A Musical Supernova With ADALITA From BLEAK SQUAD

The term supergroup is bandied around too often these days when a
group of talented musicians from established bands try something
together. It creates almost unrealistic expectations among fans of
the respective members' bands, who are more often than not left
disappointed due to the logical fact that this 'supergroup' is only
one quarter or less of the band they are widely known for.
Which is why HEAVY won't be labelling Bleak Squad a supergroup -
although many will.
Featuring the unlikely quartet of Mick Turner (Dirty Three, Mess
Esque), Mick Harvey (Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, PJ Harvey, The
Birthday Party), Adalita (Magic Dirt) and Marty Brown (Art of
Fighting), Bleak Squad unite for the first time on their brooding,
noir-rock debut LP, Strange Love, out now on Poison City
Records.
The album is a combined output of four seasoned musicians who have
come together to express themselves musically in ways other than,
as well as a continuation of, the music they are known and loved
for. Prepare to put expectations aside and appreciate the music for
what it is, rather than what you think it should be, as Adalita
sits down with HEAVY to talk about the album and how Bleak Squad
became a musical family.
We start by asking how she feels about Strange Love.
"Great," she enthused. "It's great to finally have it out there
(because) it's been in the making for quite a few years. We've been
working on it since, I think, 2019, maybe? We got together and just
jammed some stuff and recorded back then, and we've been working on
it for a few years on and off because everyone's so busy with other
things. So it's great to finally have it out in the world."
We follow that by asking Adalita to dive deeper into the musical
side of the album.
"Well, we really didn't know what we were doing," she laughed. "We
just got together. Marty called us up and said, 'do you want to get
together and maybe collaborate and see what comes out of it?' We
all said yes and got together and brought in our own songs, or we
brought in riffs and things that were half done and just to see if
we could collaborate on it. And it was really great because
straight away we clicked and there was real chemistry. The songs
just flowed, and we decided to record it, and it was really low
pressure. We didn't know what was going to come out of it, but we
ended up having a record and then suddenly we're a band, and we're
going to tour it."
In the full chat, Adalita highlighted the collaborative nature of
Bleak Squad, where each member contributed their own songs,
resulting in a diverse sound. She praised her bandmates for their
musical talents and emphasized the enjoyable, low-pressure
environment that allowed for creative exploration.
She also shared insights into her collaboration with Mick Harvey
and Mick Turner, the instinctual approach to determining vocal
parts, and the different challenges of writing and recording
outside of her long-time band Magic Dirt. We talked about the
formation of Bleak Squad and how it came about, what each member
brought from their other musical projects to the project, their
first live gig and how the nerves were, establishing a bond with
her new musical partners, upcoming shows and more.

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