4.52am Issue: 043 20th July 2017 The Only Echoes Remain Issue

THE HAYMAN KUPA BAND
Eponymous
We talked a few weeks ago about the
beautiful collection of duets, Darren
Hayman and Emma Kupa recorded in
three days in Ramsgate, and it’s release
on Friday will hopefully see it gaining the
recognition it deserved. In a way, the
whole concept seemed meant to be as
Darren explained,
It’s only happened a few times but just
once or twice I have seen someone on
stage and thought, “I want to be in a
band with them.” But I thought it the first
time I saw Emma playing with her
magnificent and under-rated band
Standard Fare.
I met her properly a little later in Sheffield
when we played together. Before the gig
I said I was suspicious of bands that wore
hats. She wore a hat on stage.
They say imitation is a form of flattery
and I was glad that I noticed when I
wrote the song “Boy, Look at What you
Can’t Have Now” that it sounded like the
sort of thing Emma might write. I covered
up my theft by asking her to sing on it.
When we were recording the song I
suggested that we should write a whole
album of duets. Musicians suggest things
like this all the time because they are
stupid or drunk. A few months later
Emma told me she had started writing the
album. This is what Emma does; she says
something then does it. I race to play
catch up.
The songs were written over three
weekends at her house and mine. Cowriting
is something I’m not used to.
It’s very intimate and me and Emma
became friends through the process.
Emma’s lyrics are sharp and precise
whereas mine are more metaphoric. It
was lovely seeing how quickly we
settled into something in between. We
talked about relationships and that’s
what the album is about. It’s about our
fears and paranoias and the search for
trust and love. We deliberately
swapped lines and genders so the
narrative is never truly that of
traditional duets. I sing Emma’s lines
often and she sings mine. It’s two
voices singing the results of our
conversations. We became close
friends whilst writing these songs.”
This is a truly special album, please do
find out more HERE
LIVE DATES:
24 July - The Shacklewell Arms, London
28-30 July - Indietracks Festival,
Ripley, Derbyshire