Selve, Photograph by Joshua Tate
Jabirr Jabirr man Loki Liddle explains that the title of the new Selve album, Breaking Into Heaven, was inspired by a Nina Simone quote.
“The people who built their heaven on your land are telling you that yours is in the sky,” Simone famously said, implicating systems of colonial oppression and subjugation.
But the title of the Gold Coast six-piece’s forthcoming album also refers to the building in which the album was recorded – the fabled Abbey Road Studios in north London, the birthplace of the eponymous album by The Beatles, as well as Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of The Moon, Oasis’ Be Here Now, Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, and plenty more.
“We broke into a constructed heaven – this amazing ideal and root of rock’n’roll mythology – to platform a First Nations story,” Liddle says.
The album is out on Friday 12 September – pre-save it here and watch the video for the lead single and title track below. We had a quick chat with Liddle to find out about recording at Abbey Road and the significance of the band’s celestial break-in.
Selve - "Breaking Into Heaven"
Check Check: What was it like recording at Abbey Road?
Loki Liddle: Everything you might imagine recording at Abbey Road to be like, it was like that. Thomas Briggs, the Abbey Road engineer, took us on a tour, casually pointing out pianos used by The Beatles, the desk Dark Side of The Moon was recorded on, and all such ridiculous things.
The time we spent in Studio 3 was an unbelievable dream. Everyone was nerding out and having a field day, sending things up to the plate reverb in the roof, running signals through ancient pre-amps and singing into microphones worth more than everyone’s HECS debts.
Every member of the band was in peak form. For Scott French, our bassist and producer, it was like watching someone go from fighter pilot to the driver of an interstellar mothership. With the help of Thomas Briggs and Simon Benesch, he somehow made operating the most infamous studio in the world look easy, and was totally in his element.
How significant did it feel for you to be there?
Despite the awe of it all, I was gripped every day with the knowledge that I was only there because of those who have come before me – that I was sent there by my ancestors and my community because something bigger than myself was happening. My job was to devote myself to the music and story and not get in its way so that it could communicate itself.
Why did you choose “Breaking Into Heaven” as the album’s title track and lead single?
The song and album title was inspired by the Nina Simone quote, “The people who built their heaven on your land are telling you yours is in the sky.” By taking the embers of songs sparked on my Jabirr Jabirr Country and recording them at Abbey Road, we broke into a constructed heaven – this amazing ideal and root of rock’n’roll mythology – to platform a First Nations story.
The song really sets the tone for the album, which is about breaking in and subverting the centres of power that have been used to author our fates en masse or reserved for the select few. We’re stealing the pen back from the stealer.
