Track By Track: Havvk - 'Cause & Effect'
Irish alternative band Havvk have just released their debut album ‘Cause & Effect’ via Veta Records. They took a moment to talk us about the release - track by track.
If I Don’t Tell You
‘If I Don’t Tell You’ kind of sets a bit of an existential tone for the whole album, or at least, the lenses that we tackled a lot of the songs through. It’s about how much of our truth is distilled through social media, extreme messaging, click bait and even our own filtered, tailored versions of our lives. On one hand, it’s about feeling the pressure to live up to the perfect online version of ourselves. On another, it’s about losing real-life connection with people. You can read headlines and make snap assessments about the people affected. You can scroll someone’s Instagram feed and easily believe that they have their whole life sorted out even if they’re going through a terrible time. It’s not a knock on social media – we are massive tech nerds – but it is about questioning this new layer that we have to process.
Birds On A Wire
‘Birds on a Wire’ is about a relationship becoming stale and claustrophobic as the people in it outgrow each other. It’s a song about loss - wanting to hold on to the idea of romance because we can be afraid to know the alternative. But in that state, we can become resentful and toxic to be around. It’s about wanting to lash out even when you know the other person doesn’t deserve it.
Always the Same
‘Always the Same’ is about consent, personal safety and gender dynamics. It about the experiences of women and non-binary people who have to do through moments of fear, trauma, discomfort or embarrassment just to get through a normal day and it’s asking the men on the other side of that equation to really question the way they walk through life and how their words and actions might be impinging on someone’s autonomy. Yes, it’s a song about feeling exhausted and angry but it’s also trying to level out the conversation about power and gender. It’s telling everyone they can have a positive influence instead of allowing the labour of this issue to rest on women.
The Factory
‘The Factory’ is similar to Birds on a Wire in that it’s also about an outgrown relationship. The comfort of routine and having someone to take care of can be the most difficult thing to turn away from. This song is about total denial at the thought that there are other avenues out there to happiness and independence. It’s about the foundations and bricks and mortar of a relationship crumbling around you, but still wanting to stay inside, rather than escape and watch it fall.
Tunnels
‘Tunnels’ is kind of about being a perfectionist. It’s about having so many options and possibilities in life that you become caught up in the decision process. I know so many people, including myself, who have experiences like this. It’s the strangest thing to let go of alternatives and accept that no matter what we choose, we’ll never really get to find out where the other paths could have taken us. I think it’s something that relates back to the opening track. We are so privileged to be able to connect with people, places and ideas all around the world. But I think it can also lead to a myth of endless possibilities. I so often have to tell myself to stop trying to weigh up my options and just pick – otherwise another day or week or year will pass and I’ll still be at square one. That’s not the life I want to live. It seems to basic to me but I really do have to get it tattoo’d on myself someday!
Shifting Shape
‘Shifting Shape’ is about gender expression and the idea of having to adapt the way we dress, look, speak or think to fit into certain categories of gender. 'Shifting Shape' talks about four different characters each trying to break out of these boxes, whether it’s a man hiding the reality that he occasionally (shocker) needs to cry or a girl being told to sugar-coat the way she talks about periods. It’s about how these little social norms can chip away at your identity and your potential.
Hush
‘Hush’ is the oldest track on the album. We actually released an old version of it in our very early days as a band. When we sat down to put the record together, we talked about how Hush was the moment where we really felt that our sound was coming together. We’d been playing together for a couple of years and that was our moment of confidence, with playing and writing. Hush is literally about hooking up with someone at a party – it’s about wanting to take a chance on someone you’ve just met regardless of the commitment or the consequences. It’s about being spontaneous and indulgent and putting yourself out there.
52
We wrote ‘52’ as a reaction to the first vote on Brexit. We had been living in London at the time and I think it’s a closest that we had all come to seeing politicians using rhetoric and false promises to pit communities against each other. The topic was already so divisive and effected so many people’s real lives and safety. And there seemed to be very little weight put on real conversation or any kind of middle ground.
Operate
‘Operate’ is another track that touches on mental health and the way we engage with the world. It’s about someone who is living moment-to-moment without really checking in with themselves and who is so caught up in productivity, pressures and commitments that they make no time to question whether they’re doing okay. I have definitely spun into this way of living before, and at times it’s effected my health, my relationships and my perspective on where I should be putting my energy. There’s been a massive culture-shift towards measuring our happiness by productivity. I think it connects back to the opening track again – these days, our digital lives mean that there’s always something we can be achieving and we have fewer obvious moments to switch off and connect with ourselves or the humans around us.
Reach
‘Reach’ is about old friendship. The kind that probably withstood the 'Birds on the Wire' phase and has gone through several ‘Factory's and couldn’t be arsed what your social media feed says about you. To me, it’s about sisterhood. I am really lucky to have a handful of people in my life who knew me as a giddy child, as a self-questioning adolescent and now as a flaky musician with a constantly full calendar of gigs and projects. They’re the people that I can see once a year and feel like I’d just spoken to them yesterday. It sounds all shiny and positive but Reach is also about all the shit you’ll deal with and also that you’ll bury behind you to keep a long-term friendship alive.
Ask Me How
‘Ask Me How’ is a track that we’ve played on tour a lot over the years so it’s really special to us that it finally has a home. It’s another track about gender dynamics but this time it’s looking at how men are raised to deny so many layers of their sensitivity and self-expression. I really believe this has a huge influence on the stereotypes that they are expected to live up to later in life and that can be connected to mental health issues and suicide. It’s about a guy breaking under this pressure and feeling so much sorrow for the boy he was, when he felt he couldn’t be shy or scared or feminine.