Formed in 2017, Aussie duo Dekleyn are no strangers to the music industry. Having amassed over 5 million streams on Spotify over the last 3 years, the two have made a name for themselves in the realm of memorable, irresistibly catchy and skilful songs. Inspired by the beat from their 2021 single ‘Over Again’, ‘Save My Name’ is a heartfelt song that delivers a sincere yet uplifting emotional narrative through the duo’s reliable roots in electronic pop.

Nishtha: “Save My Name” is quite a visceral and emotive phrase for a title, saving a name and memory of a person are quite powerful images to kick off your 2022 with. Tell me more about the song and the story within it. How does it tie in with “Over Again”?

Dekleyn: The song is definitely full of emotion, whether those emotions are happy or sad depends on the context the listener has. ‘Save My Name’ centres on the feelings of meeting someone for the first time and the relationship built and wanting to have that continue. The lyrics are very focused on this feeling of longing and emotion while the music takes it into a slightly more dance-y and happy feel. ‘Save My Name’ is quite the opposite from ‘Over Again’, OA focused a lot on a relationship that was already having issues and trying to resolve them and work around them and how the relationship can then blossom, whereas Save My Name is at the start of a potential relationship ready to bloom.

N: This release has a different feel to it than previous ones. Musically, what is in the future for Dekleyn and where are you planning to go? Beyond indie-pop? What's different about this release? What's changed for you since your last one; creatively, professionally, emotionally? I know you have previously described your debut EP as a “turning point” to Atwood Magazine, how does this release fit into your evolution?

D: We’ve never had a strong direction for our sound musically, we love just making music that we enjoy and making it all work together. We aren’t too worried about what it may sound like in the context of our other music and what sounds we hope to have moving forward. We definitely love the electronic pop sounds but could definitely incorporate some rock or RnB type elements going forward. The writing and production process really starts with a simple beat, melody or chord pattern and just progresses naturally, so we don’t want to limit ourselves creatively by putting restraints on the exact sound we are aiming for. We hope to use these recent releases to display our variety of styles and hope to pull them all together to make them all fit.

N: Tell me about your creative process. There's a really lovely sincerity to a lot of your lyrics and the music itself. Who are the people you write about and from where are the stories in your music? Are they all yours?

D: We write all of our lyrics together, some come from past experiences and others come from simply observing the experiences of those around us. Mostly we write what comes to mind when the music kicks in, without too much regard for how that relates to us personally. As long as we feel that the lyrics will resonate with others, that's what we find most important in our writing process.

N: Live shows have forever been the heart of discovering and platforming local artists, how has your experience with gaining momentum online during this pandemic been different to how you perhaps imagined the trajectory?

D: Unfortunately due to the pandemic we did lose a lot of momentum due to being unable to do shows, unable to write together in lockdowns etc. Our live sets were really starting to come to life pre-Covid and so to have that set back by a couple of years now has been a frustrating time for us.

N: Lastly, it's always incredibly heart-warming to see artists from Australia grow and succeed. What is something you want to tell our readers; current students (the University of Melbourne) and fellow young aspiring artists? Especially after such a creatively challenging and frightfully turbulent set of years.??

D: If you have a dream to make music, just do it. Dedicate some time, expand your network as much as possible and be prepared to fail. Progress often happens slowly and takes time, practice and work hard, especially in these challenging times. There’s no such thing as too much music so get writing and be creative!

Riding the coattails of their extremely successful self-titled album Dekleyn in 2020 with follow-up singles in 2021, the duo show no signs of slowing down anytime soon. With ‘Save My Name’ as just the latest in a line-up of clever indie-pop releases, Dekleyn are definitely a group to follow.

Buy/Stream ‘Say My Name’ here.
Watch the lyric video here.