Twin Temple vocalist Alexandra James has revealed how making the band’s new album Doomed Lovers rescued her from the pits of “soul-crushing depression”.
The Los Angeles band’s follow-up to 2023’s acclaimed God Is Dead, was produced by Shooter Jennings at LA’s legendary Sunset Sound studio, and is released today, October 9, on the duo’s own Pentagrammaton Records label. The record’s emergence is an extra special cause for celebration for husband and wife team Zachary and Alexandra James as, for a time, the pair weren’t at all sure if they’d have the opportunity, or indeed desire, to make music together again.
“Making this record, we were at a really low point in our lives,” Alexandra tells Metal Hammer. “I’d lost someone really special and close to me, my Halmoni [the Korean word for grandmother], who was my second mother, she raised me. We also had a bunch of health issues that knocked us on our ass. We lost our beloved dog of 16 years. We were dropped by members of our team. We finished God is Dead in 2020 and were completely iced by the label, just got caught in industry hell,and couldn’t even put it out for four years after the record was completed. When you literally are legally not even able to put music out, there’s a soul-crushing depression.
“In the midst of all that, Shooter was like, ‘It doesn’t fucking matter. Come to Sunset Sound and make music.’ We were like, How and why? We’re not going to be able to put it out. No one is behind this. No one’s putting our records out. We’ve had every door slammed in our face. He’s like, ‘Because just do it. Just get out of bed.’
“Honestly, the process of making the record really healed my depression because I had a reason to get out of bed in the morning, and I found myself getting excited again.”
Alexandra’s appreciation, admiration and respect for the band’s producer, the son of country music legend Waylon Jennings, shines through in every word she speaks, and it’s clear that his support and encouragement meant everything to the duo.
“Every morning that we went to Sunset Sound felt like Christmas,” she enthuses. “It made me realise that having a great producer is so much beyond finding sounds. It’s having someone to help shepherd you through these really insanely brutal periods, because the music industry is a rough ride. It’s a wild ride. I’ll never forget, we were deep in the midst of all these going through so much, and him and [his wife] Misty went on vacation to Mexico for a week, and they straight up fucking gave us the keys to Sunset Sound and said, ‘Go make music.’ It meant so much to us. Seriously, I don’t think I would’ve gotten out of the depression without this record and their friendship and support.”
The fact that Twin Temple overcame so much to complete the record makes Doomed Lovers particularly meaningful for the pair Alexandra says.
“It speaks to the power of what music is, and what it can do,” she explains. “After seeing the really shitty side of the industry, it was sort of like that’s the beautiful side of it and what keeps us coming back for more. She’s a cruel mistress, but when she’s on your side it’s a beautiful thing.”
“The most fundamental and important thing for us is to do this, because to us, this is like breathing,” she concludes. “This is what we need to do. Birds need to fly. We need to just do this for life. When it was taken away, it felt like I was dying.”
