The ‘International Experience' Behind Their New Record

After their debut album, Atlas, garnered the kind of reception that most artists can only dream of, RÜFÜS have finally completed the daunting task of making their second album.

Recorded in Berlin with stints abroad, the title says it all. Bloom depicts the group’s growth, building on their strengths whilst reaching out into the unknown.

Unlike Atlas, the group’s new album was unconsciously started whilst adjusting to their new lifestyle, touring and the like.

“Over time, we were bashing a lot of ideas out and ended up with a hundred little bits and pieces," says drummer, James Hunt. "We culled it from there and made the album what we wanted it to be. As opposed to the first album which we wrote in one place, this one was more of an ‘international experience’. That’s probably the lamest thing I could have said, but you get what I mean.”

Using Berlin as a base for the album, their decision to go to the German capital was inspired by its thriving nightlife.

 “We talked about going somewhere overseas to start the writing process for the next record. We wanted the spark from the uncomfortable feeling of being in a new place. We were touring at the end of 2013, went to Berlin for a show and ended up staying for a week. It’s really a mecca of electronic music. All the sounds we were hearing over there were moving us for some reason.” Reiterating his point, Hunt goes on, “We would write until 3am and go out where the crowds are more open to going on a dynamic journey. Subconsciously that seeped into what we were doing on the album.”

Following the band’s hit debut, the aptly named Bloom is a wonderfully crafted album that fans have already began to embrace with its three lead singles last year.

Talking about inspiration and themes for the album, Hunt hints at its title.

“The process is something growing up, progressing and maturing. What that word brought was the multi-meaning and it felt pretty relevant

“It’s a multi-meaning word that we fell in love with. For some reason we also have an obsession with aquatic animals. Sonically, we were trying to describe the sound of, for example, a jellyfish swimming near your left year. There’s this sense of the aquatic and the abyss as a part of that, the sense of the unknown. The fact that we were touring at the time and we had that instability in our lives spurred that on, I guess.”

Originally published in X-Press Magazine