Image: Supplied.
Naarm/Melbourne duo Deuce are making their debut with the release of their first single, Antipodes. Made up of visual artist and musician ​Kayleigh Heydon​ and Curtis Wakeling ​(The Ocean Party / ​Pop Filter​), the track opens with an aching slide guitar, before Heydon's vocals take centre stage.
Written by Heydon and recorded within a couple of hours, the song was crafted almost a year ago during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The song navigates wanting to connect with others, something that rings true to this day whilst parts of the world are still in lockdown.
"Space from things and places is important, but when that space becomes so distant that the memories become misty, we start to long for what we don’t have, become fidgety with our choices. I hadn’t visited home (Manchester, UK) for two years, happily in the Melbourne bubble. Suddenly with a pandemic cloaking the world and travel halted, its becomes three years since I’ve embraced my family; my baby nephew, my dad, mum and sister. Time begins passing in slow motion and it starts to hurt. Some days you’re totally fine, but some days it really hits hard, and I know I’m not alone in that." H​eydon shares.
The release is accompanied by a visual, comprised of archival home video footage from the musicians childhood. "My parents never stopped recording us, and I feel lucky that we have these memories to reach back to like this." Heydon explains. "The video tapes sat unearthed for for about 15 years, collecting dust. I haven’t seen my familyback home in Manchester for a few years now, it hurts at times, life is moving on and things are changing and there’s no time in the future I can imagine safely travelling to visit them. After talking and telling my parents about a song I’d written about them, they decided it was time to remember our family together, growing and learning and having fun. The videos were sent to me a week later through a Dropbox link and I sat alone one morning and watched 6 hours of footage and cried. There was no better material to show what the song meant to me."
Antipodes is out now! Listen to the track below.