It’s been about a week now since we first lost ourselves in the unbelievably sprawling sounds of Diamonds Of Neptune’s self-titled debut album. The record is an eleven track collection of far-reaching musical gems that perfectly showcase the Melbourne five-piece’s incredible songwriting abilities.
So, fresh off the album’s release, we caught up with the band for a complete run-down on each track.
With an absolutely epic new album fresh under their belts, we caught up with Diamonds Of Neptune for a complete track-by-track run-down.
Leave It All Behind
This is our attempt at a smooth introduction to the themes of the album, encapsulating mindfulness, empowerment, and acceptance. It’s a panacea, a way out, and a sonic reflection of mental health.
Give A Little
When you’re lost and prone to running away, Give A Little provides the drive and motivation to persevere. Fun fact; this is the only song which sprouted purely from vocals, where our approach is typically to develop the instrumentation first.
Bloom
Sometimes society can make you feel incomplete or that things aren’t as they should be, Bloom is about finding beauty in things just the way they are. This is one of the most uplifting songs on the album.
Sunlight
This song was a canvas for our keyboardist to completely indulge himself. It is our most instrumental song on the album, with swirling synths emphasising our astronaut doof roots and lust to escape from reality.
Hex
Hex is analogous to the dark cycles we all experience from time to time. These mental spells come from within, and can only be broken from within. Sonically designed to identify where you want to be, and what you want to do.
Open The Door
This was one of the hardest songs for us to write. It went through some drastic changes over the past two years to emerge as one of our most interactive songs and personal favourites. It can be classified as a dance pop song augmented with a psychedelic solo section and halftime outro.
Obvious
It should be obvious but we collectively always get the title of this song wrong. The production name was “ominous” due to its dark and brooding vibe. It’s also our bassists favourite groove.
Feels Like Running
Our vocalist has been trying to get the rest of the band singing for years. He finally achieved his dream on this track, with everybody sharing a vocal role in the final chorus.
I’ll Be There
Robotic voices lead this track on one of our more alternative voyages, feeling confident in experimentation. It brings out the pop side of our indie dream rock sound. A fun fact about it is a few of the synths were replaced with heavily modulated guitars in an eleventh-hour change.
Are You Free?
This song spawned from the controversial decision to change the recipe of Arnott’s BBQ Shapes – you can hear our collective angst in this rocky belter. It was tied thematically into the album because it was such a crown favourite; popular at parties just like the original BBQ Shapes.
Alive Completely
This song was a fluke, developing out of an acoustic track made by our guitarist. The original format didn’t suit the usual DoN style, but within 30 minutes of workshopping it was transformed into the complex song you hear today. It is a summary of each band members’ flavour, and the perfect conclusion to an album we worked so hard to achieve.
The debut album from Diamonds Of Neptune is available now. Listen above.
