Daily Discovery is a feature that highlights a new or recently discovered artist who we’re excited about. See the rest of our Daily Discoveries here.
Dublin, Ireland-based duo Bad Sea have an interesting origin story, to say the least. After initially meeting on Tinder, Ciara and Alan quickly realized that a romantic relationship might not be on the horizon but a musical one was certainly in the cards.
For their latest single, Bad Sea tackle one of the many overwhelming aspects to metaphorically holding your lover’s heart in your hands. “Over My Head” paints the picture of someone watching their web of lies unravel after they’ve already gotten too involved in a new relationship.
With such a strong subject matter and the emotional lyrics to match, Bad Sea keep the production rather simple for “Over My Head.” Ciara’s stunning vocals make each word of an already heartbreaking record strike an even strong chord as Alan ties everything all together with moving instrumentation solely from the piano.
Listen to “Over My Head” as you get familiar with Bad Sea below.
I heard that you two initially met on Tinder, when did you decide that a musical relationship would be better than a romantic one?
Ciara: As soon as I found out he didn’t have any money.
Alan: As soon as I found out she could sing.
What is the significance behind the name Bad Sea?
Alan: Ciara’s nickname is CMAT, so if you combine that with Alan it gets you CMAL. C sounds like Sea, and Mal means Bad. Ta da.
Ciara: It’s also a marketing ploy to get people to our shows because when they mishear the name they assume we are a Nick Cave tribute act.
Your new single “Over My Head” feels quite personal, what inspired it?
Alan: Ciara wrote the lyrics over some guitar parts I had lying around, so she’ll have to answer that.
Ciara: It’s about exaggerating facts/straight up lying to someone when you first meet them because you think they’re hot and want the ride, but then it blossoms into something of value. So you either have to bend over backwards to live up to the lies or admit to being a liar and jeopardize the relationship (I don’t do that anymore by the way! In case you are reading this, have money, and are wondering if I’m single).
What is your songwriting/recording process like?
Alan: Lots of sending each other voice memos on our phones. We both write different parts of different songs, there’s no consistent roles in the songwriting.
Ciara: Yeah, me and Alan send each other stuff all the time but I don’t know where songs come from. I come up with my best ideas while on the toilet.
Is it hard coming up in Dublin right now? How would you describe the music scene over there?
Ciara: There’s no money, no venues, no government funding for the kind of music we make, and no studios in the city because they’re all either owned by Bono or are being leveled to become car parks. Still some good bands though.
Alan: It’s not all bad though, the fact the music scene is so small means that pretty quickly after being in music you can meet and play with people you really admire.
What artists influence you the most?
Alan: Glen Campbell and Drake.
Ciara: All I really listen to right now is extended Drag mixes from people like Alaska Thunderfuck 5000, Detox iCunt and Gia Gunn. Yes, I am the most annoying person to be around right now.
What plans do you have for the rest of 2017?
Alan: Hopefully some festivals, and definitely more releases.
Ciara: We just wanna make friends and earn enough money for some takeaways. Also get more followers on twitter.
[“Source-pigeonsandplanes.”]