Mystery Jets

For more than two decades, Mystery Jets have built a world of their own — one shaped by restless creativity, a deep connection to place, and an instinct to keep looking beyond the familiar. From the early days of Making Dens to the expansive perspectives of Curve of the Earth and the street-level urgency of A Billion Heartbeats, the band have continually evolved without losing the essence of what first brought them together.

Now, with their seventh studio album, A Hole To See The Sky Through, Mystery Jets turn their gaze once again — this time from the void towards something more cosmic, searching for light through darkness, and finding beauty in themes of trauma, forgiveness, freedom and loss.

​

Alice: When creating your new album, what felt different in its creation to your previous albums? What felt poignant about it in this moment in time and it’s birth?



MJ: A Hole To See The Sky Through is quite different to anything we have done before. It came about through a piece of 1970's artwork by Yoko Ono that had been treasured by Blaine for some years, waiting for a moment when it could provide inspiration for new ideas in the band. The album title seemed to fit in the sequence of the previous two albums, and make a trilogy of related songs. The album is very much of its time, and explores the emotional issues that confront younger people, seeking to find a chink of  light in the darkest situation.


A: You’ve spent more than 20 years making music together, and Eel Pie Island has been such a significant part of the Mystery Jets story. What does Eel Pie Island represent to you now compared with when you were teenagers starting the band?



MJ: The Island is our home, and a treasure in itself, due to its incomparable music history and unique qualities and location in the heart of London. The founders of the band started working together in West London more than twenty five years ago. Eel Pie Island was not on our map then. Blaine and Will spent summer holidays together in France during their teens, and the foundations of the band were laid then. When Eel Pie Island came into our orbit, everything changed. Suddenly we had a permanent home. We started rehearsing regularly in a portacabin, and there was a marked change in the discipline and seriousness that we brought to our music.


A: After two decades, what parts of the original Mystery Jets identity have remained completely intact and what are those things that have changed and blossomed?



MJ: What has remained intact is the essence of the band, three of the original founding members, and principal songwriters. The artistic approach is identical; our way of writing, evolving song and album ideas and generating the music and lyrics. We have blossomed as better song writers, and with a clearer idea of what matters to us and what we feel drawn to write about. Some of the band members have changed, but there is a strong continuity too.

A: “Soul River” feels extremely personal. It’s an emotionally charged in the most beautiful way and a touching tribute to your friend and they impact he had on others lives. What did he mean to his community, and how much of that spirit and his soul was important to translate through the song?



MJ: Soul River speaks of a dear friend and his shocking and tragic loss during the pandemic of 2020 - 21. He meant so much to so many people, on and off the Island. I don't think he had any idea how much he was loved. He trod lightly on this earth. We wanted him to be remembered, so we wrote this song about him. The spirit of his memory will remain as long as the breeze blows over the flowing water of the Thames that he loved so much. 

A: Soul River” deals with suicide and loss, but the music itself has such beauty and warmth. Was it important to you to make the song feel life-affirming rather than simply mournful?



MJ: Soul River is a lasting tribute to our friend. At the same time, it touches on the more universal problems of suicide, addiction, abandonment and loss. The incidence of men of all ages taking their lives is at an all time high in this country. People that cannot call out for help, and are unable to face their predicament without putting their lives at risk, thus traumatising their helpless families and friends in the process. The life-affirming aspects of the song are the recognition that there is always help at hand, no matter how dire the situation.

A: Five minutes gives “Soul River” a lot of space to breathe. Did the song arrive fully formed, or did you deliberately allow it to become more expansive as you worked on it?



MJ: The song started with Blaine playing a few chords on the piano as some music drifted across towards us from the riverside pub on the far bank of the river. The mood of the song became embedded in those chords. A year or so later, after the tragedy and its aftermath had unfolded, the lyrics wrote themselves, and likewise the music took form in a short space of time. We had no idea what we had created, or whether it would have a place on the new album. It stood aloof, like a great willow tree standing alone, trailing branches in the water. It is true to say that the song needed room to breathe, and would not be hurried. Eventually, It found its place as the very soul of the album.

A: You’ve described the album as being about “freedom and forgiveness, trauma and wisdom.” How did those themes come to life and did they reaffirm and validate anything for yourselves?



MJ: The over-riding dark themes of the album emerged over time. Later we would appreciate that in order to gaze hopefully upwards through a small aperture toward the source of light and timelessness, inevitably you would be starting from a very low place. That low place was the feelings that populate this album, seen uncritically, and with compassion. The more you looked, the clearer the feelings became. We were being invited to follow those feelings and be true to them. There was validation, and it lay in acknowledging the truth of those feelings, and their right to be heard.



A: You’ve said that Curve of the Earth looked down from the skies, A Billion Heartbeats was rooted in the street-level reality of culture wars and protest, and this album looks “back up from the void, to the cosmic again.” What changed in your worldview between those records?



MJ: You have accurately described the differing viewpoints that each of the last three albums have adopted. That realisation of a musical trilogy came early on, before we had started the writing of the new album. The three albums were, in a sense, to be talking to each other from completely different vantage points. It was a new experience for us, as albums are usually self-contained entities. It would be hard to say how our worldview changed over the last fifteen years that this work has taken. But all of us have changed in this long period, as indeed has humanity. We believe that we are simply observing and writing through these global changes as we sit in the middle of them.


A: The album is made up of nine songs that you describe as “fragments of a thematic whole.” Did you approach it more like creating a single piece of work than simply collecting individual songs?



MJ: Our process of writing has taken the form of forming 'mind maps' of each album during the early stages of writing. We make diagrams of events and feelings that are swirling through our minds, and draw lines linking them together. That way, a simple diagram replaces a thousand words of unnecessary description, and is much more profound too. Linking disparate feelings is very rewarding and enlightening, and leads to unexpected song ideas and individual lyrics that would never exist otherwise. 

A: Was there one song that unlocked the rest of the album for you?



MJ: The first song to be written for the album; 'A Hole To See The Sky Through Part One' set the parameters of the record, lyrically and musically. Nevertheless, this does not prevent any of the other songs finding their unique voice.

A: The album takes its title from Yoko Ono’s A Hole To See The Sky Through, and you’ve been granted permission to use her original artwork. What does that image mean to you in the context of the album?



MJ: Yoko Ono's 1970's artwork, a postcard with a hole at the centre, and the simple phrase: 'A Hole To See The Sky Through' inspired Blaine from a young age. The image was etched in his memory, and emerged when we saw how this vision could provide a template for our current musical journey. Looking through the hole gives the viewer an pportunity to reframe their perceptions and create a distance from them. Blaine wrote to obtain Yoko's permission to use her artwork. She must have understood what we were aiming to do, and acquiesced, to our joy and delight. The artwork image and text are now inseparably embodied in the visual and auditory form of the album.

A: You’re celebrating 20 years of Making Dens at the same time as releasing your seventh studio album. When you look back at the band you were then, what would surprise those younger Mystery Jets most about where you are now?



MJ: Two decades after the release of our first album 'Making Dens' is a notable landmark, and one that we wish to joyfully celebrate. As to how those teenagers would feel if they knew where we would be now, a generation on, no doubt they would shake their heads with wonder and no little twinge of satisfaction. Nothing could prepare them for such a fruitful and fulfilling career in music. I wasn't a teenager then, but my admiration for the perseverance and tenacity of the original creative team and the musicians of the various incarnations of Mystery Jets knows no bounds.



A: Does reaching the 20-year mark make you more conscious of the band’s history and where you want to go, or does it make you more determined to be more explorative and trust in your process and gut from where you currently are now?



MJ: Genuine fulfillment in music is achieved through the process of writing and creating. Looking back has very rarely been a good way of moving forward creatively. Constant exploration, a determination not to repeat ourselves, and a strong work ethic are the bywords of our process. Gut feel has a place, of course, but more importantly, listening to what the world is telling us, and responding to it and participating in it.