Closer

Armed with an exceptional new album, Rolo Tomassi find themselves roaring back into focus yet again. James Spence and Chris Cayford take us under the hood as they progress further than ever.

- By Jack Rogers. Photographs by Andy Ford

It feels like the only place to start is on your last record, Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It', which was the most acclaimed of your career so far. As you considered your next step, how did what that album did for you help to cement your decisions?

Chris: We definitely took some risks with that record, and I think that they paid off.

I feel like many people agree too, and have commented on how vast the audio spectrum was. It was some of the heaviest stuff we have ever done and some of the lightest, and the question was always, 'Can we get away with this?' With other albums we have done, the songs on them, no matter how heavy or light, have all had the same atmosphere around them and are all quite dark. Whilst 'Time Will Die...' felt like polar opposite ends of the spectrum at times. It showed that we can write music like that, and how we want, and still pull it all together in a tangible and relatable way. We can push this band further than we thought was possible. We can write anything we want now, and it won't sound like four different bands. It will all sound like us. That's liberating.