Eliza & the Delusionals have released their new album, Make It Feel Like the Garden.
The album took shape during the indie rock trio’s North American tour in 2022.
Kurt Skuse (guitarist) and Eliza Klatt (lead singer) wrote the majority of the album at their DIY studio in Napa, California, before heading back home and to colloborate with producer Oscar Dawson (Holy Holy, Teen Jesus and the Jean Teasers, CLEWS, Amy Shark) at his studio in Rye, Victoria.
“It was interesting to see how working in a different part of the world, outside of the comfort of our home studio and Australia in general, has influenced our writing and the process of demoing the songs,” says Klatt. “Recording the album with Oscar Dawson was an incredibly collaborative experience. He continued to push us out of our comfort zones which lead us to feeling really free creatively. I think this also made us write in our most honest and genuine form.”
The album features the single “Falling for You”, a track rooted in themes of love and longing.
“’Falling for You’ was a personal favourite from the get go for me,” Klatt reveals. “There’s just something about the driving beat and the soaring melodies that I love.
“We knew we wanted to experiment with saxophone for this record, and this song felt like the perfect track for that. I think it has so much emotion to it, and it’s such a beautiful part of the song. To me, lyrically it’s about not wanting to fall down the rabbit hole of falling in love but you just can’t help it.”
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Also featured is latest single “Lately”, which has Silversun Pickups’ lead vocalist and guitarist Brian Aubert as a special guest.
Eliza & the Delusionals were on tour supporting Silversun Pickups in 2022 when they told Aubert they were working on their second album. When they asked if he’d feature on one of the tracks, he expressed excitement about helping out.
“Eliza & the Delusionals are basically family to me. When they asked me to join them on a song I was over the moon. I love the song and I wanted it to have a certain chemistry. So I basically had to build up a sort of parasocial obsession with the sound of my longtime friend Eliza’s voice. And I did. And it was wild. And I hope it comes across because I love the song and I love this band,” Aubert shares.
Klatt adds: “We hadn’t even written anything at the time, but we knew we wanted to write something to pay homage to the 90s/00s era of shoegaze indie music with big guitars and drum sounds. When we went into the studio the first time with Oscar, we wrote the initial idea for ‘Lately’ and knew immediately it was the perfect song for Brian to be a part of.
“Brian’s contribution in the writing process was like no other and we honestly couldn’t begin to express how much it meant to us, it elevated the track to new heights along with his idea to involve Butch Vig in the vocal production aspect absolutely blew us away. We really hope people can connect with the track as much as we have.”
Watch the accompanying video, which was created by videographer and 3D designer Tom Carroll, above.
Eliza & the Delusionals’ last album, their 2022 debut Now and Then, reached the top 20 on the ARIA Albums Chart.
The trio will embark on an Australian album tour next month, taking in stops in Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth, and Brisbane (more information here).
Eliza & the Delusionals’ Make It Feel Like the Garden is out now via Cooking Vinyl Australia.
