PHOTO DIARY: FOLEY TAKE US BEHIND-THE-SCENES OF 'THAT'S LIFE BABY!'

That’s Life Baby! is out now!

Image: Frances Carter.

Kiwi-born, Sydney-based act Foley have unveiled their sophomore album, That’s Life Baby!. To celebrate the release, the duo are taking us behind-the-scenes of the recording process.

“That's Life, Baby! sums up our approach to life in a nutshell - we go through highs and lows, love, loss, trauma, but at the end of the day we are positive, light-hearted and optimistic because we have each other through it all. The album is a collection of stories and experiences from the last year, each track describing an interaction with those around us, or a realisation within ourselves, that has had a lasting impact on us as people; each one a little slice of our lives,” Foley share. 

This is the studio setup we had in the house. French doors open - cables everywhere - sunlight beaming in. You can see Josh writing in a Google Doc - he’d always write something ridiculous at the top of each song. Never Feels Like Summer was document #5 so he wrote: To the tune of stayin’ alive by the Bee Gees Ah-ah-ah-ah started doc 5, started doc 5)

We were surrounded by bush and often heard native birds outside. We really tried to let the weather/nature be the extra member of the band, and loved where that took the songwriting for the record. This is a particular friend of ours - the local Kereru. They’re basically massive pigeons and they sway, sometimes snap branches when they land on ‘em. Meet: Professor Chonk.

This is the first writing session on the title track That’s Life, Baby! - we’d written the instrumentation and melodies but didn’t have any lyrics yet! It sounded like one of those 80s exercise videos so we chucked it on and.. Well, watch for yourself. 

The average recording procedure.

One thing to know about Ash is she is the Queen of a kiwi BBQ. The literal first stop on the island was to the local butcher to pick out A) sausages and B) some meat pies for the road. See also: Harry’s ominous “did you see the self defence classes on the window” line at the end of the vid. Did we need those classes? Who knows - MORE TO COME ON THAT LATER.

The sausages in question

This is us waiting for the ferry leaving the island - after writing almost the entire record I figured I’d get out my guitar and serenade the seagulls. This one just makes me smile! (track is the Kiwi classic: Loyal by Sir Dave Dobbyn).

And here’s the sunset as we were singing. A beautiful farewell.

That’s Life Baby!  is out now!