One Nine provide the rays of hope during these dark times with debut single ‘Difficult Days’.
“You know we care, you’re running out of time” sings Neil Mulholland on One Nine’s debut single. It’s a pertinent message considering the unsettled current political climate around the world and our overheating planet. The appropriately titled ‘Difficult Days’ (out now) may sound like a prediction of our impending doom, but it soars with optimism. It’s short, punchy indie-pop that’s perfect for the scorching summer.
The video for ‘Difficult Days’ (watch below) reflects feelings of frustration – with a variety of stuff being destroyed throughout. If the video represents our angst, the song is our release. The release of the single and video is the perfect teaser for their headline show at The Garage in Glasgow on 3rd August.
“We’d been friends for a long time, studio neighbours, you could call it” explains Mulholland when talking about starting One Nine with drummer Kirstin Lynn. “Although we both had massive respect and admiration for each other musically, the idea of starting a band together only came about when Kirstin left me a strongly worded note suggesting that we do exactly that.”
“The instant I saw her four-lettered message I could picture exactly how it was going to work,” he recalls. “An epiphany, if you will. It was a real moment, I get all soppy whenever I think about it. That was at the tail end of 2018, we’ve worked together every single day since then to bring One Nine to life.”
“I had a batch of songs to get us started,” Mulholland continues, “but since then every aspect has become fully collaborative. We tend to be remarkably like-minded – we’re yet to come across a disagreement. It’s a very highly motivated partnership too, constantly driven and encouraged by each others enthusiasm and work ethic. We like to keep the writing process varied and we’ll often collaborate with others, just to keep it spicy.”
Those collaborations include Thomas McNeice (Gang Of Four), Chris Zane (Friendly Fires), Lewis Gardiner (Prides), Jimmy Harry (Pink/Madonna) and Slenderbodies.
“I think we have more variety than most” Mulholland notes. “Although ‘Difficult Days’ is a guitar-driven track we have some way more electronic stuff, some more chilled songs and even some hip-hoppy tracks lately. I think we cover a lot of bases – uplifting, flirtatious, darker and just downright sexy at times.”
During these difficult days, One Nine can supply the soundtrack we need.
This article was written for Backseat Mafia.