{"id":525942,"date":"2026-07-14T17:22:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/525942\/"},"modified":"2026-07-14T17:22:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-14T17:22:12","slug":"cliffords-talk-working-on-a-refined-debut-album-its-all-about-that-contrast-of-life-that-we-keep-living-through","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/525942\/","title":{"rendered":"Cliffords talk working on a \u201crefined\u201d debut album: \u201cIt\u2019s all about that contrast of life that we keep living through\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cliffords<\/a> have spoken to NME about new music, and revealed that they have a \u201crefined\u201d, inward-looking debut album on the way. Watch the interview in full above.<\/p>\n

The NME 100<\/a> alumni caught up with us backstage at Mad Cool 2026<\/a>, shortly before they took to the stage in the Mahou Cinco Estrellas tent for one of the most memorable sets of the week<\/a>. Their appearance at the 10th anniversary of the Madrid festival came as part of a stacked summer of live shows for the Cork band \u2013 having already supported Mumford & Sons at BST Hyde Park<\/a> and opened for Florence + The Machine<\/a>\u00a0over the past week alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all been a crazy experience,\u201d said frontwoman Iona Lynch. \u201cIt was also so amazing just to watch Mumford & Sons, [and] we are obsessed with Florence.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just were saying actually that we all had this mutual experience where your dad calls you in after two IPAs and he says \u2018Let\u2019s watch Florence + The Machine play Glastonbury<\/a>\u2019,\u201d she joked. \u201cI\u2019ve had that many times in my life, so to actually open for her was incredible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The busy summer of touring comes following Cliffords releasing their debut EP \u2018Strawberry Scented\u2019 in 2024, and following it up last year with their critically acclaimed EP, \u2018Salt of the Lee\u2019. Towards the end of 2025, the band released the standalone single \u2018Marsh<\/a>\u2019, but have yet to follow it up with any new material.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re working on a new project right now,\u201d keyboardist Locon O\u2019Toole revealed to NME. \u201cAfter this little run we\u2019re going to be in the studio recording some new music which will hopefully be out soon. Maybe it\u2019s time for a full album\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so exciting going into it because we\u2019ve spent so many months writing,\u201d he added. \u201cWe had such a massive year last year and basically this year we just locked ourselves in a small room in Blackpool and wrote from 9am to 5pm every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lynch added that the majority of the writing has been done between Cork and Blackpool over the span of four months, and explained that the heavier themes of mental health seen in the single \u2018Marsh\u2019 will be prevalent throughout the upcoming debut album too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think I\u2019ll always do that. Writing lyrics for me is really fun because it\u2019s the only time I get to understand myself. When you\u2019re writing, you can see yourself on the page after a while,\u201d she shared. \u201cThen it\u2019s so nice to play a gig because you see people singing it back and it also means so much to them. It makes you realise how close we all are as people and how much your experiences are also someone else\u2019s experiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo this album deals with lots of things. Good, bad, sad, and all of the above. I think that\u2019s why I love it so much. It\u2019s all about that contrast of life that we keep living through.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve put a lot of work into our sound too,\u201d bassist Gavin Dawkins added. \u201cWe\u2019ve really refined our sound on this album\u2026 so hopefully it\u2019s good!\u201d<\/p>\n

As well as playing a run of festivals across Europe this summer, Cliffords also went on to join Wolf Alice<\/a> in Newcastle this past weekend for a huge show at Exhibition Park. Speaking to NME about how they felt about the then-upcoming gig, Cliffords revealed that they have always been fans of the London rock giants, but only just started to realise why they have been compared to them so many times over the past two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a dream support slot. We\u2019ve always loved their music,\u201d Dawkins said, before Lynch added: \u201cIt\u2019s funny, ever since we started as a band, basically every article has compared us to Wolf Alice. We\u2019ve been listening to them for so long and they are such a big inspiration for us\u2026 but we were never 100 per cent sure why there was always the comparison.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just see it as \u2018We will aspire to be that incredible\u2019. They\u2019re amazing, and it\u2019s so lovely to watch them play and to listen to their music. Their energy and songwriting is just incredible, so I just can\u2019t wait to open for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

You can revisit all of NME\u2019s coverage from Mad Cool 2026 here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

NME is the official media partner of Mad Cool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Cliffords have spoken to NME about new music, and revealed that they have a \u201crefined\u201d, inward-looking debut album…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":525943,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[156,591,157,111,139,69,1629],"class_list":["post-525942","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-entertainment","tag-indie","tag-music","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-rock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525942","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=525942"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/525942\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/525943"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=525942"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=525942"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=525942"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}