It's been two years already since Douglas Firs last released new music. The vulnerable album 'Heart Of The Mother' shot straight through the heart of the listener with a collection of deeply personal songs. The record was an ode to two mothers: his own mother, who passed away after a fight with cancer, and his girlfriend, who in that same period gave birth to their son.
What kind of album do you make after such a moving time and fragile record? We'll get to hear it on the new Douglas Firs record 'Happy Pt. 2', which will be released August 30th next year. The opening track, 'Lazy Heart', is out today.
“To me, 'Lazy Heart' is about how your head cannot fool your heart”, Van Hellemont says. “No matter how hard it tries sometimes. One's heart is simply too lazy to change direction and will always stubbornly feel what it feels. With all its consequences.”
Van Hellemont went to Los Angeles to mix the song with Kevin Ratterman (Strand Of Oaks, My Morning Jacket, Afghan Whigs), in the studio where Feist finished her last album as well. Fred Kevorkian (The White Stripes, Ryan Adams, The National) took care of the mastering in New York. On the last day of mixing, Ratterman managed to get tickets for a Ray Lamontagne show (and aftershow). This way, Van Hellemont and him could listen to the results of their collaboration on the way to the gig – in a roofless Ford Mustang, to top off the L.A. adventure.
On 'Lazy Heart', we hear Douglas Firs’ loyal band, with lauded Belgian bass slinger Simon Casier, drummer Laurens Billiet and the beautiful voice of Roos Denayer (Rosa Butsi), but also the sixteen strings of the Budapest Art Orchestra, recorded live in Hungary. The track gives us a glimpse of the musical worlds that are being explored on the new album.