Belle Haven grapple with the machinations of time on their new EP

With the announcement coming today that Melbourne act Belle Haven will release their new EP, Time Changes Nothing, this April, who better to talk us through it than the band themselves? To coincide with the good news from the Southeast lads, vocalist David De La Hoz shared the inspiration behind the upcoming drop with BLUNT.

Ideas for our Time Changes Nothing EP started brewing in late 2019. Finishing up the ‘Forget Me’ tour in July, we knew we were ready to write a record but were not sure what we were mentally and emotionally capable of committing to; prior to ‘Forget Me’, being in Belle Haven had become incredibly stressful for all of us due to a lot of mental health related issues.

The record was fully written by January/February of 2020, and we began final tracking in Christopher Vernon’s studio immediately. Between all of this, we started sorting music videos, promotional material; it was all coming to life very rapidly. Right up until COVID-19 hit, at least. It was right in the middle of vocal tracking that it started becoming difficult to complete with travel restrictions especially, but we got there.

COVID certainly put a large dent in all our release plans too. In total the release was pushed back 2 or 3 times across 2020, before we decided on pushing it back to 2021. This was obviously very disheartening. Along with the perpetual release rescheduling, all our touring plans and ideas were cancelled. It felt like we had come out of hiatus only to re-enter it again immediately.

Thankfully, it is 2021 now, and we are seeing the release of Time Changes Nothing.

Writing and producing the EP was nearly an entirely DIY process, except for the percussion, which was both performed and tracked by Declan White and a lot of programming by Callan Orr (Dream On Dreamer). It was all a very personal and important experience for us. As mentioned earlier, everything had felt so stressful for us for a long while and there was a time where it felt like we were going to call it quits entirely. I remember writing ‘Hopeless. Empty. Lonely. Painful.’, the four of us were sitting around Christopher Vernon’s desk, brainstorming ideas on how to properly and intensely approach a climactic moment in the song. With every idea, we all began to feel increasingly excited. Smiling, shouting, pointing, air drumming, all of it. I felt like I was watching a moment that merely a year ago I thought I may not ever experience again, and I felt so overwhelmed I couldn’t help but cry. This led us to a very wholesome group embrace. It was a special moment. It felt so good to feel good about being in Belle Haven again.

Coming out of our hiatus in 2019, I felt a great deal of pressure. Everyone in the band was moving forward but I still felt there were unresolved things within myself. Things that were nearly solely responsible for the band going on hiatus in the first place. Unknowingly, writing this EP did lead to catharsis. There was a lot of shame I associated with the stories and feelings I have written about on the EP, making the topics nearly impossible to release without a pen and paper.

To keep it simple, Time Changes Nothing tells five personal stories of hopelessness. No matter the treatment, the effort, the time, the patience, the love (or lack of), sometimes it truly does feel entirely pointless. After all, what is really the point of a giant white puzzle? Even if you can figure out how to put all the pieces together, what are you looking at when it’s done?