Interview: Pacific Heights On The Release Of 'The Waters Between', The State Of The Music Industry, & More

Pacific Heights’ musical story spans over 20 years and includes being a founding member and principal songwriter, producer, and performer for Shapeshifter

His new album ‘The Waters Between’ is graced by guest appearances from upcoming Australian artist Bri Clark, local legends Stan Walker, Louis Baker and Gramsci, the breakthrough talents of Foley and Lepani, and upcoming artists Solomon Crook, LANCE, and Jack Page.

With the release of the new album, we caught up with Pacific Heights member, Devin, and spoke about the release, the music industry, and more.

1. Hi Devin, Congrats on the new album. How does it feel knowing you can now share your work with the public?

Holy heck - it’s a huge relief after nearly 4 years of working on it. And thank you!

2. How many tracks did you originally record, and how did you figure out which 12 to keep?

The downside to working on an album for as long as I did was that I was constantly changing the construction of the album. Songs would come in and out of the list. The upside of taking this long was allowing the album songs to find each other over time and knowing they all belonged together.

3. The chord progression for ‘We’ll Never Have Tomorrow’ is beautiful, especially when it’s just the keys and Lepani’s vocals. How did you come up with it?

This one was super fun as we took a lot of inspiration from some gospel samples I had. Throughout the whole album actually there is a gospel tinge to the keys and bass.

4. What’s your favourite track on the album?

Oh, don’t make me answer this one, Ange!

5. Which do you prefer, songwriting or producing? And why?

Songwriting. I absolutely love being there for the inception of a song and emotion. It’s a very special place and I love it when there’s a real connection at this stage of songs.

6. What is your opinion on the music industry at the moment?

Um, it’s kind of cooked, in a bad way. We need more diversity from the ground up, it’s too top-heavy, there’s too much music coming out and it’s hard for new artists to cut through. But in saying that, I have been loving seeing in Aotearoa a positive attitude change towards collaboration and how we can work together. I bounce between a deep pessimist and a high-as-hell optimist daily.

7. What are your plans for the rest of 2022?

Got my first few international trips in 2 years, one to Australia and one to Japan for work and lots more collaboration and creation. I’m in my happy place (being extremely ADHD) when I’ve got lots of different projects on the go.

Thanks for speaking with us, and all the best with the album.

Thank you for all the support - much love, Devin.

Stream ‘The Waters Between’ by Pacific Heights below.