No Devotion: “There’s a lot more room to stretch out on the record”

When it comes to making a debut album, things can get a little tricky. Bands begin to ask themselves who’s the best producer for them, where’s the place to record, what do they want to show to the world. For some artists though, the answers come easily. No Devotion consider themselves amongst that crop.

“The thing that’s really great about this band is that we have Stuart Richardson,” explains the band’s frontman – and former Thursday / current United Nations member – Geoff Rickly. He’s not just bigging up his bandmate for his instrumental talents, but his production credits too. “He’s such a fantastic producer and he really guides us through making the record at every step. While we’re writing a song, we’re already technically making the record. As soon we start working on a song, it’s all being recorded for keeps. There’s not really any throwaway stuff.”

Playing for keeps when it comes to recording has some major advantages. Not only does it make the whole process that little bit quicker - “We just did the last five songs and I think we were maybe in there for two weeks, so it’s not been super long” - it means that you can capture that first-time magic. “Sometimes when you’re making demos and stuff, there’s something magic about that first time you sing it or that first time you play it, but with Stu recording it as we’re doing it, you don’t have to lose that. You don’t have to go back into the studio and make a second version.”