Foto-© Kalie Johnston

Vier Jahre nach Private Space melden sich Durand Jones, Aaron Frazer und Blake Rhein mit einem neuen Album zurück: Flowers, das am 27.05.2025 erscheint, klingt zugleich vertraut und persönlich. Entstanden in einem Heimstudio in Chicago und getragen von der langjährigen Freundschaft zwischen den drei Musikern, ist die Platte eine Art musikalisches Heimkommen – zurück zum rauen, warmen Soul- und Funk-Sound, der sie einst zusammengebracht hat.

Im Interview erzählen die drei von alten Club-Sounds aus Baltimore, Demoaufnahmen, die zur Endversion wurden, und davon, wie sich ihre Zusammenarbeit nach ihren Soloalben verändert hat. Besonders offen spricht Durand über die persönliche Entwicklung, die er während seiner Auszeit durchlaufen hat – und wie sie direkt in die neuen Songs eingeflossen ist. Obwohl Flowers als bewusste Abkehr vom Disco-Sound des Vorgängers Private Space daherkommt, wirkt es nicht wie ein nostalgischer Rückschritt – sondern viel mehr wie ein gereiftes Selbstverständnis. Schon beim ersten Hören wird klar: Jeder einzelne hat seinen ganz eigenen Klang gefunden – und doch verschmelzen ihre Stimmen wie noch nie zuvor.

Wir haben mit der Band über ihre Rückkehr gesprochen, über das Gefühl, zum ersten Mal nichts mehr verstecken zu müssen – und darüber, wie sich Soul heute anfühlen kann, wenn man ihn ganz ehrlich meint.

It’s been four years since your last record, Private Space, and a lot has happened in the world, and I imagine in your personal lives, too. Now you’re back with Flowers, a self-produced record, one that feels very mature and warm. I was wondering: What was it that brought you back together?
Durand: Good question. I think what brought us back together – besides having Dead Oceans be such a really great and supportive label, and the fact that we owed them more records after signing a new deal – was something deeper than that. If you peel back the layers, there’s just this spark, this magic I feel when I’m with Blake, Aaron, Steve, and everyone else – something I haven’t felt in any other project. When we’re together, there’s this creative energy that feels really organic. I can bring in an idea, and it’s like they instinctively know how to finish the thought. That’s a rare and beautiful connection. So after – I called it my little sabbatical whenever I took some time and did a little solo project – it felt really good to tap back into that energy and see the guys again. I guess it’s really that connection between you that brought you back to making this
album – just being in sync with each other.

It really comes through in Been So Long, which was released on April 22 and feels like a warm welcome back. When I was listening to this track, it felt like I was flipping through an old family and friends’ album and just reminiscing on some memories. Can you tell me what inspired this song?
Aaron: The song itself isn’t really autobiographical, but the feeling behind it is. There’s this idea that the more things change, the more they stay the same. And, as you said before, a lot has happened in the world and in our individual lives. But, like Durand said, when we get back into the same room, it still feels like we’re doing what we’ve always done – since 2013, in my basement back in Indiana. We just wanted to capture that feeling: something sweet, with a hint of melancholy – the kind that nostalgia often brings.

You kind of touched on this already, but you said you wanted to return to your roots with this record – raw funk, southern soul, a return to the basement energy of your early days in Bloomington. What does the original Indications sound or feeling mean to you now? And what drew you back to that time and space?
Durand: Just thinking back to those early days – the way I really started to build a deep connection with Blake and Aaron was through sharing music. Long before we ever wrote songs together, we were trading our favorite records. We had this little Dropbox filled with hundreds of tunes that we’d put in there and update. Eventually, that turned into the Indications Inspirations playlist on Spotify. Those moments were key to understanding each other creatively and eventually writing songs together. And I really felt that same energy again in Blake’s studio this time around. We really captured that essence, I think. Aaron kept saying, “This time, we’re going to make the music we love.” And that’s exactly what those early songwriting sessions with these two felt like. Sometimes I wish I could go back in time and watch the three of us in Aaron’s basement – because back then, who would’ve thought we’d be where we are today? It’s a beautiful thing to reconnect with that feeling – to be at Blake’s place, not just writing songs that feel great to us, but hanging out, vibing, talking about music. Honestly, it was some of the most fun I’ve ever
had songwriting with these guys. And it’s really nice to bring that full circle.

Did revisiting that energy bring back any specific memories from the beginning of the band?
Aaron: Those early sessions – there were so many. I remember sitting at my drum set in the basement, trying to recreate this drum break from memory that I used to hear a lot on the radio growing up in Baltimore. There was this club broadcast – a very specific kind of flavor of club music. Without actually listening back to it, I was just trying to play what I remembered. And there’s no way I could’ve really done it, because it had a lot of hand percussion and layered textures. So, I ended up improvising my own version – which eventually became the drums for Make a Change. They sound nothing like the original rhythm I had in mind, but that’s how it came together. I also remember redoing the instrumental – the kind of “hissing in the river” sound – with Blake in the basement. Then I laid down on the couch and recorded vocals for Durand to replace later. But when we listened back, I realized they actually kind of worked – and we ended up keeping my falsetto on the record. That was all for Is It Any Wonder? and it basically happened by accident.
Blake: Yeah, I think the feeling from LP1 that really came through on this album was taking the pressure off us. You know, back when we made that first record, there were no expectations, no pressure. I remember reading a Bruce Springsteen book about his song Nebraska, where he talks about that exact mindset: you can’t really engineer the feeling of just making something for yourself and then putting it out into the world. That’s how he ended up releasing the self-recordings for Nebraska. And while you can’t fully recapture that feeling, I feel like we got really, really close – removing the critique from the creative, letting go of expectations, and just making music because we wanted to. That spirit felt really reminiscent of our first record.

Also, you recorded most of the album in a home studio, which creates such an intimate space for feelings to grow into songs. I mean, some of them are even one-take demos, right? Did that more intimate setting shape the songs in a new way?
Blake: Yeah, you know, one of the things I talked to Aaron and Durand about while we were working on this record – and going back to your previous question, something that made this process feel similar – was how, during American Love Call and Private Space, we’d make a bunch of demos, book studio time to record the album properly, and then basically start over. There were moments in that process, where we tried to recreate something that had happened in a demo – sometimes it worked pretty well, sometimes we struggled, and other times we’d end up somewhere totally new, which was great in its own way. But this time, I really wanted us to have the freedom to say, “Hey, if we like the demo, let’s just pick up from there and finish it.” So going into this album with that mindset – that a demo could actually be part of the final product – was really refreshing. It allowed for a lot of spontaneity, the kind of moments you can’t plan or recreate, even if you tried.

This also perfectly fits the creative process that this album went through, you recording in a home studio. Durand, you’ve opened up about confronting parts of your identity and past during the making of this album. What personal truths did you want to express with Flowers that maybe wouldn’t have made it into earlier records?
Durand: Yeah, thanks for that! During my little sabbatical – my time away from the Indications – I spent a lot of time making art I loved, but also working on myself and facing the insecurities that always made me feel like an imposter. The feelings that made me feel so intimidated and scared, you know, where I could not own it. I wanted to come back to the Indications as a more honest version of myself – and to bring songs rooted in real, personal experiences. A track like Really Wanna Be With You comes directly from a past relationship I had with an ex who happens to be another man. I’m really grateful that, through the press cycle around this release, people seem to understand the sentiments that I tried to emote with that. And I’m especially thankful for Aaron and Blake – not just for accepting who I am and who I’m becoming, but for embracing it. That’s a true sign of not just being in a great band but being real friends. That’s what I wanted to bring to this record: a more honest version of myself.

Was it scary at any point to put so much of yourself into the music? Or did it also feel freeing being able to share it with your fans? I mean, it must’ve been a relief, right?
Durand: You know, I love that sometimes being afraid – or being scared – can actually be liberating in some sense. I’m thinking of that quote from Dr. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf: “If your dreams don’t scare you, they’re not big enough.” Sometimes you just have to jump out of the plane – not knowing where you’ll land – but embracing the thrill on the way down.

What you just said about fear being liberating – and embracing that thrill of the unknown – feels like a powerful mindset to carry into an album. So, what can fans expect from the rest of the record? What kinds of themes are you exploring throughout?
Aaron: I mean, politics are always present – in the U.S. and around the world. I’ve even been following the elections in Germany. So, as with our past records, there’s at least one track that touches on political themes. But beyond that, I’d say there’s a bit of humor on this album too – while still staying true to who we are. We explore some different angles and relationships that we’ve explored before at school. What makes this album especially fun is that, unlike previous records where we started out with specific references – like, “What if we did a song kind of like this or that” – this time, we pulled together our favorite elements from albums one, two, and three. And what you get is a record that just sounds like Durand Jones & The Indications. I think this album is unmistakably us, in a really beautiful way.

Since each of you brings different influences and solo experiences into the mix, I was wondering: how do those individual perspectives come together in shaping the sound of Flowers specifically?
Blake: You know, one of the great things about this album was that it came after the longest break we’ve had between records since the band started. And during that time, it was really interesting for me to sit back and listen to Aaron’s and Durand’s solo projects – it gave me a better understanding of where their instincts naturally go when I’m not in the room. You can really hear how both of them expanded their toolkits. And when we finally got back into the room together, it felt like we were all bringing a bigger collection of tools to the table. There were moments where I’d hear something Aaron or Durand did on their own records and ask, “How did you do that? Could that work on what we’re working on now?” That exchange was an amazing part of the process. I remember watching Durand work with some of the singers while recording background vocals – or the way he approached tracking strings. He used this technique where, during the final overdub, he piped the previous takes back through the PA in the live room. So you had the new string part being recorded while the earlier takes echoed through the room – creating this huge, layered sound. That was something I’d never come across before, and it’s just one example of a tool he picked up while working on his solo stuff – something we now get to insert into the Indications tool bag.

Hearing how each of you brought new tools and ideas into the band really shows how much you’ve grown individually – while still feeding into the group’s creative chemistry. At the same time, the music industry is constantly shifting, and everything seems to move faster these days – not just in music, but in life in general. I was wondering: where do you see yourselves in today’s soul and funk landscape? Do you feel like you’re part of a larger movement, pushing these genres forward while still honoring their roots?
Durand: Yeah, you know, the soul scene was so different when our first LP came out. And honestly, one of the big reasons I first met and wanted to hang out with Blake and Aaron was because Blake handed me a Charles Bradley CD one day – No Time for Dreaming. He said, “Hey man, this sounds really good, you should take a listen to it.” I ain’t gonna lie, it took me a couple of days, but I eventually put it on – and I was like, “Wow, this is cool, I really love this.” And I truly believe that kind of started our bond. I think about Sharon and her group, Charles and his group, Lee and his band – and so a lot of those guys really helped carve out this space where you could actually imagine yourself doing this too. It’s like when no one thought it was possible to run a marathon in under two hours – until someone finally did it. And then, the very next month, four other people crushed that mark. Each time it got faster and better. That’s kind of how it felt for us. A lot of what Sharon, Charles, and Lee were doing kind of inspired us young guys in college. And I have to shout out Terry Cole too, and the work he was doing with Monophonics and others – what they were all doing really inspired us, as young college kids. It made us think, “We could do that too.” And now, years later, it’s cool to see younger bands being influenced by us, feeling encouraged and thinking, “Yeah, we can do this.” There are so many young soul bands out there now. It’s impressive to see and really awesome to be a part of that legacy – while also trying to push the genre forward. Not just for ourselves, but for the ones who will get inspired and want to go down this lane too, you know. To make it better for everyone – that’s how I feel about it.

So for my last question, what do you hope people take away from Flowers personally – either on their first listen or after living with it for a while?
Blake: I hope people can hear just how distinct each of our voices has become – especially now that there are solo records from members of the band – and what happens when those voices come together. You know, I’ve been friends with these guys for over a decade, and maybe only in the past couple of years have I truly come to terms with how different our lives were before we met. There was this kind of naivety early on – like, oh, we’re not that different after all. But the more you live together, the more you realize: we really are different. And that’s a beautiful thing. Because through those shared experiences, you grow to truly respect where each person is coming from – the lives they’ve lived, the things that shaped their way of thinking. So I hope people recognize how special it is that the three of us – and our keyboardist Steve too – come from such different backgrounds and still come together to create something cohesive and meaningful.