Interview by Sam Elliott.

Eora/Sydney-based indie-pop duo Dekleyn have just revealed their captivating new collab single 'Only You', featuring pop vocalist Sammi Constantine – produced by the artists themselves alongside Hamish Patrick (George Alice, MAY-A), mixed by Jack Prest (Sampa the Great, GODTET) and mastered by Ben Feggans (RÜFÜS DU SOL, Mallrat, Vera Blue).

Futuremag Music’s Sam Elliott caught up with Matthew and Justin from Dekleyn to chat about the latest release.

FMM: Congratulations on your newest single, Only You. So exciting. How do you guys feel releasing a new single into the world?

Matthew: Yeah, awesome. It's been a little while. First one for the year, so we're happy to just get back into it. It's been a little while, so we're used to doing a lot of back-to-back releases and keeping it pretty consistent. So yeah, we're keen to get back into it.

Justin: Yeah, I agree (laughs).

FMM: Awesome. Was there a reason there was a little bit more time for this one? Were you crafting, or what was the kind of delay on this one?

Justin: Yeah, I think maybe the time of year. We sort of released one other song before this. I think it was maybe October or November. So, just having that Christmas break, we thought it was probably better just to wait a little bit longer. The song has been in the works for a very long time, this one in particular, so it's really great to finally be out.

FMM: Amazing, and look, it's a phenomenal one and it's bloody unreal. It also features Sammi Constantine in it. What was the process like working with her and why did you have her feature on this one?

Matthew: Yeah, it was really cool. We sort of already had the song written, so we wrote the song with Miranda Ward, who goes by Austin. She's from Blusher. We wrote it with her and then we sort of just sat on it for a little while and we weren't sure what we're going to do with it. Then we eventually took it to Sammi. We'd done a show with her before and we'd been in contact and we really liked her vocals, so we were keen to have her on the track and went over one day and we just pumped out the vocals in like two hours or something.

Yeah, we worked with Sammi a while ago. We did a show with her, would have been in 2019. So, quite a while ago. But, yeah, we had been working on the track for a while. We'd written it with Miranda Ward from Blusher and we sort of knew from the start that we needed it to be a duet. It sort of had this pondered vibe of one person singing to another and then sort of singing back. We really liked Sammi's voice. Her vocals are amazing. Working with her was really great. I went over one day and we pumped down the vocals in like two hours. It was really awesome. We just got it all done and, yeah, I was just doing it really well.

FMM: Amazing, and look, with this song, I've read somewhere that this was one of the deepest, more emotional songs that you've written. What kind of made you decide to move in that direction?

Justin: I’d say we’re sort of maturing as songwriters. I guess we're doing it for so long now that we're starting to dive a bit deeper into what we're saying, rather than just how we're saying things or what it sounds like. So, yeah, it's really cool when we working with Miranda to really sort of take a deep dive from both ends, get a really good, deeper perspective and meaning behind the song.

Matthew: I think it has a lot to do with the instrumental as well, because we actually had the instrumental first. It wasn't like a process of writing it as we sort of made it. It was like, here’s an instrumental, had that sort of deeper, sort of emotional feel to it. So we needed lyrics to match and Miranda helped a lot with that as well.

Justin: Yeah, we don't have too many other songs that sort of have a really emotional vibe like this one. It just really helped piece it along really well.

FMM: That's so special. I feel like your fans are going to really appreciate this kind of depth coming from you guys. Was it a difficult process to kind of shift that mind-frame of both musically having a little more emotional steps and writing as well?

Justin: I think from memory, the writing session was literally top to bottom, done within the one session. It just sort of really came out naturally, which was obviously really good to see. It was such a really good sessiont hat it just sort of flowed naturally, so it wasn't too big of an adjustment. We obviously had a bit to say, and it all came out great.

FMM: Yeah, and you guys have done some amazing work. You sold out Oxford Art Gallery bar, you've opened for people like Clypso, some really great heavy hitters in these scenes. Can we expect to see you play this new single live anytime soon? Do we have any whispers of anything coming up?

Matthew: We haven't really thought about that yet. We won't be probably doing any shows for al ittle while, at least for the next few months. We sort of save our set list for when we're building up to the shows, but it's something we definitely want to incorporate into the set. I think if we could do it with Sammi live, that would be awesome, too. It would just sort of depend on how it all works out with scheduling and stuff, but I think it's definitely a song we're going to try and incorporate into.

Justin: Yeah, I think we'll just add a different sort of vibe to the show and show something a bit different than what the rest of a live set would look like, I’d say.

FMM: Amazing, and look for any new fans of the band, what would a live show be like?

Justin: Obviously, we're a duo when we write and record, but we actually play in a three-piece when we play live. We have a drummer, Joel, who actually just brings such a big energy that's, like, unmatchable to even get it on production. When you just see it live here, it’s just such a sort of full sound that I think some people often don't expect when they listen to our chiller songs, but they always tell us they still love it. It's just a whole different sort of raw energy when we play live. I

Matthew: Yeah, it's definitely very upbeat, and a lot of us, when we play live, especially Justin said, with the big drums and stuff like that, it's always like a big, fun sound.

FMM: Unreal and look, that always is great, adding that extra layer. I find seeing bands and comparing live versus recording can almost be a completely different experience, so that's really cool that there's that extra layer there.