“We Like Being Anonymous” -Doublethink Interview
Finding music organically is impossible nowadays. With all the curator influenced playlist flooding social media and the overly saturated music blogs, it feels like a quest to discover new emerging artists without propaganda surrounding them. Earlier this year, peak pandemic, while blindly surfing Soundcloud, I came across an emerging faceless duo named Doublethink. The beautiful thing about the duo is the cloak-and-dagger energy that surrounds them. There’s barely any images of the duo online which force listeners to heavily depend on their music to capture a glimpse of their reality.
Living Drones” was my first encounter with the mysterious duo based in NY and Bali. The track embodies funkadelic elements with pop-ish delicacies sprinkled on top. Like many of their tracks, it feels like a plot twist. While their songs encourage listeners to strike a dance move, the underlying message of their song ignites thought. Their sound resembles Daft Punk in the most admirable ways- hiding their identities and allowing their effervescent synth chords to paint a passage.
“We like being anonymous”
Their upcoming single “I Find God,” embodies the duo’s soul purpose of creating music that’ll make you tap your foot while becoming engulfed by their underlying message. The track sends listeners on an adventure of blissful distress and immaterial beatitude. The song tells a story about a young man who battles with paranoia and seeks spiritual guidance as his world is on the verge of crippling. The duo’s production and dense stanzas heighten those internal emotions of unsteadiness that builds up throughout the song.
As year is coming to an end, the duo is just getting started. With new music on the way in efforts to build anticipation for the debut project , Doublethink is carving out a lane with their experimental and stimulating sonic offerings.
Our conversation, lightly edited for content and clarity, follows below.
How did you meet?
We met on Soundcloud about seven years ago but we didn’t actually meet in person till a few years later. Being on opposite sides of the world , the internet sorta brought us together.
How would you describe your first time meeting each other?
We met for the first time in 2019 in Amman, Jordan after five years of sending each other music back and forth. One of us was working over there already, so decided to meet up halfway. It felt organic and destined that we were finally going to be in the same place and at the same time.
Do you remember the name of the first track ?
Oh man, off the top to my head , no but the thing with our music , songs never end the way they start.
How would you describe your creative process ?
Being in two different time zones , we’ve developed a system over the years. Now that I'm in Bali, when it's morning here, it's night time in New York and when it's night time in Bali, it’s morning time there.
(####) would record a bunch of demos and I'll go through them all and start building on the ones that resonate the most. We try not to force anything.
Did the pandemic disrupt that process?
Truthfully, prior to the pandemic happening, we sorta took an unacknowledged hiatus. We both were experiencing these transitional phases in our lives. We still would create on our off time and would send music back and forth but didn't post anything on music platforms. As bad as the pandemic was, I also view it as a silver lining… it made the world and including us, sit still.
What’s the meaning behind Doublethink?
In 1984, Orwell used the term Doublethink to explain how a hive mind can make people believe that 2+2=5 even though it counters everything they know. Doublethink is a take on that, we talk about the hypocrisy of it all. It’s also a kitschy name for a duo though ain’t it?
I feel like the music you make correlates with your name. “I Find God” is one of those tracks; The production embodies a dance track but the lyrics hold a deeper message
Just as you get used to the pop structure, the song flips a 180 into ethereal synths; It’s disorienting. The song is about our main character finding god as their world comes crashing down. The verses display the character’s paranoia and nightmares coming to reality as police raid his home. Our character sees visions of his family, while peaking through the floorboard and finding god in his freedom. All of this is happening over some poppy synths and basses, which feels disconnected but it's intentional.
Cont’d - “Bombs are hitting Yemen, send Lockheed to The Hague” sounds like euphoria; that dissonance is the message. On first listen, it’s a chill jam but on second listen it’s an apocalyptic story of fear and faith in god. The idea was inspired by Radiohead’s lyrical imagery on OK Computer, but we wanted a meandering futuristic sound and vision to set our journey. You can think of it as a chapter in a book, a piece of the story.
Is maintaining your anonymity a piece of your story or music?
It’s music first, and that’s why we value anonymity. At the same time we think it speaks to the message, somebody hiding from the world around them. Not that we’re hiding but it builds a universe around the messages in our songs. I can remember the allure of mystery around the Weekend, the clues dropped around to find him, the blogs trying to find him. You may find us but I don’t think it matters.
