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- Hi guys, welcome to VENTS! How have you been?
Hey, thanks a lot for having us again, we truly appreciate your support! Thing’s have been going well since last time we spoke.
- So you guys have mentioned how your new album Is This Worth Living For? is rooted in the feeling of being disconnected from a world increasingly shaped by social media, expectations, and superficial perfection. Did the album begin with those frustrations, or did the deeper existential questions about identity and purpose emerge as you started writing?
The initial writing process didn’t necessarily begin with that in mind, but as usual with us, songs are so personal, that by the third song we started to notice we have a clear, strong message behind our writing for this record. The messed-up world we live in, and all those feelings you just described are what ties everything together in this record, both lyrically and sonically.
- The album moves through post-grunge, metalcore, post-hardcore, nu metal, progressive metal, and electronic textures. How did you approach building such a wide sonic palette while still making sure the record feels unmistakably like Electron?
We really don’t think too much about genres when we write. The main rule is to write something you’d listen to, that you’d be a fan of. Keep it honest, true to yourself and just say what you need to say. All these genres are present in our music, because we listen to various kinds of music, and it just blurs together when it’s time to express ourselves.
- You guys got to work with Grammy-nominated producer Romesh Dodangoda. What did he recognize in Electron’s sound that helped you push these songs further than you might have on your own?
What we love about working with Romesh is that he doesn’t try to change us, or how we sound – he “just” tries to help us get that sound that’s in our heads out there, on the record. And I like that he pushes us in the studio to excel and become better musicians and songwriters. The hardest part in songwriting and production is to keep it simple – and that’s the approach we collectively try to integrate.
- “Trap” opens the album with crushing heaviness and dark electronics before exploding into this truly great anthemic post-grunge chorus. Why did this feel like the right song to introduce listeners to the world of Is This Worth Living For??
We believe the intro is really mysterious, and it doesn’t reveal too much straightaway of how we’re about to sound – that’s why we thought it would be the perfect opening. Also, we tried to tie every song’s message lyrically (when making the tracklist), so that the final sound or message of a track, leads to the beginning of the next one.
- Songs like “Lie To Me,” “Dying To Feel Alive,” and “Toxic” all explore different forms of distrust and disconnection. Was there a deliberate emotional progression to the album, almost like moving deeper and deeper into the problems you’re confronting?
Exactly. We wanted this record to be a deeply emotional experience to our fans – just like making it was for us. And the way we tied every song to each other, the sequence it became takes you through the journey of the feelings that were behind this record. As you go along, each song brings out new perspectives, new emotions and starts amplifying the message.
- “Toxic” takes aim at social-media culture, disinformation, polarization, and the pressure to have an opinion on everything. How do you turn something as overwhelming and constantly changing as online culture into something personal enough to express through music?
It’s just something that completely makes us angry. We really detest this obsession with perfection, fake lives we see every day on social media, unrealistic expectations about what and how you should be like… It’s so toxic!
- “Taken” features Skindred’s Benji Webbe and is described as Electron essentially raising a middle finger to the world. What did Benji bring to the track, and how did his presence change the energy of the song?
When we finished recording this track, for some reason, it felt like we could hear Benji singing in there. So, we had the audacity of going to him with this track, see how he’d feel about it, and we started reworking the track with him. If we’re doing a collaboration, it needs to feel like that – we wanted his personality, his voice, his message in there; and that’s exactly what we got there. And we feel like it turned out great, we managed to mix up both our styles and create something unique.
- “Tether” explores the frustration of reaching for something that seems close but remains out of reach. Is that idea of wanting more than the world is willing to give something you see as central to the album as a whole?
Yes, it’s like a false promise – you long too much for something that it was going to be yours, but ultimately, you can’t have it. And in life, we’re full of things we want but we can’t get. and sometimes that may leave you frustrated.
- You close the record with “Bleeding Heart,” moving from this really cavernous, heavy crescendo into a soaring chorus that suggests what appears to be an uncertain future. What did you want listeners to be left feeling after everything the album puts them through?
After all the things we covered on this record, it feels like the best closure it’d be to get no closure at all, but to leave the listeners to think and questioned about what they just experienced. And yes, we do believe the future is uncertain, we really don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow in this crazy world.
- You’ve already completed headline tours across the UK and Europe following Defiance, and now you’re taking these much bigger sounds on the road in October. What have you learned about Electron as a live band since 2023, and what can people expect from the new songs when that chaos hits the stage?
I think it’s just a beautiful journey, when we look back on how we sounded with Defiance, and how we evolved up to this point… Our goal is to keep improving, expressing ourselves better, and to be able to capture all our energy – which we’re not close to it yet. We’re close with “ITWLF?”; but we still know that there’s a lot of room to improve and to grow.
