Here are the facts. Get Loved is Faker’s third studio album and will be released on Friday 27th January, 2012. How Did We Not Get Loved?, out today, is the precursor to that record and showcases the darker side of the sessions that spawned the band’s first album in three years. Below, guitarist Nic Munnings explains how Rio de Janeiro beach parties, biking accidents and sleep deprivation informed the EP.
“Bad Feeling” – Nathan started writing this while he was trekking across California by train on his first trip away to write songs for the third Faker record. It was originally called Blood, but by the time we recorded a demo of it, the title had changed a couple of times before we settled on Bad Feeling. We were really excited about it because it was one of the first recordings we had made ourselves where we were actually really happy with how it sounded and felt. At that time though it felt like we were the only ones championing the song, so when we recorded Get Loved, Bad Feeling sat at the side of the room like a wallflower at a school dance. It might be about how you feel watching somebody at that dance who is with someone else when they should be with you, or it may not- you know these feelings change.
“Back When Solvents” – At the heart of Back When Solvents is the story of a bicycle accident at the end of a festive night out. It’s not so much a cautionary tale of the perils of riding a bike while intoxicated as a note-to-self about learning from your mistakes- we all get hurt sometimes but when we’re aware of how it happened we stand a better chance of landing on our feet next time.
“Hearts To Break” – Hearts To Break was one of the first songs written for Get Loved, and it was initially much slower and more low-key. Nathan realised early on that making the song more upbeat would give an interesting contrast to the relatively dark lyrics, but strangely enough changing the music also changed the meaning of the song. Now it tells the story of two friends sitting outside a club- one has had his heart broken and his friend is consoling him, telling him to get back inside and break some hearts of his own.
“Black Dogs” – Before recording Get Loved, we spent part of last year writing and recording a song every weekday, mostly just to see what would happen. Having finished the album and formed a new band, we decided we’d revisit the concept. This was the first song we recorded to feature our new rhythm section Liam and Chris, and was once again written and recorded in one glorious, sleep-deprived 24 hour period. It’s essentially about being there for your friends when they need you, and I’m fairly sure that it is not about dogs at all.
“How Did You Not Get Loved?” – The (kind of) title track is also the newest song on the EP. Nathan felt like there needed to be one more song to tie the others together. How Did You Not Get Loved? is, in part, the story of last New Year’s Eve, which he spent on a beach in Rio de Janeiro with 5 million other people, yet still feeling somewhat alone. In the track you can hear the sounds of fireworks, a protest and some kids playing drums in the street, all of which he recorded on his phone while he was there.
