Foto-© Jak Payne
PVA ist eine Band, die mich schon eine Weile begleiten. Kennengelernt habe ich sie zuerst vor ein paar Jahren, als sie in Groningen im Vera spielten. Ich meine sogar, dass sie Support für Shame waren. Wie vermutlich viele, war ich versessen mit ihren Tracks Exhaust/Surroundings und Bad Dad. Zwei weitere Male habe ich sie seitdem live sehen dürfen. Nun veröffentlichen sie am Freitag ihr neues Album No More Like This. Ein sinnliches und intimes Werk, das die Bands Tiefe umso mehr verdeutlicht.
When did the writing process for this album begin?
Josh: Soon after the first one. We did one writing week at Ella’s partner’s family home in Essex. They’ve got this little barn there that we took over for the week. And that’s where the kind of first proper songs kind of started to come out. That was two years ago, two or three years ago now?
Ella: Yeah, so long ago. We’ve been writing this album for three years. And obviously just kind of working on building the project to a place where we could kind of be releasing again. It feels really nice that it’s actually out, because it has felt like a long time to get it to the point where we’re ready to go for many different reasons. We can’t wait to get back on the road and doing it again.
Was there an immediate idea of how you wanted the album to sound like or did it evolve as you created it?
Louis: Yeah, it did evolve over time. Once we got two kind of pillar songs, we build the rest of the album around it. They were very strong in sound and identity.
Which two songs?
Louis: I’ve got Anger Song in my mind. And Moon.
Josh: Yeah. I mean, Anger Song, Moon, Enough and Send were all made in the same writing sessions and particularly felt related and seemed like the kind of world that we were going to be exploring.
Louis: We were chucking away quite a lot of stuff this time around. We were working in abundance and, like, really trying to find the links of the works together. So, we weren’t sure if any of it was going to get used, but those two, like, kind of made a good kind of gravity field for the other ones.
How was the production process like? Was it produced in London?
Ella: Yeah, we found our guide, Kwake Bass, through a bit of research. Again, like, figuring out what the new sound was and who would be best to, like, kind of hone it and help us with it. So after seeing Sampha, I think it was, at Green Man, we were kind of mesmerized and it clicked for us. It was like, yeah, this is a bit more of an R&B record. So, Kwake Bass, the genius helped us get the record together in London.
Josh: He came to our studio in Peckham just for a chat and it was just a great vibe from the very get-go. And he was very, very, very interested in the environment that musicians are making the music in. I remember I was showing him a song and I was like, how did you get it to sound like that? And he was like, to me, that sounds like happy musicians. And I thought it was really interesting. It was not necessarily just about the sonics of it but about the space and environment for the musicians to be creative in. And that was one of the big things that Kwake did for us. He set up an environment for each of us to kind of thrive and help guide us through the process and bestow his infinite wisdom and help us through it.
Louis: Yeah, the studio, I think, is quite an interesting place. Like, no frills, very bare bones and not a lot of space, but just a lot of energy. And Kwake had mentioned that you could really feel the presence of the musicians who had rolled through and recorded and done jam sessions.
What did the writing and collaboration look like between the three of you this time around?
Ella: We write all the music together and all the instrumentals. I will, like, bring lyrics to the guys and they will support me in getting them to that place of realising them with the track and kind of figure out what’s working and what’s not. Again, like Louis was saying to throw away quite a lot of ideas, vocal verses and hooks. We experimented quite a lot to get it right.
Josh: Yeah, we love writing together, we love jamming together. We can be quite productive when we want to be and we can be quite unproductive when we want to be as well. So we just had a lot of fun making the kind of demos and getting to a point where we were ready to record. But even in the studio, at the final recording process, we were discovering and changing and adding quite a lot, which was really nice.
In a 2023 interview you described your sound as “industrial grunge” — how would you capture where you are sonically now?
Josh: It’s definitely not industrial. Might be a bit grungy.
Ella: Bit grimy.
Josh: Bit grimy, bit dusty. Quite beautiful in places. Rhythm-led. People-led as well, I think. One of the things for me that was important about making this record was to try and make an album that connects with people a bit more and that people could live with throughout their lives. Music is supposed to be listened to. I wanted to make a record that really expressed who we are as individuals and a collective and try and explore different facets of that.
Looking back, what does Blush represent to you — and what does No More Like This say about who PVA are today?
Ella: I think it’s like a statement of intent and a reminder to ourselves to kind of always be innovating and changing and to not be so focused on looking back, to keep moving forward with creativity and determination and joy. Yeah, I think that title was really for us to mark what we want to do and what we want to be. And, you know, it feels amazing to come back with music that feels really authentic after time off. And with a title like that, it kind of is a reminder to ourselves to keep going and keep pushing with our music and vision until we feel like we can’t anymore.
Your new single Enough came out today — what’s the story behind it and where does it sit within the album? In the song you sing „I dont get much but I get enough“. Do you mind telling me what you mean by that?
Ella: I don’t know. I think it‘s just about being content with what you got. Because, you know, life is a beautiful thing. I guess that’s what I mean…
One thing that really stands out to me about your music in general is how emotionally resonant your songwriting is. I wonder if you have a favourite, maybe modern or even a historic poet or writer you take inspiration from?
Ella: There’s this collection that one of my best friends got me for my birthday a few years ago called “I Hear My Sisters Saying“. It’s an anthology of poetry written by women from the 20th century onwards, even earlier. It’s by Margaret Atwood, Maya Angelou, Erica Jong, Sylvia Plath. It traces a lifetime from being a teenage woman, going through birth and puberty, marriage, grief, heartbreak, to being an older, post-menopausal. I was reading it so much throughout the whole process of this album. I think just in a witchy way, just hearing the words of women, past and present and future, I think has definitely inspired the lyrics.
How does your connection to club culture inform not just the sound, but the emotional and political messaging in your music?
Ella: Togetherness is coming to my mind. I think the feeling of euphoria when you’re with people, dancing with them, being authentic around them. I think that’s like nightlife is famously, you know, a place for the like reprobates and weirdos and people who don’t fit into society to kind of go and be themselves in all senses.
Josh: Non-conformity, freedom.
Ella: Yeah, freedom for sure and being a safe space. Just like we’ve had some of the most like revelatory experiences on the dance floor. So we’ve been trying to bring in that ethos into this album, even though it’s not necessarily like you might not hear it at 3am on the dance floor, like you can take it as like a thing to hold in your heart when you are in those spaces and like empowering.
If listeners walk away with one feeling after hearing the album, what do you hope it is?
Ella: Yearning. I want people yearning hard.
PVA Tour:
12.03.26 Berlin, Mikropol
13.03.26 Hamburg, Molotow Bar
