Jadu Heart: Behind the Scenes, Dreams & Touring Grind

Jadu Heart, the English Dream pop duo, are currently on tour with Fontaines D.C. and most recently released their 4th album titled POST HEAVEN. The duo chatted with Off Record about their current tour, music inspirations and more.

Jadu Heart, the Dream Pop/Indie Rock duo from London, has released their latest record, POST HEAVEN, which showcases their exceptional talent. Diva Jeffrey and Alex Headford have always been known for their experimental approach to sound. By surrounding their music with intention and creativity, the duo has continued to produce remarkable work since their inception in 2019. Currently on tour with Fontaines D.C., Jadu Heart is clearly establishing a name for themselves in the music industry.

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ORB: How does it feel to open for one of the biggest rock bands, Fontaines D.C.?

Diva Jefferey (DJ): it feels mad, it’s an honour to be able to share a stage with them and to be asked to come on this tour. Everyday they do a rehearsal before sound check and jam out new material, and that’s been special to witness. They’re all really sound and lovely as well and it’s been nice to have a few beers and hang out.

Alex Headford (AH): It’s great, there’s not many bands we would go through such an effort to work with. We think everything they are doing for guitar music is great. Actually pushing it forwards as well as bringing that sound into pop culture again. It’s an honour to have been asked.

ORB: As a duo from England, you have gained significant attention for your independent approach to music production. Who are some of your favorite musical influences and why?

DJ: Honestly this is such a hard question to answer, we have so many influences and from so many different genres and mediums. We share a kinship with anyone who wants to test the boundaries of what is expected of you as an artist. People who are passionate and not afraid to show the care they have for their art. There’s such an epidemic of nonchalance at the moment that i absolutely hate. I think it’s lame, and people should show that they’re really trying to do something good

AH: We both are influenced by so much, it’s really hard to just rattle some off. We are just as influenced by artists and directors as we are by music. Creative thinkers and people who approach their medium with interesting theories of how to express themselves seam to be the most inspiring. (Lynch, Bowie, Virgil) etc.

ORB: You recently released your latest record, POST HEAVEN. What was your creative process like when writing the project?

DJ: it was just get in to the studio as often as we could and try and leave with something, even if it was a super rough idea. Try and have as much fun as possible but also, be kind and patient with each other. Especially as we were simultaneously going through a very devastating time. We used the act of creativity to push the boundaries of a ‘normal’ breakup and tried to channel as much as we could into the music.

AH:  It’s always different but at the time we had just decided to split from our relationship together so we wanted to move quick and push ourselves to be as creative as we could be. The album is kinda a bit of a nuclear bomb for us, we were pushing ourselves further than we have ever been to experiment with production. We also risked having a record that has essentially 6 instrumental tracks, which I think will be a tough pill to swallow for previous fans of ours who are mainly engaged by our songwriting.

ORB: What makes POST HEAVEN different from your previous records?

DJ:  I think every album we do ends up sounding quite different, but i guess with this one it was written in different personal circumstances, which meant the feel of the album felt like a journey through the navigation of that. We wanted it to sound like a 90s beat tape with instrumentals and and heavy drums. The only thing i know is we wanted it to be bold and fun and i feel like we achieved that.

AH:  I feel like this album is us really breaking through a barrier that lots of artists might have which makes them feel they can’t push the boat into new territory from there original genre. I think we kinda just broke the damn and now there’s a whole new world to play with.

ORB: Performing live and touring across the U.S. is exciting, but can also be stressful. Can you share a time when you had to adapt to a change in your performance plans?

DJ: Because of financial constraints, we don’t have a sound engineer or tour manager on this tour. It’s been fun doing the more DIY route, but being at the mercy of in house engineers, every night means that even in the first 3 shows, we’ve had to change the set list to songs that can be more easily mixed by someone new on a whim. It’s been super interesting because we’ve ended up playing some of the simpler songs because of this, and through that have ended up with a different show to what we initially expected – not necessarily in a bad way either.

AH: We are touring managing ourselves and we have a mate driving, we are staying in fans houses throughout the trip, and so on. Touring in US as a band is so expensive, but it’s been great, and we’ve met some great people.

ORB: What are some of the things you are looking forward to when it comes to touring in Texas? Any fun things planned?

DJ: We’re gonna hang out with our friends Redbud, who are a band we met last time we were in tour here! Also looking forward to some warm weather – the UK winter has taken its toll.

AH: We are staying with our friend Redbud, who we met when we headlined Antone’s [Austin] a couple of years ago. She was great and I’m excited to hang out with her again. We love the American people and the American dream, I enjoy meeting you all.

Check out POST HEAVEN by Jadu Heart, out now on all platforms.

See Jadu Heart LIVE this spring as they are on the road supporting FONTAINES D.C, get your tickets here.