"I was looking at that first interview that I did with you last year, amazing to think how far we have come."
Indeed. White Royal may have not been the most prolific band in the year since we first spoke to Josh Hobson (above) here in our Introducing White Royal feature, but they have, it seems, been quietly beavering away - to now return with this quite gorgeous new single, 'Notice'.
This will mark their first release since the Yorkshire outfit - Hobson, Jonty Brown, and collaborator Thomas Balmforth - signed to Brooklyn-based label Color Station, and is out on October 28. The single will come with B-side, 'Be Terrestrial', which, Josh teases, "I think will also surprise as it's quite different to this track."
Listening to the first recorded works we heard from White Royal, 'Embassy' - a sparse, dreamy MONEY-esque track; 'False Widow' - ethereal vocal over electronic layers - they're a lot different in many respects to the smooth-flowing RnB feel of 'Notice', which encompasses various little tweaks and effects - like the 'seagull' sound. (Well, we think it sounds like a seagull; apparently White Royal themselves describe it as being more cat-like...)
"The writing process was actually quite straightforward," Josh tells us. "Thom sent me a keyboard part he had been working on, I then devised a full vocal when hearing this. The vocal has only been changed slightly - it is almost identical to what is currently recorded. Once that was done, it was then about stripping the song back completely then building it back up again. We liked the idea of having a low end bass throughout the track, mainly taking inspiration from hip-hop tracks. We have also been using a lot of vocal manipulation which we played with a bit on the track."
Lyrically, he adds, the song was "inspired by my times working for a night club. I wanted to call the song 'Notice' as the idea of perspective and perception in that environment is fascinating, depending on what position you hold. Essentially it's a song born out of the endurance of British night life, love and inebriation."
The song apparently only took two days to write as well, so hopefully we will be hearing plenty more from White Royal in the coming months. "We are really excited about what the future holds and the position we are in," says Josh. So are we.
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