Off the back of a landmark 6 months, which saw the release of debut album Henry St, a headline national tour and high-profile support slots for John Butler Trio and Angus and Julia Stone, Auckland-based indie pop quartet Alae are back with brand new single, Help You Now.
Help You Now is the first single from Alae’s forthcoming second album. The track heralds a fresh pop direction, while still retainaing all their textured musicality and an anthemic chorus hook. Alex Farrell-Davey, vocalist, explains the bands evolution of sound; “Traditionally Allister and I have been the lead songwriters, but Help You Now is one of the first songs that we've written as a collective, since Jayden and Marika joined the band. The change in how we write has injected a lot of new energy into the final result. We’re really excited about the progression of our next album; we’re working with (producer) Jol Mulholland again, but changing things up with this collaborative approach.”
Elaborating on the themes of the song, Alex states, “Help You Now is about facing your fears. It's about talking about what it is that's hurting you, what it is that's scaring you and allowing people to help. The lyrics are an attempt to normalize the process of opening up to others.”
The release of Help You Now adds another highlight to Alae’s 2019, which has already launched with a promising start. After recieving support from over 40 USA college radio stations for single airplay alongside the generation of over 2.7 million streams for their debut album Henry St, Alae have again received project funding from NZ On Air for the recording of their follow-up album.
This March, Alex Farrell-Davey was invited to APRA’s Songhubs initiative to further hone his songwriting skills. This week of collaboration enabled Alex to interact with local writers and producers in a studio setting. Alex was also partnered with international guest producer and writer Justin Gray (John Legend/Amy Winehouse) to create an original work.
Help You Now is available now through Spotify, Apple Music and iTunes.