Words: Linn Branson
Leeds quintet - a Little Indie One To Watch - Household Dogs are back in 2020 with their first release of the year, ‘Ain’t No Heaven’ - and what a hands-in-the-air belter it is too.
Following last October's ‘Will My Dreams Be Electric Tonight?’, the new self-produced track fields the Dogs' baritone vocals and spartan, spacious guitar lines reminiscent of The xx that set a little shiver running up the spine.
The roots of ‘Ain’t No Heaven’ originally trace back to a piece of prose penned by frontman Declan Newcombe. Gripped by an inexplicable surge of inspiration while walking in the pale light of one cold winter’s morning, he felt inspired to capture a dark and enigmatic monologue that began to materialise amidst his stream of consciousness. With just his phone to hand, he found words spilling wildly and vividly into a written passage of a stark intensity and brittle vulnerability. Psychologically curious and poetically captivating, Declan recognised its lyrical potential.
“Lyrically, it is raw. Nothing has been edited from the original stream of consciousness bar the repetition,” he says, analysing the prose from which ‘Ain’t No Heaven’ took shape.
“I think that made it more conversational and intimate. My lyrics are only ever me describing my surroundings and 'Ain’t No Heaven' is just that. It is partially autobiographical, but not to a narcissistic extent. It just nods to people and places. If I listen to it I can still see it all so clearly, I can almost taste it. I could write an essay on what it means but unless it means something to someone else it really means nothing.”
Tune in now. The evocative opening alone will have you gripped. One of the best things you will hear this week.
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