“Sadness can be a great trigger for the imagination” explains Liela Moss, she of the golden tresses. “Though through it you can reach a sweet centre, a stronger core, which itself feels a bit like love itself.”

Sadness and redemption; death and rebirth - such are the themes on The Duke Spirit’s long awaited second album “Neptune”. After a year spent touring America in 2006 – taking in everything from broken limbs (Toby in Las Vegas), getting all their gear stolen (Portland) and visiting rock landmarks (the MC5’s old HQ in Ann Arbor), the band could have been forgiven for writing an on the road album worthy of Jack Kerouac. But for a group influenced by European art and culture as much as Route 66, there were always going to be deeper depths to explore.

“Musically we wrote the songs in England, and then ended up recording them in Joshua Tree, which is literally in the middle of nowhere, three hours drive from Los Angeles“ explains Luke. “So there’s a real contrast between the sound and the content. We like to be contrary. It’s an album full of images about the ocean, recorded in the desert.”
“Quite unexpectedly, water seeped into lots of my phrases and titles” continues Liela. “I feel like going to the desert was the only rightful place to take these images of submersion, Sea gods and ships. I wanted to dry out in the heat of the sun and start anew.”