Exclusive Doe dive into ‘Some Things Last Longer Than You’ with a track-by-track guide

Nicola: The rest of the album was written over the period of a couple of months as a cohesive thing, but we wrote this song ages ago and always had in mind that it would be a good opener. Plus like no-one/’No.1’/first track on the album, geddit? It feels right to open with a strong statement of ‘I’m not taking your shit anymore’ - we start as we mean to go on *insert devil emoji*.

Nicola: ‘Monopoly’ is about the feeling of biting your tongue and trying to be diplomatic in a relationship/friendship that isn’t working out anymore. The verses start off well meaning then when it comes to the chorus those frustrations that you’ve been trying to hold back for so long burst out into a hateful pop singalong.

Jake: In contrast to ‘Monopoly’, the vibe of ‘Sincere’ is rooted in confrontation. Nicola’s lyrics are based around dudes who use feminism as a way to appear progressive and intelligent but behind closed doors don’t put any of it into practice. It’s pretty straight up and not really open to interpretation. The music began life as a tune I hummed into my phone when I was cooking. I wish I could remember what I was making now… probably some kind of pasta. I love pasta.

Jake: ‘Turn Around’ is one of the first songs we wrote for the album and is probably my favourite. The lyrics concern ‘learning to say no’ and refusing to go along with things for an easy life or for fear of causing a fuss and making things difficult. They’re kind of apt because I feel like it’s the least accessible song on the record due to it not having a chorus. I think that’s what I like so much about it, it’s sort of hard work to listen to (in a good way, obvs).

Nicola: ‘Respite’ is a bit more abstract than the other songs. Loosely, it’s a reminder that us and our worries are transient, as are the outside factors that contribute to them. It’s a real ploddy heavy song with weird parts, MJ nailed the guitar tones on record and it’s very satisfying to play live.

Jake: This is a song about overthinking, which all three of us are guilty of on a regular basis. It focuses on stepping back and acknowledging your tendency to overthink, but in a kind of anxious self-judging way which in itself is an overthought. Convoluted, right? It’s like a vicious circle. Also this is the first Doe song ever to feature a face-melting guitar solo. Dean nailed it, he’s a secret shredder.

Nicola: We finished writing all the songs for the album then I had a freakout and decided that it didn’t quite feel right, so we scrapped one and I wrote the bones of a new one based on a bud of an idea that came to me in a dream (true story). The bud ended up being the chorus chord sequence and the song ended up being one of our favourites on the album. Turns out anxiety can work in your favour sometimes!

Jake: This is a combination of three separate song ideas I had and is the first time I’ve done lead vocals on a Doe song without sharing them with Nicola. The lyrics deal with struggling to forgive yourself for past mistakes and having mental health lapses after convincing yourself that you’ve finally conquered all of your shit. It’s also about being with someone who’s helped you through so much and how you want to be the best version of yourself for them, but ultimately you feel like you’re just destined to be a fuck up. Oh, how bloody cheerful!

Nicola: ‘Corin’ started as a super short phone recording I made of the main shouty bit which I thought (hoped) sounded a bit like a Corin Tucker melody. We fleshed it out and Dean wrote a sweet Carrie Brownstein riff to complete the rip off, then Jake added a Sting-esque vocal to mix things up a bit. We were too lazy to think of another name and thought it would be a nice ode to keep the working title. After we recorded it I lost my voice for about a week, but I’m very excited about screaming a lot live.

Nicola: ‘Something To Tell You’ has, unsurprisingly, a confessional tone and brings together both the confrontational and self doubting elements of the other songs. It’s about battling with trying to be a good person but feeling like maybe you’re not such a good person after all, because things aren’t black and white and people aren’t good or bad. It’s quite a dramatic song with a nasty waltz part and when we were going through mixing notes with MJ we kept being like ‘make it more horrible! Make the screeching louder!’ It came out just as we imagined and feels like a big horrible crescendo.

Doe’s debut album ‘Some Things Last Longer Than You’ is out September 9th via Specialist Subject.

Tags: Doe, Listen, Track by Track, Features