Two Another’s Back To Us, “this album is essentially the result of us falling back in love with making music together”

Photo by Walid Labri

A couple of months ago we got to know Two Another a little better, as they teased their highly anticipated album with the warm single (and vibrant video for) Someday. Fast forward to now, and the full-length release Back To Us is out - just as wholesome, reflective and transformative as promised. 

This release see’s the duo coming full circle, returning to their origins of two individuals who can bond over their love of music. With a sound that combines alt-pop, funk and R&B elements, Two Another have cleverly crafted an infectiously good body of work that can unpack themes of self-acceptance, sexuality, mental health, and moving on from past trauma in a sonically captivating way. Back To Us is said to have been written at a time of acceptance, re-centering and reflecting - which not only brought the duo spiritually and emotionally closer, but time stamped their growth and evolution as individuals and musicians. 

Two Another joined us to answer some questions on the release, their Australian Tour (dates listed below), and what’s on the cards for the rest of 2022. Be sure to read all about it, while you give Back To Us a listen through below. 

The album comes with a new sense of self-acceptance, when were the tracks written?

Most of the demos for what would become the album were written in 2019, which was a transformative year for us. We had gone through a bit of a rough patch the previous year both personally and musically and at one stage we were even unsure whether we would continue the project. Luckily we decided to get back in the studio and see what would happen. This album is essentially the result of us falling back in love with making music together, the uplifting and positive spin we have tried to put on most of the songs definitely stems from this time of trying to heal ourselves and our relationship. 

Back To Us is representative of trying to get back to feeling ‘normal’ and like yourselves again amidst so many changes, what have you found helps re-centre yourselves?

For us It was everything outside of the music that needed a bit of attention in order to re-centre ourselves and return some balance to our lives at the time. We took some time to work on our mental health, relationships and be with family which really helped lay a solid foundation to then come back into the studio and throw ourselves back into the project and into making this album. 

You’ve been creating music together for several years now, has the process evolved over the years? If so, what are some of the highlights and challenges faced?

The dynamic between the two of us in the studio has actually stayed quite similar over the years. We show each other little ideas we have on our hard drives, talk about what’s going on in our lives or in the world, then if it all goes well we end up with a song or develop an idea that we can use. What has changed a bit is that we no longer live in the same city (we now live in Amsterdam and Stockholm) so we have to work a lot more efficiently and have learnt to express and get down ideas a lot faster when we do see each other, which is kind of a challenge and a bonus all at the same time. 

The album's release comes alongside a mini documentary, can you tell us a little more about it? And any highlights from the making of it?

We really wanted to have a visual that gave us a platform to explain the main themes of the album and tell people how it all came to be. Our hope was that it would give our listeners more of an idea about what the intention for the album was and what messages we wanted to get across. It was a super fun but also very relaxed shoot for us, we pretty much just spent 6 hours driving around London in a 1950’s Chevy on a rare sunny day. 

The vivid and bright album artwork is quite a contrast from your previous album and EP covers, what was the idea behind it?

We wanted something light and playful that represented the positive time we had making it and the happy space we were in after quite a bit of turmoil. We thought the imagery of the blue sky represented a clean slate or a new beginning and we also just wanted to move away from the same thing we’ve always done and try something new. 

With tour dates booked for Sydney and Melbourne for later next month, what are you most looking forward to about the live shows, and being back on Australian soil?

We’re looking forward to a lot! We honestly can’t believe this is going to be our first trip back home performing as Two Another. It's going to be amazing playing on stage with some of the musicians who have played on a bunch of our records and to finally connect with our Australian audience. Our first show is in Sydney at Oxford art factory which is where we saw some of our favourite acts play when we were growing up. It's also going to be pretty cool to be able to play in front of family and friends who haven’t seen us play yet, although we do expect some moderate heckling from mates during the shows..  

Now that things are beginning to look and feel a bit more normal, what are your plans for the rest of the year (both musically and non-musically!)?

After Australia we are going on tour with Flight Facilities in the US which is going to be crazy. We will be releasing a deluxe version of the album and we’ve already started working on our next project which we are very excited about. 

Two Another’s new album Back to Us is out now via Another Label / Virgin Music Australia

TWO ANOTHER AUSTRALIAN TOUR 2022

THURSDAY APRIL 28, 2022 – OXFORD ART FACTORY, SYDNEY

FRIDAY APRIL 29, 2022 – WOOLLY MAMMOTH, BRISBANE

SATURDAY APRIL 30, 2022 – CORNER HOTEL, MELBOURNE

TICKETS AVAILABLE VIA NICHEPRODUCTIONS.COM.AU

FOLLOW TWO ANOTHER: FACEBOOK / INSTAGRAM / TWITTER