Reliqa Share 5 Things You Didn’t Know About 'I Don’t Know What I Am'

Burgeoning Sydney alt-metal maestros Reliqa will release their third EP I Don’t Know What I Am on Friday 16 September. 

Fresh from dominating stages at the Monolith Festival the arrival of I Don’t Know What I Am follows the much-heralded single Safety, which wields a ferocious feature courtesy of Make Them Suffer's Sean Harmanis. Produced, mixed and mastered by Chris Blancato, Safety is an unforgettable glimpse into Reliqa's I Don't Know What I Am, with the end product commanding everything from oscillating prog to Periphery chanelling wizardry and ethereal, immersive ballads. 

Already in command of a dedicated and evolving fanbase, the band has made a dizzying ascent in just a few short years of existence, thanks to two EPs and three tracks that have over a million streams (Doomed, Mr. Magic and The Halfway Point), I Don’t Know What I Am sees Reliqa continue to flex their knack for powerful and clever craftsmanship, with aggressive riffs, symphonic soundscapes and gripping melodies. 

In the lead-up to the release of I Don’t Know What I Am we caught up with vocalist Monique Pym who gave us the inside word on five things we didn't know about the making of I Don't Know What I Am. 

5 Things You Didn’t Know About I Don’t Know What I Am

Giving The Bearer Of Bad News a Family 

"The Bearer Of Bad News on I Don’t Know What I Am was originally written to be by itself. It was meant to be a standalone single, or somehow sort of tied together with one of our previous singles Mr. Magic. But as we progressed forward and as we started writing new music, it started forming this larger product. And soon enough, all of that started feeling really cohesive together and it made a lot of sense with the rest of the EP. So we ended up giving it a family, but originally The Bearer Of Bad News was meant to be a lone wolf."

Personal Touches

"Something that people might not know about I Don’t Know What I Am, at least on a surface level when they start listening, is how personal the record is. And I will say that this is the first time that I, as a lyricist, have really dug into personal themes as opposed to more narrative writing. You'll see a lot of self-exploration on this record, you'll see a lot of fear, a lot of anxiety, and just me starting to discover who I am - and “what” I am, I suppose, in the context of this wider world and the people around me. There’s even some love and appreciation for what's around me and the people around me too. Ultimately there's a lot of emotion swirling around there, much more so than any of our previous material."

Written In A Blip

"The instrumental track .blip on I Don’t Know What I Am was actually written right before we actually went into record, I’d say, roughly 48 hours, it was written in a very short space of time. We were sitting at a point where the EP was coming to fruition and it was nearly finished, it was feeling really good - but there was just something missing. And .blip filled that gap really well. Our drummer Ben was the one who brought .blip to life, and he's the one who actually is quite new in the band too. Having his fresh eyes was really cool in that way because he was the one who began that track and it turned around so quickly! We're really happy that it ended up on the EP."

Chris Blancato's Magic

"The involvement that our producer Chris Blancato had in this EP was quite significant actually. I Don’t Know What I Am is undeniably a Reliqa EP. However, having Chris on board was really helpful in the sense that it helped us take these ideas that we had and form them into a professional, cohesive, listenable product. Whether you’re reading this and you've heard the EP by now or you haven't listened yet - once you do listen, you'll see that there are a lot of ideas packed into this. And it was even initially more far out there than it is now, but it really took this process of refinement through our pre-production with Chris. And even just a few little strategies he had as a producer, for example, he would not send us bounces of the track until it had been mixed or something like that because he wanted us to hear it with a fresh perspective, with his perspective. We liked when little things we’d never really done before in this process occurred, I think that it was really, really crucial to the end result. So props to Chris Blancato, he's incredible! And just the process of being in the studio with him was fantastic, we were there for a good couple of weeks making sure that this was the best thing it could be. It was just really fun and we were learning a lot and having good laughs, I'm really happy with how it ended up coming out, especially with Chris. He deserves a shout in every right."

Remote Control 

"In terms of the writing process, so many of these songs had actually never been played in the same room together until after they'd been recorded. I don't know if that's a totally weird thing, but I remember telling my friend who makes sort of jam music, they write their songs in the studio when they're practising. And it was when we were gearing up for one of our first shows post-COVID, my friend was listening to the EP and I said: “Fun fact, we'd actually never played this together before”. And he was like: “What??!” I'm sure actually for a lot of metal musicians, in particular, it's probably not that big a deal, it's probably more common than I think. But when I had that initial: “Wait, what?!” moment…it actually made me stand back and think, maybe that's not very traditional is it!" 

"Usually, back in the day, it would be a matter of getting together in a room, jamming out until you find something - we have never done that! Well, no, that's not true, we did do that in the early days…but with this new material, it's been a very remote process. And, of course, we were somewhat forced into that through COVID. But I will say, I think it was a really cool skill to learn. To be able to create art from a distance was really tricky and it showed that we had to be adaptable, I think. And I know that we're not alone in that, there are a lot of bands being very adaptable in all of this. But to step back and realise that it took until we were practising for Full Tilt earlier this year that we had never played those songs all in a room together. Even for Monolith Festival, some of the songs that we were playing in the practice room prior to Monolith, that was the first time we were there as a unit playing those songs together - and they were already recorded, distributed, and ready to go out into the world. It was a bit of a risk because what if they didn't sound good together? But fortunately, they all did."

Since signing to Open Door Management back in 2021, Reliqa opened 2022 as the main support for Thy Art Is Murder in Brisbane, performed at Full Tilt Festival in Brisbane and joined prog luminaries Caligula's Horse for their recent Rise Radiant tour in Adelaide, Gold Coast, Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra, as well as performing on the aforementioned Monolith Festival. Reliqa have also previously shared stages with the likes of Sevendust, Northlane, Thornhill and Void Of Vision. 

 I Don't Know What I Am is out on September 16.