Love Letter to a Record: dœgægé on The 1975's Self-Titled

Music Feeds’ Love Letter to a Record series asks artists to reflect on their relationship with the music they love and share stories about how it has influenced their lives. Here, Caleb Doe, aka Naarm/Melbourne-based pop artist dœgægé, raises a glass to The 1975’s self-titled debut (2013).

Caleb Doe released GOBLIN BLISS ETERNAL RELIEF, his debut EP under the dœgægé moniker, on Friday, 11th August. But even prior to its release, the Melbourne/Naarm-based pop musician had won over the likes of Mallrat and jamesjamesjames, with the former describing Doe’s music as “not just tasteful and cool” but also “beautiful and completely in its own lane.”

dœgægé’s Love Letter to The 1975 by The 1975

dœgægé: I owe nearly everything to this album. It changed my life so graphically and rapidly. I found this album when I was 12, maybe a year after it came out. I have countless memories attached to every song and I’ve probably streamed this album more than their whole fanbase in total – I probably contributed 50% of their numbers.

Making music that people can tie memories to has become a massive goal of mine. The lyric writing, sincere accents, the mix of electronic and ambient elements, stacked repetitive riffs, all of it amazed me. ‘The City’ and ‘Sex’ are my favourites. I saw them live in Melbourne this year with all my friends and I balled my fucking eyes out when they closed with ‘Sex’. I went from learning ‘Smoke on the Water’ to learning ‘Girls’ as my second song on the guitar. That’s impressive, I should add.

Melodically, this album is incredible, and to be able to watch them grow as a band to where they are now has been so inspiring to me. I was told by someone I look up to that an artist’s value shouldn’t be measured on instant success; an artist’s value should be judged off how they overcome brick walls and engineer the best detour. Making the most of a bad situation. I definitely butchered that quote but I hope you get the idea.

I was able to witness The 1975 receiving backlash and criticism for this project around the time it was released, and they pressed on with total conviction of their sound and style and they continue to do it today. There was no attempt to please anyone, they only made what they believed in.

This album was also a huge gateway into finding new music for me. I was so obsessed, I looked up the artists and bands who inspired them, like Brian Eno and one of my favourites, Sigur Rós. Sigur Rós partly inspired my name – I used Icelandic ligature I found in track names. The 1975 and this album especially are definitely an inspiration for my own music. I’ve found my sound inside the same pop-rock genre they expanded in 2013.

Another thing I love about this album is that it was all self-produced. They refused to work with producers in order to keep it genuine and sincere to their own style. I sympathise because it makes the music more meaningful to the artist. It keeps the music in complete, 24-carat form with every aspect coming from a personal place.

I’ve taken this approximation into my own work, not just sonically but visually too. Hopefully one day I can be the soundtrack to peoples’ happiest and darkest flashbacks, by creating music that is individually unique and personal to me.

dœgægé – ‘A DYING GNOME‘