Interview: The Coronas Chat About New Music and Their Upcoming Australian Tour

Dublin’s finest The Coronas, recently revealed their new single, That’s Exactly What Love Is.  The track blends the trio’s knack for poignancy and indie pop and rock in charming fashion, with the group’s friend and collaborator Gabrielle Aplin also featuring on this latest release. The second single taken from The Coronas’ upcoming eighth studio album, Thoughts & Observations due out on Friday September 27, That’s Exactly What Love Is also arrived accompanied by a brand new music video, with the track also destined to feature in the trio’s upcoming Australian live shows this November. We caught up with the band to chat about the new track, the new album, upcoming tour and more!

Congratulations on your new single, “That’s Exactly What Love Is”! Can you tell us the story behind this track and what inspired it?

The song was written from the perspective of two different people going through a break-up. It was the first time I tried to put myself in someone else’s shoes for something like that and it was really cathartic. But I was aware that it was still also kind of self serving, and in verse 2 I even mention that from the female point of view. “Even now you have the nerve to write this, and guess what I’m thinking, for your own therapy” Which is a weird level of me talking to myself in the fourth person or something! 

It’s inspired by old style dramatic duets. Peter Gabriel and Kate Bush’s ‘Don’t Give Up’ was a big one. The original demo was sonically a bit closer to that song.

“That’s Exactly What Love Is” is taken from your upcoming album Thoughts and Observations. How does this single fit into the overall theme or message of the album?

There’s not one overriding theme or message on the album, that’s probably why we called it “Thoughts and Observations”. It’s a collection of songs snapshotting moments in relationships, friendships and self discovery. Even though we are very much an ‘album band’ (it is one piece of work written over a 12 month period and recorded all in one go in 2 weeks), we usually judge songs individually and not try to overthink the whole thing thematically.

Your new album Thoughts and Observations is set for release on September 27. What can fans expect from this album compared to your previous releases?

I think it’s a bit more mature, sonically. Perhaps it has a bit more depth than some of our previous albums. Maybe it could be less poppy, but that’s a hard question to answer. We’re proud of it and we love where we got with it, but we’re almost too close to it to directly compare it with our previous stuff. 

You’ve announced an Australian tour for November. What are you most looking forward to about performing in Australia?

The crowds we’ve had over there in the last couple of years have really blown our minds. Our last show at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney was really one of our favourite ever shows outside Ireland. The people are great and so welcoming to us. A bit of sun that time of year is also always a welcome break from winter in Ireland!

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Can you share any memorable experiences from your past tours in Australia, and how do you plan to make this tour even more special for your fans? 

Yeah, the show at the Enmore was special. To play such a beautiful historic venue it really does stick out as a moment we won’t forget. We also had some time off on our last tour so spent a few days recording some video content around Sydney which was a lot of fun. I could not believe the number of Irish accents at Coogee Beach! It was like being at home! This tour will be more special because we’re bringing our full band, including our saxophonist Cian, so sonically it will be bigger. We’ll also have the new album out so the set will be fun, some new and plenty of old stuff too

How do you balance staying true to your sound while also experimenting and evolving as a band, especially with this new album and upcoming tour?

Luckily, it’s not something we have to discuss or work at too much. I think one of the reasons we’ve stayed together so long is that we always seem to be on the same page when it comes to musical and sonic choices, which is strange because we have different influences, but I think we have an unspoken common vision of what The Coronas is and where it should go and how it should evolve. We’re lucky that we have that, and it’s never forced or planned, we just play. Thankfully, most of the time when we do it tends to just feel right.