Serving up a summer anthem filled with slick guitars and catchy lyrics is brother-duo Foreign Affairs with their new single “Make a Move”. Building upon their songwriting ability in the single, we see the duo deliver yet another hit single as they ride the rock ’n’ roll production, intertwining elements of old school blues with feverish energy.

“‘Writing ‘Make a Move’ was an opportunity to show the bold and energetic elements of who we are as Foreign Affairs”, the duo said. “It’s a switch from the more reflective and introspective singles that we have been releasing recently. This is definitely a statement of confidence about our originality and that we feel we have something different to show the world.”

Following on from their previous critically acclaimed single, “Rosanna”, the Bristol-hailed indie duo takes a step forward with their sound on the single, proving their lyrical development. With live shows on the horizon and a few more singles on the way, we caught up with the two talking Bristol, how their sound has evolved and how being a duo has strengthened their relationship as brothers.

Check out the interview below…

Hi Foreign Affairs, how are you both doing?
We’re good thank you, excited for the world to hear Make a Move!

Where does the name of your duo originate from?
(Adam)I spent a year studying classical guitar at the Koninklijk Conservatorium in Brussels and my halls of residence overlooked the EU headquarters where I’d often see the Foreign Affairs correspondence broadcasting, during that time me and Lawrence started writing songs across Skype and it just seemed fitting to name the band from what I could see from my bedroom.

You are brothers with a shared passion for music! Do you think your upbringing has influenced your career paths?
Absolutely, music was always in the house growing up, both our parents love buying records and seeing live shows, we were lucky enough to be taken to see James Taylor at the Colston Hall when still in primary school and we were really encouraged to take up instruments and explore the idea of pursuing music as a career.

Does your status as siblings ever interfere with your professional relationship?
In the early years of Foreign Affairs there were some tense times, we were exploring our sound, using different live set ups and when things didn’t go right, for sure it was easier to take it out on your brother. As we’ve grown up, grown into our sound and realised exactly what we wanted to achieve with the project, it has definitely strengthened our relationship both as brothers and band members.

How would you describe the sound of your work?
We grew up in a house where there was a real variety of records being played, everything from Bach Guitar re-works to The Divine Comedy to our Dads favourite, Bruce Springsteen. As a result our sound and influences are pretty eclectic which we see as a huge positive, especially in our live set up. With this latest record, we feel like it sits somewhere between ‘The Black Keys’ and ‘Larkin Poe’, bluesy riff driven guitar music. We always walk a line between showing a softer, more introspective side of our songwriting, for example our previous single ‘Rosanna’, but at the same time we love writing bigger, bluesy inspired songs that are full of energy, the two compliment each other quite nicely with their differences.

Congratulation on the release of your new single, “Make a Move”! How has the response been to the track?
Thank you! We’ve been blown away with the support we have received for the song so far! Lots of messages from fans as well as the backing of both local and national radio, it’s a really promising start and fingers crossed it can keep reaching people far and wide!

How did you go about creating the song?
We were messing around on GarageBand, setting up loops and going back forth until we played something that caught our ear. It all stemmed from the one guitar lick that pretty much continues throughout the song, a bluesy ‘Black Keys’ style riff/guitar tone with a lot of swagger and as soon as we had that it set the tone of the track straight away. I knew I wanted it to have a fast and wordy lyrical flow with a lot of energy so that I could be playful with the rhyming structure and sing it with a lazy understated vocal in the verses, giving it room to explode into the chorus. When we added the bongo’s the whole thing just came to life, the track started jumping and it had a real Rolling Stones vibe. We took the demo to a recording studio in Bristol and re-recorded everything with real instruments and some extra live parts and it just completely exploded with energy, we loved it!

What is the message you want listeners to take away from the track?
The song is a statement of confidence for us, it’s about unashamedly doing your own thing and not being afraid to be unique, making your own moves without worrying what anybody is thinking/doing. “Make a move, they all follow suite”. We’ve always seen it as a track with a lot of energy and fun. We hope that it transfers to the listeners and that they can have fun with it too. When we listen to it walking down the street with headphones in it makes us stand a little taller and walk with a purpose so hopefully it can do the same to other people, confidence-inspiring.

What is next for you both?
We’re finally getting back out and playing again. We’ve got our headline show in Bristol on Saturday 30th October and we’ll be announcing more across the U.K. very soon. We’re also planning to put out a couple more singles this year before something bigger in 2022.We’ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with different sounds over the last few singles and pushing ourselves from a songwriting/production perspective. We can’t wait for what we’ve got lined up for you all next.