German rockers Letters Sent Home captivate listeners with their raw and introspective music that mines the depths of human emotion. Fronted by vocalist Emily Paschke, the quartet’s forthcoming debut album Forever Undone is due out on April 12 via SharpTone Records and is sure to make a big splash. With a unique blend of dark indie-pop energy and evocative storytelling, the band crafts a musical landscape that resonates with both heavy vulnerability and pop-punk ebullience. As they prepare to unveil their highly anticipated debut project to the world, we had the privilege of chatting with Letters Sent Home to delve into the creative process behind their new album and the poignant lyrics of their latest single “I Hope I Die First.”
JG: Congrats on your debut album! We’re a few months away from the April 12th release date. How excited are you for people to finally hear Forever Undone?
Letters Sent Home: Thank you so much! We cannot wait for this album to finally be released. We wrote the first demo for the album over two years ago, so it’s about time.
JG: What was the process of recording and writing this album like for you? What did producer Julian ‘Polar’ Huisel bring to the project?
Letters Sent Home: We usually write some demos at home and once we decide we have a few songs we want to finish, we drive down to Koblenz, which is where Julian has his home studio and we work on the songs together. Julian is a brilliant songwriter, so he always has new ideas to perfect the songs. He also knows exactly what buttons to press to push us to perform the best we can while recording. Sometimes, we start working on a song with him without having written a demo first. We have learned so much from him and are continuing to do so. Ever since we started songwriting in 2018, we have never worked with anyone else. We love to look back and see how not only we as a band but also he as a producer has grown so much over the years. Julian is basically the fifth member of Letters Sent Home and one of our closest friends.
JG: How did your latest single “I Hope I Die First” come to be? It’s a little different for you, as it is a love song.
Letters Sent Home: When we were almost finished writing the album, we listened to “Line It Up” by Palaye Royale ft. LP for the first time and we immediately knew we had to put such a powerful ballad on our record as well. This song was the sole inspiration for the instrumentals of “I hope I die first.” We wanted it to have the same energy but, of course, create something totally new. As for it being a love song, I (Emily) have always been super emotional but never been able to express loving emotions. Even in songwriting I never could find the right words to talk about love. I didn’t want my “love story” to be just one of a million. So, I never wrote about it. With “I hope I die first.” I, for the first time, had the urge to put into words what I was feeling and for the first time, I was able to. I am a person who feels emotions very strongly, so the way I love is not only beauty but sometimes a lot of pain. So, I wanted to capture not only the beautiful side of love but also the way it hurts. I also wanted to include that too much love often turns into codependency which is quite dangerous. I have told my love story now and I don’t need to tell it twice, and as I am hoping it is the only one I ever want to tell, I don’t think I will write about love again. But you never know
JG: You come at your lyrics with such honesty, realness and conviction. Is it ever tricky being so vulnerable in your music?
Letters Sent Home: Never while I’m writing but always when such an honest song is being released. It is therapy to write lyrics without boundaries and be totally free in what I want to write. On the upcoming album, I’m talking about things I didn’t even know still lingered in me but as I started writing, they just came out. But then, those songs see the world and the world sees them and I realize other people have those insights in my life now, too. I get nervous about it but then I remind myself that I’m not the only one experiencing those emotions and situations and I might be able to make someone else feel less alone, so it’s worth it.
JG: Without giving too much away, what can people expect from the album? Will it be in line with “I hope I die first,” “Request Denied,” and “Elements?” Is there a track on the album that you’re most excited for listeners to hear?
Letters Sent Home: The album is deeply personal. We were sick of writing about mental health in a metaphorical manner and wanted to focus on personal and relatable stories. Talking about mental health in general is very important but we have just talked about it so much already, we wanted to give other themes and topics a stage now. With this album, we wanted to be as transparent as possible. So, this album tells different stories of my life that I have never told before. It also portrays the hopelessness and helplessness of the younger generations. Musically we knew we needed to add more energy and attitude, especially to the vocals. We think this album perfectly portrays us with all our musical influences and personalities. We intentionally chose those three singles to be the first ones because we think they perfectly represent the different musical elements that are found on this album. You will be able to find a few songs that are more on the pop-punk side like “Request Denied” but also just as many electronic and pop influences as you can hear in “Elements”. “I hope I die first.” represents the album really well because it is a first insight into how deeply personal the album will be. It is the only ballad, though.
JG: Can listeners look forward to a tour after the album is out?
Letters Sent Home: We have no tour planned yet but we are playing a special release show near our hometown, in Brunswick a week after the release and we’ll be playing some support shows in April as well.