BEN Gumbleton admits he would be tip-toeing around "the elephant in the room" if Boo Seeka's latest single Days Get Better didn't reference the COVID-19 pandemic.
"You can't avoid something the whole world is going through together," Gumbleton said.
Indeed it would be folly to ignore COVID, as it's the reason the song was written. Days Get Better, out on Friday, marked the turning point in the Novocastrian electro-soul act's preparations for their second album following the onset of the pandemic in March.
Gumbleton, and bandmate Michael May, had planned to travel to Queensland to complete the record with producer Matt Bartlem before they were locked out of the sunshine state due to border closures.
They then decided to pivot and start writing more songs in Newcastle, which also involved collaborating over FaceTime with Melbourne-based DJ Will Kruger. Days Get Better's chorus asks the billion dollar question of, "How long 'til the days get better", over pulsating beats and synths.
Initially Boo Seeka planned to release an album in 2020 and tour nationally and overseas. Gumbleton said the duo will concentrate on dropping a series of singles before the album follows in early 2021.
Gumbleton's seen too many albums released during COVID-19 fail to resonate broadly without the support of touring.
"We obviously put a lot of time and effort into what we do and create this piece of work that your whole heart and soul and time every day goes into, and at the moment we can't go out and tour it and promote it," he said.
"We see some artists' records get a release day and that's it. It's really hard to watch and I feel sorry for them. So for us we've again flipped this record and made it more of a story and a bit of journey."
