1. Identity / Evolution

In your earlier interviews, you described Tidal Pull in playful terms like “big indie,” partly as a way of carving out your own space. A few years on and three records in, how do you think about the band’s identity now? Does it feel more defined, or still evolving?

It’s both more defined and still evolving, just in a different way. Four or five years ago when we were putting out our first singles and debut album, we felt like a young band on the outside, trying to find some spot for ourselves in the local scene. Nowadays, we feel like an important part of it and we’ve established an identity for ourselves, people know what to expect from our music and our shows. We’ve had some lineup changes along the way, Mirna stepping in on vocals after Vilim and Filip taking over on drums after Borna left, which naturally had an effect on the identity, but at the core we’re still the same band and I think people are aware of that.

2. Writing & Process

Your songs feel very natural and cohesive, even when there’s a lot going on beneath the surface. When you’re writing, do things tend to come together quickly, or is it more of a slower process of refining and shaping ideas?

It really depends on the song, some of them came together almost instantly. In the case of Ne, hvala (možda drugi put) it was basically finished in one rehearsal with minor changes afterwards, while others took much longer to finalise. When we started working on the second album, we’ve made a conscious effort to play around more with the song structures and arrangements, but for the third album we’ve decided to go in the opposite direction and stick with whatever felt natural at the time of writing, even if it did feel a bit cheesy at times.

3. Influences / Sound

There are moments on the record that feel quite close to that Midwest emo / indie sound, especially in the guitar work and overall tone. Is that something that comes through naturally, or are those influences more intentional?

It comes through naturally, it’s basically us wearing our guitar inspirations on our sleeves. It’s the sound we grew up on and the one that made us pick up guitar, so we’re not straying away from it. We don’t expect the next record to feature glam metal inspired sounds either… But the Midwest emo label is an interesting one, it’s not a genre that any of us, aside from Vilim, listened to much, so if the guitar work leans in that direction, it’s more of a happy coincidence than a conscious decision.

4. Latest Album

Your latest album feels more melodic, introspective, and restrained compared to your earlier releases — what led to that shift?

We’ve had a few songs in our backlog that we’ve decided not to include on the second album because we felt they wouldn’t work in the slightly more dark musical context of that album, so we’ve decided to make a whole album around the more melodic/pop musical themes. The lyrics reflect the personal life and the situations and feelings that occur at the thirty-year mark. We’re older now than we were while writing the first album and the lyrics simply grew alongside.

5. Language

In an earlier interview, you spoke about singing in Croatian as something that adds authenticity to your music. Has your relationship with language changed as your songwriting has developed?

Definitely. It might not make sense at first since it’s our native language, but it was quite challenging to write lyrics in Croatian. There’s no barrier between yourself and the lyrics and between the lyrics and the listener, you cannot hide behind a foreign language and you can express yourself more directly. It wasn’t important to us previously but we’ve realized since that it feels good to show that you can write interesting lyrics in Croatian as well.

6. Zavežljaj

Zavežljaj feels like one of the emotional centres of the album — mellow, autumnal, and very cohesive. With the addition of Mirna, the interplay between male and female vocals really stands out. How did that dynamic develop, and how did the track come together?

Some of it was intentional. With Mirna coming into the band, the male/female vocal interplay became a new element that we hadn’t really had access to before, so we wanted to explore that. Zavežljaj is a good example of it, with the softer female vocals on verses contrasted by stronger, harsher male vocals in the choruses. Some of the songs were written before Mirna joined and those vocal parts were written with a male vocal in mind, so we decided to keep them that way.

7. Scene

How do you see your music fitting into the wider regional scene right now? Do you feel connected to anything locally, or more independent from it?

We definitely feel like a part of the local scene in Zagreb. The scene is in a good place right now, with loads of good bands and artists, so we’re happy that we can contribute something to it. Unfortunately, it’s quite centralized in Zagreb and there is a disconnect between Zagreb and other local scenes in Croatia. Hopefully this will improve in the coming years because there is good talent in smaller cities as well, but the infrastructure to support the bands and the scene is simply not there. Great stuff is happening in Belgrade as well, with bands such as Gazorpazorp and proto tip, so fingers crossed the two scenes can have a crossover at some point.

8. Live / Future

You’re playing in Zagreb at the end of April — how does your music translate into a live setting, and what do you see as the next step for the band?

Given our way of creating music – five people in a garage playing quite loudly, by default the songs should all work well in a live setting so we’re not worried about them being a flop live, but the real challenge is creating a setlist with a natural flow where the songs work together.

We’re not quite sure what direction we’re going to take for the next record, but we’re not going to rush it. We’ve released three albums in four years and, for various reasons, there’s always been a certain sense of urgency while working on them. But now that we’ve established ourselves on the scene with the first two albums and established our new lineup with the latest album, we can afford to take a bit more time before committing to release a new record.