Having journeyed their most tumultuous chapter as a band in recent years, Sydney pop-punk favourites YOURS TRULY emerged triumphant with their most accomplished material to date – their second studio album, TOXIC. The band, comprising current lineup of Mikaila Delgado, Teddie Winder-Haron and Henry Beard, engages a new and confident creative rhythm across the album’s ten tracks; one found after processing an unique grieving process following a relentless touring schedule and departure of two long-standing band members. The music presented on TOXIC is resultant of a fresh approach to their album-making process; Yours Truly whittling a collection of fifty songs down to the final batch, created with new collaborators and producers, both in Australia and beyond. Produced by Ocean Grove’s Sam Bassal, TOXIC is a powerful blend of sounds that speak to the fun pop-punk
essence of early Yours Truly material, while also demonstrating a boldness to step forward in exploring heavy rhythms and new directions. Mikaila , whose lyricism and songwriting style has been commended for its intimate and diaristic style, is a stand out on TOXIC. Her fusion of attitude and vulnerability on songs like ‘Call My Name Name’ and ‘Back 2 U’ not only makes for an engaging listen, but shows how music has been a vessel for her as a storyteller, to work through a
myriad of emotions.“It’s the moment we knew everything was going to be okay,” Mikaila says of ‘Call Your Name’, the first single takenfrom TOXIC. “That song was the moment we knew we were going to be able to do this, where ‘Back 2 U’ is at the beginning like, “Is anyone going to come back and save me?”
The album goes through all of these things. I hate you, I love you, I want to be loved. To then get to the end, where it’s like, “Actually, this was never right. I’m going to be fine.”, it finishes telling the story.” Produced by Ocean Grove’s Sam Bassal and mixed by acclaimed engineer Daniel Braunstein (Spiritbox, Dayseeker), TOXIC features compositions and co-writes with previous Yours Truly collaborator Stevie Knight (‘Sour’, ‘California Sober’); Los Angeles-based producer Sam Guiana (Between You And Me); Florida’s Hunter Young and Austin Coupe (Dead Presidents) on ‘Back 2 U’; and features Jono Hawkey (Bloom), who appears on standout album track, ‘Sinking’.
With the release of TOXIC: from the frenetic energy of ‘Desaturated’, to the catharsis felt with each sonic build on tracks like ‘Let Go’ and ‘All That I’m Not’, Yours Truly have produced work they not only proudly stand behind, but stands as striking reinvestment in the band’s journey moving forward. “[TOXIC has] shown that we’re both able to make sacrifices for each other, but also for the integrity of the thing that we’ve worked on for the past nine years,” Mikaila says. “If we can get through losing two of our best friends, having to re-evaluate whether or not we would be able to keep doing this; going through illness, feeling very disconnected during a period of time where we should have been connected…I felt that if we were still friends and we’re still doing it together, I think we’re going to be okay.” Teddie agrees, “We are the two who have been there from the start. We’ve always said to each other, “As long as it’s us two, it’s always going to be Yours Truly.”
Venue
Manchester M1 7HE
UK