before becoming Whenyoung, they were called Sisters – the indie pop-rock three-piece hailing from Limerick. After a couple of years, the trio became a duo.

“We basically kind of changed our music a bit and decided that we didn’t want to be called Sisters any more because there was an American Gospel group of the same name, and it was a bit tricky when you were Googling us,” laughs Aoife.

Andrew recalls: “It was like our formative years and like we were all getting to know music together at the time.”

On February 23, the pair released a new single, titled ‘Rubik's Cube.’ With electric sound and angelic vocals, the song is inspired by the puzzling of the multidimensional game.

Speaking of their latest release, Aoife comments: “I had read something about a Rubik's cube, and it'd been compared to the mechanics of the brain. And I thought that was really interesting and I kind of just expanded on that.”

The singer thought it would be a good metaphor for the anxiety and overthinking she was going through at the time.

“I guess it's that feeling, you might think one side of your brain is all solved and everything's okay, but then the other side is exposed, and you realise everything's not solved yet. There’s so many sides to ourselves,” adds Andrew.

As the response has been really positive, the pair look forward to the release of their next album, ‘Paragon Songs’, which will be out on April 7.

Speaking of the album’s title, Aoife points out: “The street that we live on here in Ramsgate is called Paragon. We wrote the majority of the songs, and we spent most of the lockdown here, so that kind of informed a lot of the writing process. We were kind of camped up for a while in our studio here.”

If they could describe their sound in three words, they would say it’s “euphoric, introspective, pop.” With their music, the duo tackle themes of anxiety, self-growth and self-compassion.

“There’s also themes of love, relationships, family and home,” says Aoife.

Although their music is personal, she wonders what it would be like to write from other people’s perspective.

“We always write about things that are personal to us. We were listening to Pulp Fiction this morning, and I was saying to Andrew, ‘God, I wonder if that's a real story or if it's fiction.’ I thought it would be nice to actually start writing some fictional stories,” she comments.

Limerick success at IMRO Live Music Venue of the Year Awards

Often, the duo write for others. Which is easier? Writing for yourself, or for strangers? Aoife believes the latter is more liberating.

“I think in a way it’s more liberating because stylistically, you can do things that maybe you wouldn’t do. For us, we’ve written like real pop stuff for other people, and that wouldn’t really be the genre that we would adore, so that’s quite liberating. I’d say it’s equally just as challenging, but very enjoyable,” she says.

What is their creative process like?

“Most of the time it's like we'll have a little melody, whether it's me humming a tap line of a song, or we might just come up with a little idea or begin from there,” says Aoife.

Andrew points out: “We normally work the songs out on an acoustic instrument, like a guitar or piano, first. I think the song has to work in a traditional sense before we can take it somewhere further.

“There is a desire to connect with people, but when you actually do, it's a reaIly special thing when people say that they relate to our music, it’s quite moving. You don't really expect that when you're writing music or when you're creating any art, it’s a special thing to connect with humans on any level.”

If there is one thing Aoife would like people to know, it’s that Andrew is “really good at baking bread.”

“He has a loaf of sourdough in the oven. It’s almost ready – and it smells so good,” she concludes.

Whenyoung’s new album, ‘Paragon Songs’ will be out on April, 7 and they’ll perform in Dolans, on April 20.